Podcast: BEREC chair says regulators are not holding back 5G success

Regulators are often seen as barriers to innovation and progress. Some argue that if only spectrum licences were more affordable, licence terms extended, and restrictions eased, we would witness 5G flourish as a truly transformational technology.

In this week’s episode of the PolicyTracker Spectrum Podcast, journalist Richard Haas speaks to Robert Mourik. Mourik is a commissioner at the Irish regulator ComReg and the current chair of BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic CommunicationsBEREC stands for the Body of European Regu…).

Mourik says that many problems facing the mobile industry in Europe cannot be solved by regulators and need to be tackled at a European or even an international level. He says that although spectrum policy is one of the biggest levers that regulators have, there is only so much they can do to stimulate demand.

The podcast also touches on European efforts to coordinate spectrum auctions and the upcoming European Digital Networks Act (DNA). Finally, we discuss the success of 5G in Europe and what the industry can learn from “over-hyping” new generations of mobile technologies.

Listen to the new podcast below. You can also find it on all major podcast platforms.