Public Policy Blog

As announced, on 25th January the European Commission adopted the long awaited proposals for review of the EU legal framework for Data Protection The review package is composed by a Communication, a Regulation (which repeals the Directive 1995/46/EC), a Directive (which repeals the Council Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA, for the former third pillar matters, that means [...]

Many are the predictions those days in the Net concerning our sector and its perspectives for 2012, from how the telecom sector will evolve, to which services and technological trends will be the winners for next year, or how social networks will be positioned, what will be the IT “super themes” for 2012, etc…
This is a difficult and somersault exercise in a very dynamic and evolving sector such as the ICT & Telecom one. However, it is sure that some trends could be already detected.

Concerning the ICT public policy area, we could see the following issues as relevant as they are present in several international and public institutions agendas for 2012. Here are some of them:

4G (or LTE – Long Term Evolution) is the fourth generation of cellular wireless technology. Some operators have already initiated their way to 4G worldwide. Telefónica O2 in UK is one of them and now provides the fastest possible wireless connections in parts of London as a trial.

Current debates in Europe are focusing on how to achieve growth. Experts have concluded that the only way to achieve it is to remain competitive. But how does Europe remain competitive in a constantly evolving world? Experts agree that innovation is the solution….

The use of ICT solutions applied to different essential areas in urban environments such as transport, energy, building constructions, etc…is key to assure a determined sustainability and an adequate quality of life when living in big cities.

This is the idea existing behind the term “smart cities” and many initiatives are currently ongoing worldwide to transform cities into intelligent and more efficient metropolitan areas for the benefit of their citizens.

It was the last year when Korea started formally organizing a Business meeting just before the G20 Summit in Seoul, with Companies representatives of the most important countries of the world.

Do you know what Wayra means? It means “wind” in Quechua and it is a recently new and innovative initiative launched by Telefónica. Gonzalo Martín-Villa, Global Head of Wayra, explains to us the main drivers of this amazing project.

Between the next 5th and the 8th of September, Fundación Telefónica with other partners will host the 25th Telecommunications Congress, which on this occasion will be held under the slogan “Más allá de lo conseguido” (“Beyond Our Achievements”). It will be held, as every year, in the wonderful and historical Magdalena Palace, in Santander.

As you all know, we attended the OECD High Level meeting on the Internet economy, where so many distinguished speakers contributed to the event. There were Ministers, officials, policy makers, industry leaders and Internet evangelists but also civil society and technical communities. Around 400 people attended the meeting, focused on 5 main topics such as broadband access, the role of broadband and innovation in the social and economic growth, balancing policy goals to strengthen growth and finally policy-making principles for an open Internet.

As a yearly meeting, from the 11th to the 17th July, the Spanish City of Arts and Science, Valencia, will be hosting the XVth Anniversary of Campus Party and Telefónica is part of this relevant event! Telefónica will bring the technological part with IPv6 and LTE solutions, especially for the event!