The Communications Commission has hosted members of the Independence of Regulators and Broadband Expert Working Group (IRB EWB) of the Eastern Partnership Electronic Communications Regulators Network (EaPeReg). The event, which was attended by representatives of the regulatory bodies of Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Moldova, as well as the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), was opened by ComCom member Ekaterine Imedadze. In her opening speech, Ms Imedadze talked about the importance of market harmonisation and digital transformation, as well as the role of the telecom sector in ensuring continuous connectivity and availability of services. 

“It is important to highlight the achievements that our network has made with the support of partner organisations and networks, including the EU digital market harmonisation initiative. Our network continues to work on key priorities such as establishing partnerships to support a sustainable telecom sector, protecting accountable institutions and supporting the rule of law, as well as facilitating digital transformation in order to eliminate digital inequality and build an inclusive society. The past years have once again highlighted the critical role of the telecommunications sector. It has also become clear that a harmonised regulatory environment and strong regulatory institutions in the telecommunications sector play an essential and often decisive role in ensuring uninterrupted connectivity and availability of services. During the workshop, we will discuss the issue of updating the EU Directive on measures to reduce the cost of deploying high-speed electronic communications networks. The Directive determines the rules for accessing infrastructure and creating a single information point, which is a key task for the telecom sector. Representatives of the Communications Commission are actively working with EU experts on implementing the digital broadband map, measuring the Digital Economy and Society Index and updating the rules of market analysis. All of this is important for strengthening our industry expertise,” Ekaterine Imedadze stated. 

The workshops, the purpose of which was to summarise the results of the EU4Digital project (specifically, the results of activities aimed towards strengthening the independence of regulators), were held for three days. The participating countries devised and approved the 2023 IRB EWG action plan and updated the IAS monitoring questionnaire and telecom market analysis methodologies. They also discussed the planned works on implementing the digital map linked to the broadband service tariff reduction directive. During the workshops, representatives of the Telecommunications Market Regulation Department of the Communications Commission shared their experience regarding the project designed to implement updated market analysis rules and identifying regulated markets. 

The Eastern Partnership Electronic Communications Regulators Network was formed in 2012 at the initiative of the Portuguese national regulatory authority for the communications sector (ANACOM) and with the financial backing of the European Commission. The purpose of the platform is to bring electronic communications markets closer to the single digital market of the EU and to facilitate European integration of the partner countries. To this end, regulatory authorities of the partner countries are assisted by the European Commission itself, as well as by the electronic communications regulatory authorities of the EU, BEREC, ITU and other relevant European and international bodies.