cablemedia_1 27/02/2015 15:48 Page 1
Cable Media
EUROMEDIA
Volume 7 No. 1 2015
Cable Europe warns against
Net Neutrality
eclaiming the US
policy shift towards
Net Neutrality,
Matthias Kurth, executive
chairman, Cable Europe,
says law makers mustn’t
jeopardise Europe’s
opportunity to lead the way
for investment in broadband
and digital infrastructure.
Kurth has blogged that for
several years the cable sector had
been in a perpetual state of
change: “Competition with
telecommunication companies,
infrastructure carriers and
content providers has driven a
constant reshaping of business
models. We’re seeing M&A
activity and continued investor
appetite on one side and fast
changes in technology and value
creation strategies on the other.
It’s an exciting mix. Cable
Congress is the only place where
leading players come together to
discuss these trends, how to deal
with emerging challenges and
how to create new opportunities.”
He said it was fitting that
Congress was returning to
Brussels following a year that had
brought many changes to the EU’s
D
political landscape and a strong
commitment by the new
European Commission to the
digital economy. “With many
policymakers from the European
Commission and the European
Parliament expected to be in
attendance, I look forward to
hearing more about plans to
realise the Digital Single Market
in Europe. Critically though, the
digital agenda and further
investment in high-speed
broadband can only be enhanced
if we all have trust in a stable and
forward-looking policy
framework. To do this, we need
balanced policy discussions
focussed on finding smart
solutions, which we will kick off
with dialogue at the Congress.”
“While we often hear in
Europe that we are playing catch
up with the US in the technology
space, when I compare the
investment climate in Europe
with the United States, I am
actually rather optimistic about
some of the regulatory trends.
Take net neutrality. Whereas
President Obama has indicated he
wants to regulate the Internet
under Title II of the
Telecommunications act that
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