Italia
Ieri si è tenuto un dinner in occasione della presenza a Roma di Kevin Martin, former Chairman della Federal Communications Commission.
All’evento, organizzato da Puntoit al Circolo Canottieri Aniene, hanno partecipato rappresentanti di istituzioni, imprese, addetti ai lavori e giornalisti, tra cui: Raffaele Barberio (Key4biz), Paolo Barbesino (Commstrategy), Fabio Bassan (Università Roma Tre), Domenico Bosi (Puntoit), Giovanni Calabrò (Autorità Antitrust), Andrea Camanzi (Avcp), Mila Cataldo (La7), Giuseppe Cerbone (Ansa), Fabio Colasanti (Unione Europea), Mario Dal Co’ (Consigliere del ministro Brunetta), Alberto D’Argenio (La Repubblica), Luigi Gambardella (Puntoit), Chatie Kevin, Kevin Martin (former Chairman FCC), Erik Lambert, Linda Lanzillotta (Alleanza per l’Italia), Roberto Napoli (AgCom), Paolo Nuti (AIIP), Luigi Parcu (Parcu & Associati), Alessio Parolari, Gianluca Petrillo (Microsoft), Romano Righetti (Wind), Andrea Romano (Italia Futura), Enzo Savarese (AgCom), Mauro Sentinelli, Roberto Viola (AgCom).
Riportiamo di seguito il breve speech di saluto rivolto da Luigi Gambardella, organizzatore del dinner, a Kevin Martin e agli ospiti convenuti.
Dear All,
Thank you very much to all of you for being with us tonight.
It is an honour to host this dinner to welcome Kevin Martin in Rome.
Kevin I would like to thank you very much for having accepted our invitation.
As you all know, Kevin is a privileged observer of the US market and political landscape…therefore I am sure that he will be able to spend a few words to give us a quick overview to update us with an interesting insight about the recent development in the US political debate around the Information and Communication technology sector.
Let me just briefly introduce you Kevin, citing the most significant hints of his outstanding cv:
•Kevin Martin is a former Chairman of the U.S Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and co-chair of Patton Boggs‘ technology and communications practice. Mr. Martin has nearly two decades experience as a lawyer and policymaker in the telecommunications field, including his tenure as FCC Chairman from March 2005 to January 2009 when the industry was undergoing a period of unprecedented growth and innovation.
• While Mr. Martin was FCC Chairman, the Commission created a regulatory environment that encouraged infrastructure investment and broadband competition, leading to greater coverage and decreased prices for Americans.
• Under Mr. Martin’s leadership, the FCC conducted the two most successful and profitable spectrum auctions in U.S. history, raising almost $20 billion in 2008 alone. Mr. Martin also spearheaded the FCC’s initiative to dedicate more than $400 million to the construction of broadband networks for state-wide and regional health care networks reaching more than 6,000 health care facilities.
• As FCC Chairman, Mr. Martin also represented the U.S. in many bilateral negotiations and addressed numerous international conferences as a global leader on telecommunications and technology policy.
• Before joining the FCC as a Commissioner in 2001, Mr. Martin was a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and served on the staff of the National Economic Council, focusing on commerce and technology policy issues. He served as the official U.S. government representative to the G-8’s Digital Opportunity Task Force.
• Finale, Mr. Martin was Deputy General Counsel on the Bush-Cheney 2000 Presidential campaign and also previously served as a counsel to a Commissioner at the FCC
Having been at the lead of the US Communications Commission, as I said, Kevin is no doubt a most privileged observer of all the developments going on in the American policy landscape and marketplace. I would therefore invite you to tell us what your thoughts are on the policies actions that the FCC is taking and will be taking in the future under the Obama administration.
I think that is very important both for the EU and the US to try to understand as much as possible what are the main evolutions that are taking place in our sector.
We all know that technological evolution and the wide availability of advanced services makes the ICT sector more and more interconnected around the world.
A useful example of this is given by the ongoing debate on net freedoms that is occurring in the US or the future review of the universal service that will be debated at the EU level in the near future.
Are the EU and the US in such a position not to take into account the outcome of such relevant developments?
In my view the approach and the choices of policy makers will increasingly influence each other. An advanced dialogue about the future of the sector – both at industry and at Institutions level – is therefore desirable.
I am sure that the presence of Kevin Martin in Rome today and tomorrow event organised by Agcom can be a witness of such a need.
Let me also welcome Mr Fabio Colasanti (whom you all know). Fabio has been serving for many years as Director General for Information Society and Media. He therefore has a huge expertise of the European telecom and media sector, both from a policy and from a market perspective, since he has closely followed all the developments that have taken place in the last years in all the member states of the European Union. I hope Fabio will also want to say a few words to our guest.
This is a very delicate phase of transition at EU level, following the recent designation of the new Commissioners with their respective portfolio by President Barroso. Following the European Parliament vote scheduled for January, the new Commission will be formally appointed and enter into force.
After having successfully terminated the review of the European regulatory framework, which has lasted for two years, we would be very interest, at this stage, to hear from Fabio what he thinks the main priorities of the new European Commission should be and – specifically – what he foresees as top priorities for the Mrs Neelie Kroes, the new EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media.
Finally, I would like to thank for accepting our invitation the Commissioners of the Italian Regulatory Authority: Mr. Roberto Napoli, Enzo Savarese, Andrea Camanzi and all the other participant at this dinner. Welcome to all.