Review
It is often said that to be an effective regulator in the communications business you have to be an amalgam of lawyer, engineer and economist. This has never more true than at present, where the entertainment and telecoms worlds have noisily collided, resulting in an avalanche of complex paperwork from the European Commission and from Ofcom. Mike Conradi will be well known to those CMA members who attend our seminars and focus days, where he is a familiar presence. He serves on our Regulatory College where he advises and comments on the flood of consultations that come from the Regulator and the Government. In this book he has written a superb introduction to the scene and, as General Editor, has orchestrated contributions from other lawyers over 8 chapters, the whole covering virtually every sub-set of Ofcom activity content and telecoms. Mike has not attempted to cover regulation in other Member States his book is UK-specific. But this is not a book riddled with legalese. It does not set out to advise or instruct on intricate points of law. However, it does contain, for those interested, a Table of Statutes, of Statutory Instruments, of European Statutes and of Ofcom Decisions under the Competition Act. The main content, however, is a very readable description and explanation of the rules and regulations relating (among other things) to: The five EU Directives that make up the Framework (and here Mike is as much up to date as the publishing cycle will allow a footnote on page 8 explains how the new Framework has been held up by arguments over three-strikes proposals. The book also details all the changes that the new Framework will introduce); The 2003 Coms Act; The 2007 Audio Visual media Services Directive (that is going through the process of being introduced into UK law); RIPA; The WT Act and Ofcom's approach to spectrum management. There are chapters on SMP, on Privacy issues, and on the Powers and Duties of Ofcom. I found the chapter on Openreach and BT s Undertakings to make fascinating reading. In short, this is a book that opens a window on a vitally important area that affects us all. As Mike says: I think it would be useful to regulatory affairs departments of telcos and service providers, and also to enterprises which themselves purchase communications services. I can only concur. --Communications Managers' Association, 2009
...this is a book which no serious practitioner of communications law can afford to ignore. --The Commonwealth Lawyer, 2010
About the Author
Mike Conradi is a partner at specialist technology law firm Kemp Little LLP, and his focus is on giving both commercial and regulatory advice to clients in the communications and technology sectors. His interest in the sector dates back to 1998-9 when he was placed on secondment to OFTEL, as it then-was, advising on international telecoms regulation. Mike is a guest lecturer on UK telecoms law to the telecoms law LLM programme at University College, London.
