Programme

Opportunities and threats of interconnection

• Defining interconnection within the category of operational risk
• Interconnect fraud
• Managing interconnection partnerships for revenue optimization
• New threats posed by VoIP and wireless traffic
• How can telecom organizations utilize their existing expertise and systems to help them prepare for the risks involved?

Michael Frank
Senior Consultant
DETECON INTERNATIONAL

Marco Chiesa
Senior Consultant
DETECON INTERNATIONAL  

Interconnection strategies for operators in converging and IP-based networks

• To what extent is technology driving IP interconnection?
• Expressing interconnect in terms of a net transfer of data
• End to end QoS – is this the crux of a successful interconnect regime in IP/NGN networks?
• Determining the impact that poor QoS will have on:
  - customer satisfaction
  - market growth
  - competition within the market
• Service level monitoring

Business models for profitable interconnection

• How do NGNs and FMC impact on conventional interconnect business models
• Retail vs. wholesale business models – where do the highest margins lie?
• Evolving interconnect business models to accommodate services that function outside the network
• Voice-only interconnect agreements
• Drafting interconnect agreements with non-traditional players in the market eg. ISPs and cable companies

Price setting to optimise interconnect traffic

• Interconnection conditions in circuit switched and NGN networks
  - costing methodologies
  - cost modelling issues
• Implementation of NGN interconnection
• Business Models and interconnection arrangements for NGN services
  - capacity based
  - event based
  - flat rate
  - content based
• Future NGN interconnection issues

Mobile termination: Pricing strategies and regulatory models

• Unique price level for mobile termination?
• Glide path models as a regulatory instrument
• Defining a ‘fair’ model for regulatory intervention of mobile termination pricing
• Reviewing recent examples of regulatory intervention in mobile termination
• On-Net/Off-Net discrimination
• Market 16 and the revision of the EU regulatory framework

Richard Sweet
Director of Government Affairs
THUS

UK case study: Regulating NGN interconnect and access pricing

• How will new interconnect and access products fit with existing market definitions and regulations
• Interconnection pricing - time vs data usage
• Implementation of accounting separation within converged and NGN networks
• Pricing models: top down vs bottom up LRIC models
• Will internet peering or traditional telecoms interconnect models form the basis for agreements in a converged environment
• How will prices be set and quantified in an IP world?

Fastweb case study: IP networks and evolution in the access and interconnection models

• Introduction to Fastweb: The first player in the Italian market to roll out an all-IP network
  - company data
  - investment
  - network
• Investment strategy from start up to full triple play: State of the art technology, high quality service, national footprint in infrastructure development
• Interconnection with IP networks: possible solutions and regulation 
• Future strategy and future challenges

Transatel case study: An alternative roaming solution with MVNO

• A different concept for the market
• Technical implementation difficulties
• Marketing approach and target segment
• MNO partners and business interests for MNOs
• Customer benefits
• Regulatory impacts and positioning on V. Reding initiative

Oliver Kaliski
Senior Regulatory & Economic Affairs Manager
MOBILKOM

Regulatory and commercial aspects of international roaming charges

• Outlining the roaming regulation proposed by the European Commission
• Possible costs of the regulation of roaming charges
• Describing the asymmetric impacts of the regulation on different operators
• Effects of the proposed regulation on competition and customers
• Outlining alternative solutions to bring down roaming charges

Opening remarks from the chair

Developments in interconnection in Germany

• actual developments in the German Broadband market
• new application of Deutsche Telekom for LLU prices
• new developments regarding fibre roll-out and access
• activities on the European level on wholesale broadband and LLU access
• IP-IC - final Report of the ERG

Raffaele Mosca
Senior Manager, Regulatory Strategy
WIND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Adapting to the new and changing demands of EU regulation

• Role of NRAs in implementing the European Regulatory Framework
• Regulators role in interconnection negotiations
• Regulation vs. competition:  Is regulation deterring operators from investing in NGNs?
• Debating the case for the deregulation of telecoms interconnection
• Regulatory requirements relating to:
  - QoS
  - service level agreements (SLAs)
  - service level monitoring

Interconnection principles for an NGN environment

• How will interconnection in an NGN environment be different from today?
• What are the guiding principles?
• Will per minute billing survive?
• Does ‘bill and keep’ (sender keeps all) represent a viable business model?
• What regulatory questions does NGN interconnection pose?

Interconnection in an IP-based NGN Environment: An economic perspective

• What new regulatory challenges will the evolution to NGN pose?
• Economics provides important insights into PSTN interconnection and Internet peering. What does it tell us about interconnection of NGNs that incorporate aspects of both?
• Will the traditional European model of wholesale interconnection (based on the Calling Party's Network Pays principle, or CPNP) even be viable in an IP-based NGN environment?
• How are NGN services (including voice) likely to be priced at retail?
• If end-to-end QoS is so great, why is it not already out there?

NRA focus session:  RTR’s approach to number portability in existing and future networks

• Examining the actual situation of porting in general and in Austria
• What is the impact of portability, and what developments are visible on tariffs and markets?
• Identifying customer needs on keeping achieved advantages
• Analyzing developments on new types of networks and their relation to portability
• How can customers benefit from new developments without loosing their number?

Dr. Kátrin Schweren
Deputy Head,
Group Regulatory Affairs
SWISSCOM

Interconnection and retail price regulation in Switzerland: Universal Service Regime

• Regulatory environment of USO in Switzerland
• Examining the different regulatory approaches to price regulation
• Universal service in the EU
• Universal service in Switzerland
• Subscriber usage profiles
• Funding mechanisms in France and other EU countries
• Funding mechanism in Switzerland

VoIP and wVoIP interconnection agreements

• What does VoIP mean for an incumbent operator - threat or opportunity?
• How does VoIP impact on the interconnection market, its definition and management?
• Feasibility of expectations of the interconnection parties
• VoIP interconnection with mobile and alternative fixed networks
• Next applicable steps - IP peering?

James Thomson
Director
CULLEN INTERNATIONAL

Interconnection and call termination challenges of FMC number portability

• Overview of FMC commercial offers across Western Europe
• Call termination and interconnection models
• Regulatory issues
• FMC number portability

Vaiva Lazauskaite
Head of Economic Analysis Division
COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY (LITHUANIA)

Interconnection and retail price regulation in developing markets

• Examining the different regulatory approaches to price regulation

• Impact of wholesale interconnection regulation on the market
• Is interconnection as a purely wholesale service?
• Impact of regulation on business models and investment in developing markets