FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

To be held at:

London Business School Regents Park, London, NW1 4SA

The Global Communications Consortium & The Global Internet Project

presents
From Regulation to Competition … the
Path to Broadband
Monday 12th & Tuesday 13th June, 2000

Review the Summary of Mario Monti's Presentation

Increased competition is evident in telecoms. With liberalisation in the EU in 1998 have come hundreds of new operators, sharply lower prices and innovative new services. Yet, many see the scope of telecoms regulation as expanding and becoming more intrusive on incumbents and entrants. Governments do not appear to have an explicit policy to transit from sector specific regulation to general competition policy in telecoms. In this important and timely conference at London Business School, this transition mechanism will be explicitly addressed in the context of the move to broadband and the impacts of regulatory intervention (good and bad) will be discussed including the impact on the development of the Internet itself.

5.30 - 7.00pm
Keynote Address
Wolfson Lecture Theatre
Mario Monti, Commissioner
Responsible for Competition, European Commission

Cocktails/Drinks Reception

Tuesday 13th June, 2000

8.15 - 8.45am
Registration & breakfast

8.45 - 9.00am
Welcome & Introduction
Wolfson Lecture Theatre

Session One

9.00am:
"Infrastructure Regulation and Broadband Expansion"
David Newbery, University of Cambridge
Leonard Waverman, LBS

10.00am:
"Service Regulation over the Internet: Is it Warranted"
Robert Crandall, Brookings Institution

11:00am:
"Spectrum Limits and Competition in Mobile Markets: Towards Broadband "
Harald Gruber, European Investment Bank
Chair: tbc

12:00 - 1.45pm
Lunch
Garden Room
Keynote Address: Bob Foster, BT plc

Session Two - Keynote Address

2.00pm:
"Transition Mechanisms from Sector Specific Regulation to Competition Policy"
Dr Fredrick Jenny, WTO and OECD Competition Policy Committees
Chair: tbc

Session Three - Panel Discussion

3.45pm:
"Competition Policy as Practised by Regulators, Broadband and Transition"
Jens Arnbak, OPTA
David Edmonds, OFTEL
Matthias Kurth, RegTP, Germany
Chair: Nicholas Argyris, European Commission

6.00 - 7.00pm
Cocktails/Drinks Reception in the Quad

The Global Communications Consortium
GCC is the major European academic business research programme analysing the key issues facing communications providers today. There are four forces shaking the traditional communications industries: technological change; privatisation; competition and regulation. As a result, operators, incumbents and entrants are struggling to identify where to operate (what products, old and new, and what markets); how to operate (what technology); what strategy to use (prices, investment, differentiation, quality) and with whom to work (what alliance or merger). These forces of change and areas of concern are the focus of this innovative new programme. The two main aims of the consortium are first, to assure that the policy environment is consistent with business needs and second, assisting operators, equipment manufactures and others in their strategy development. We focus on new academic research and its dissemination to a wide audience. The Director of the Consortium is Professor Leonard Waverman. Web site: http://www.london.edu/ri/global_comms_consortium

Regulation Initiative
The Regulation Initiative at London Business School has been in operation for three years and is directed by Professor David Currie, formerly one of the Chancellor's "Wise Men" and currently an advisor to OFGEM. The Initiative has a major programme of research that examines the principles and practice of regulation in the UK, Europe and internationally, and stimulates debate on a broad based re-evaluation of the objectives and design of the national and global regulatory systems. In doing so, it brings together a team of international experts including key policy makers, regulators, senior executives from the regulated companies, and academics working on issues of regulation. A major theme of research is how regulated companies should manage the regulatory process as part of their broader corporate strategy. Web site: http://www.london.edu/ri

Global Internet Project
The Global Internet Project (GIP) is an international group of senior executives committed to fostering continued growth of the Internet. GIP participants are well-known leaders in the Internet Revolution and represent companies based in Asia, Europe, and North America. John Patrick, Vice President for Internet Technology at IBM, is the current chairman of the GIP. GIP participants believe that to ensure continued growth and innovation, old, outdated, national regulatory models should not be applied to the Internet. Instead, new international and non-governmental approaches to policy must be developed, that will be flexible enough to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology and the marketplace. Often these approaches will rely upon market mechanisms for self-regulation, rather than government regulation. The GIP is not a lobbying organisation. Its primary goal is not to shape government regulation, but instead promote industry actions that will minimise the need for such regulation.

For more information on the GIP, please visit the GIP Web site at:www.gip.org

London Business School
Founded in 1965, London Business School is the graduate school of business at the University of London. Our vision is to be the most important and most respected international business school. Our mission is to transform the future of everyone who comes into contact with the School. Our values are embodied within our unique London Business School SPIRIT which stands for Scholarship, Professionalism, Innovation, Relevance, Internationalism and Transformation.

In 1999, London Business School graduated 565 MBAs, MScs and PhDs from 57 countries. Our faculty - from 20 countries - served 4,000 executives on short programmes. This year, the Financial Times ranked London Business School number one in Europe and eighth in the world for the second consecutive year. Web site: http://www.london.edu/