Catégorie : News
Catégorie : News
EuroISPA, the largest pan-European association representing over 2.500 Internet Service Providers, renewed today its board, bringing together individuals with diverse backgrounds and expertise for a two-year term.
After being excellently chaired by Oliver Süme since 2014, EuroISPA last Friday unanimously elected a new board of officers. Oliver Süme decided not to stand for election again, but will continue to be closely involved in EuroISPA’s activities as a member of the Council.
EuroISPA Vice-President Maximilian Schubert of ISPA Austria was elected President. Alexandra Laffitte, from the French association FFTélécoms, together with Innocenzo Genna from the Italian association AIIP, will act as Vice-Presidents. Alex de Joode from the Dutch association ICT Netherlands will serve as Treasurer.
“On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Oliver Süme for his guidance and leadership of EuroISPA in engaging with the EU and international institutions. His legacy as President of EuroISPA will be long-lasting, with strong contribution to the organisation and its impact on a broad range of policy issues, from data protection, cybersecurity to intermediary liability”. said Dr. Maximilian Schubert. He further stated: “We strongly believe that the diversity of board members, will bring fresh energy to the Association. The renewed board will inject new expertise within EuroISPA from various different domestic legal cultures and experiences”.
The newly elected board has already set ambitious objectives in its next working program, including a strong focus on the intermediary liability regime and Artificial Intelligence, but also on pending files such as e-Privacy, e-Evidence, and the Copyright Directive reform. EuroISPA will continue to serve as a platform to exchange best practices between Members, bolstering its engagement with the European Institutions to ensure innovation-friendly legislation for the Internet industry.
The four combined experiences of the renewed board will be extremely valuable in EuroISPA’s continued work: Dr. Schubert’s field of expertise is directly linked to the liability of platforms, also with significant experience in cyber security issues. Mr. De Joode, also a member of the Europol Advisory group on telecom providers, is specialized in hosting and security, and Mr. Genna and Ms. Laffitte both have also a strong regulatory background, from both an incumbent and an alternative operator side. Mr. Genna has a strong focus on Copyright Law, and both Mr. De Joode and Ms. Laffitte are active with regards to Copyright Levies at the national level.
Meet the new board:
- Dr Maximilian Schubert, Chairman: After working for ISPA – the Austrian Association of Internet Service Providers as a legal expert he became General Secretary of ISPA in 2012. He earned his doctoral degree in the field of Intellectual Property Law at the Karl-Franzens University of Graz after obtaining an LL.M. degree in “Innovation, Technology and the Law » at the University of Edinburgh. He is working as a part time lecturer and has published a number of articles on IT-related topics in Austrian as well as in international journals. His main fields of expertise are telecom regulation law, ISP liability law as well as privacy matters.
- Innocenzo Genna, Vice-Chairman: Innocenzo Genna is a legal and policy expert for European telecoms and Internet sector. He publishes articles on newspapers and also on his professional blog RadioBruxellesLibera. He is also Board Member of the European Internet Forum. Previously, he was the chairman of ECTA, served as General Counsel for Tiscali S.p.A and was a partner at law firm Ughi e Nunziante. Innocenzo graduated in law (magna cum laude) at the University of Macerata in 1991 and subsequently got L.L.M. from both the College of Europe (Bruges) and the University of Trier. He has also been awarded a Diplome in Comparative Law from the International Faculty of Comparative Law of Strasbourg. Innocenzo is also a minimalist pianist and composer.
- Alexandra Laffitte, Vice-Chairwoman: Former fellow of the German Parliament, Alexandra chairs the Market and Services Committee since April 2018. She is in charge of both European Affairs, and of the regulation online contents and uses at the French Telecoms Federation (Fédération Française des Télécoms) since March 2018, and is also a member of the French commission tasked to determine copyright levies. Before that, she was in charge of regulatory affairs and comparative Law at the French MVNO Transatel. Alexandra is an alumna of the Master’s program in Telecommunications and Space Law of the University Paris-Saclay, as well as of the Franco-German dual Law program of La Sorbonne and the University of Cologne.
- Alex De Joode, Treasurer: Alex was a Senior Regulatory Counsel responsible for handling internet- and copyright abuse, MLAT’s and other police requests and was also responsible for government contacts for a large EU headquartered global Internet Infrastructure Company. Current Alex is a public affairs manager for the Dutch National Trade Association “Nederland ICT”, where he specialises in (international) regulatory issues, amongst others e-evidence, notice & takedown procedures, copyright & levies and encryption.
Catégorie : News
On June 14 and 15, 2018, the French Telecoms Federation attended EuroISPA’s General Meeting in Vienna, Austria
During this quarterly meeting, the members of EuroISPA discussed the legislative evolutions of their 10 respective Member States, as well as European legislative initiatives. The representatives notably discussed the GDPR and its implementation in the various member states, which enabled the FFTelecoms to fully grasp the discrepancies existing between some Member States.
For instance, whereas the French DPA employs more than 200 people in order to fully implement the GDPR, the Austrian DPA can only rely on about 30 employees to handle the same tasks. This example highlights France’s strong commitment to the protection of personal data. The participants also learned about an upcoming Swiss bill that aims at including the GDPR’s principles into Swiss Law, showing the extraterritorial value of the text.
EuroISPA’s members also pursued their study of the legal framework of intermediary liability, in the wake of the publication of the communication on tackling online disinformation by the European Commission. Since the Commission is also currently elaborating its strategy to tackle online terrorist contents, the coordination of the Internet sector is an important step towards a better regulation.
This coordination process was originally initiated as a multi-stakeholder reflection around the topic of CSAM-contents (Child Sex Abuse Material). The Federation is notably active in this domain thanks to its online reporting tool that can be accessed by following this link : https://signalement.fftelecoms.org. Each month, the Federation thus transmits the URL of a dozen of websites containing CSAM-contents to the French Ministry of Interior in order to facilitate their investigations.
Once more, EuroISPA’s General Meeting was especially important to the Federation, as such meetings allow a constructive exchange of best practices, but also help the Federation gain some insight on different European and national initiative that help shaping the Internet.
Catégorie : News
EuroISPA, the European Association of Internet Service Providers (ISP), held its usual quarterly meeting in the beginning of April. This meeting provided a forum to thoroughly discuss the question of the liability of intermediaries, as well as to lay the groundwork of a new way for operators to deal with illegal contents online.
This new common strategy, closely aligned with the one of the Federation, is based on a shared respect for the fundamental rights of users, and on a common refusal of the stakeholders to substitute themselves to the Courts.
In addition to a review of the main upcoming European points of legislation, each member association updated the others on the evolutions of the regulatory environment of its home Member State. Such source of information is a real opportunity for the Federation, as it provides it with an overview of the relevant European policies, and helps predict their potential impact on the French regulatory environment.
The next quarterly meeting will be held in June in Vienna and will focus on the European Electronic Communications Code, and on the e-Privacy and e-Evidence draft regulations.
Tweet :
Document | EuroISPA – Annuel report 2017 :
Catégorie : News
On 5 February 2018, the Managing Director of the French Telecoms Federation, Michel Combot, alongside representatives from the mobile telephony operators Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR, held the inauguration of a multi-operator site as part of the initiative to extend coverage to the white zones in Villeneuve-du-Latou in Ariège. They were joined by:
- Julien Denormandie, State Secretary to the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion ;
- Henri Nayrou, Chairman of the Departmental Council for Ariège ;
- Alain Duran, Senator for Ariège ;
- Philippe Jaloux, Mayor of Villeneuve-du-Latou.
Video :
The site serves the commune of Villeneuve-du-Latou (167 inhabitants) with maximum theoretical speeds of several Mbps. It was mutualised voluntarily by the four network operators.
There are 57 communes in Ariège registered with the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme, of which 54, having a pylon, have mobile internet access* via mutualisation as of 31 December 2017. As regards Gudas, Segura and Ustou, the three communes that joined the programme in February 2016 and are yet to receive coverage, the aim now is to construct pylons and activate mobile services.
As of 31 December 2017, 3,298 communes in the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme (of which 1,260 are mountain communes) out of 3,856 in the programme as a whole have mobile internet access via mutualisation among the four mobile network operators. The latter have fulfilled their coverage commitments under the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme within the established timeframes.
Document | Press kit of the inauguration (in French) :
Map | Location of Villeneuve-du-Latou :
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See the previous inaugurations.
Catégorie : News
On the 5th of February 2018, “Safer Internet Day 2018” was launched by Tralalere, Internet Sans Crainte and other partners at Cap Digital, the competitiveness cluster for digital transformation.
The audience witnessed a preview of the new Info Hunter project to combat fake news. Info Hunter and the company Tralalere were chosen by the Federation and its members at the occasion of a call for innovative projects in October 2017 (see our dedicated article). We have gone on to support the project by means of a financial contribution.
This digital resource will help young people to understand how information is produced online, together with the importance of exposing themselves to different points of view when exercising their critical spirit.
The Federation will soon be advancing with the practical implementation of the programme with a workshop due to be held in an educational establishment.
Such action further illustrates the will of telecoms operators belonging to the Federation to invest in digital education for young people.
Find below the interviews of the actors involved in this project (french video):
- 00:00 – Deborah Elalouf, President of Tralalere ;
- 00:43 – Michel Combot, Managing Director FFTélécoms ;
- 01:30 – Carina Chatain, Head of Digital Education at CNIL ;
- 02:05 – Olivier Gérard, UNAF Digital Media Co-ordinator ;
- 02:47 – Géraldine Woessner, Reporter « Europe 1 ».
Catégorie : News
As of 31 December 2017, 3,298 communes in the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme (of which 1,260 are mountain communes) out of 3,856 in the programme as a whole have mobile internet access via mutualisation among the four mobile network operators. The latter have fulfilled their coverage commitments under the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme within the established timeframes.
Aware of the fundamental stakes of digital territorial planning and, above all, of the needs of the population, network operators set to work on an agreement with the public authorities over several months in order to substantially accelerate the rolling out of mobile coverage. Establishing a significant contractual mandate, this agreement has become a reality as of last 12th of January.
What constitutes the agreement?
For the first time, the French State has made digital territorial planning a priority by virtue of such an unprecedented agreement. Network operators have committed to expediting the deployment of territorial coverage, whereas the State, together with the French Regulator of the Electronic Communications and Postal Sectors (ARCEP), has committed to providing operators with the necessary foresight and stability in respect of frequencies until 2030.
Furthermore, the operators have undertaken to increase their investment by several billion euros over the next five years. This will supplement the 8.9 billion euros already injected into the networks in 2016.
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WIDESPREAD EXPANSION OF 4G ON THE OPERATORS’ EXISTING NETWORK
All inhabited zones currently receiving 3G shall have full 4G coverage by the end of 2020. Those sites in the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme are to receive 4G by 2022, with a milestone of 75% of sites set for the end of 2020. This represents an acceleration by more than five years in comparison with previous obligations. Major transport routes have also been taken into account: key sections of the road network shall have 4G coverage by the end of 2020 and the regional rail network shall have 90% coverage by 2025.
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CHANGING THE “TEMPERATURE GAUGE” FOR MEASURING MOBILE NETWORK COVERAGE
The shared objective is to offer 4G coverage of a standard equivalent to the “good coverage” classification used in ARCEP’s mobile coverage maps. This will be achieved by implementing a “targeted coverage system” designed to facilitate the identification by operators of 5,000 new zones with the help of local officials and the densification of the existing mobile network in order to bring forward “good coverage” for 4G.
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IMPROVING INDOOR COVERAGE, USING VOICE OVER WI-FI IN PARTICULAR
Both diversity among territories and the layouts of buildings have contributed to ongoing difficulties in ensuring mobile network coverage. As a result of a collaboration with operators, well in advance of the conclusion of the agreement with the French Government, the Federation published a page on its website dedicated to solutions for improving indoor coverage, together with a leaflet. See our educational guide. Operators have committed to continuing the development of these coverage solutions.
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DEVELOPING FIXED-LINE 4G OFFERS IN ZONES WITH AND WITHOUT EXISTING 4G COVERAGE
How will this agreement be implemented?
In a joint effort with communities, certain deployments shall be mutualised as part of the “targeted coverage system” – either pylons alone or also antennas – in line with the pre-existing Strategic Sites and “White Zones – Rural Communities” programmes.
Operators shall provide coverage for 5,000 new zones using this cutting-edge system, which shall cover white zones with “good coverage”, strategic “territorial” sites and grey zones. These areas are to be identified by the Government by way of close consultation due to be undertaken with local communities. The financing for the sites (e.g. pylons and antennas) shall fall under the responsibility of the operators.
Annual quotas have been established – namely, 600 defined zones to be covered per operator from 2018, 700 in 2019, 800 in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and 600 every subsequent year. For 2018, operators will take over all of the sites (e.g. “White Zones – Rural Communities” and strategic sites) constrained by a lack of public funding.
The Federation and its members are fully mobilised to support and implement this historic agreement. Only by means of a successful partnership between the operators, the regulator, the State and local communities can this objective of territorial cohesion be accomplished.
Furthermore, the Federation and network operators are continually requesting the simplification and stabilisation of the administrative process for receiving prior authorisation to install mobile sites and the removal of certain constraints associated with urban planning regulations. A number of these proposals are expected to be incorporated into the draft law on the Evolution of Housing and Digital Development (ELAN), which will be scrutinised by a Council of Ministers in March.
What are the “White Zones – Rural Communities” and Strategic Sites programmes?
Network operators have enlisted in the different “waves” of the “White Zones – Rural Communities” (“Zones Blanches – Centres-Bourgs” – ZBCB) programme, the aim of which is the provision of mobile telephony services by all operators in the remotest areas of France. Since 2008, the programme has been progressively expanding to include mobile internet and now covers 3,856 communes, after a decision of May 2017, consolidating the programme following a host of measures carried out on the ground.
Whereas the “White Zones – Rural Communities” programme accounts for approximately 1% of the French population, above all it corresponds to more than 7% of the land surface, an area almost as large as the Netherlands.
The “Strategic Sites” programme was first implemented in 2015 and targets the coverage of sites beyond rural town centres, especially those of interest to the economy and to the tourism industry, with an agreement on the part of operators to cover 1,300 sites within five years. These sites have been identified using the “France Mobile” platform for resolving mobile network coverage issues.
The new “targeted coverage” system will therefore replace these two initiatives.
How do mutualised sites or pylons work?
Individual network operators have their own sites but allow other operators to share them.
Mutualisation takes several forms: passive (the pylon is shared while each operator deploys its own antennas) or active (the antennas are shared).
In the interests of transparency vis-à-vis local authorities and the public, a progress report on the mobile internet coverage across sites is published on the Federation’s website on a regular basis.
The inauguration of multi-operator sites
Since July 2016, the Federation has organised the inaugurations of multi-operator sites offering mobile internet access. To this day, the Federation organised 20 of such launches.
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See the previous inaugurations.
Program progress (french links)
- 19/10/2017 : Press release
- 10/07/2017 : Press release
- 21/06/2017 : Press release
- 25/04/2017 : Press release
- 20/02/2017 : Press release
- 25/01/2017 : Press release
To know more (french links)
- Detailed presentation of the agreement between the operators and the public authorities: bit.ly/220118ARCEP
- Plateforme France Mobile
- Network coverage map Bouygues Telecom
- Network coverage map Orange
- Network coverage map SFR
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Catégorie : News
The Federation celebrated its tenth anniversary at its New Year Reception 2018, held on the 20th of December at La Gaîté Lyrique.
The Chairman of the Federation, Pierre Louette, delivered his New Year’s message before the authorities and representatives from the industry. Julien Denormandie, the State Secretary to the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion, spoke of the New Deal underway between the French State, ARCEP and the network operators, reaffirming that a decision could be reached within days.
Find below all the two speeches:
- 01:37: beginning of Pierre Louette’s speech
- 22:54: beginning of Julien Denormandie’s speech
Catégorie : News
The Federation is maintaining its action on the ground against cyberbullying, with the organisation of an awareness-raising workshop for pupils aged 12-13 on the 17th November 2017.
The cyberbullying awareness workshop took place at the Champs Plaisants school in Sens, Yonne (89). Its key themes were safety and vigilance. Centered around a serious game, the aim of the workshop was to raise awareness among young people of bullying online and, more generally, of good practices to follow when using the internet, especially social media.
- Discover in video below a summary of this workshop: