Advanced Television

New President for Arcep

January 15, 2015

From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

French telecom watchdog Arcep has appointed a new president, Sébastien Soriano, who will succeed Jean-Ludovic Silicani, after being approved by French Assembly and Senate houses.

Soriano was formerly Fleur Pellerin’s special advisor at the Ministry of Culture and Communication. In his role as Arcep President, he will have to tackle several hot topics such as the mobile sector, the 700Mhz band auction, net neutrality and the deployment of ultra-fast broadband.

He has already declared his opposition to a merger of Arcep with TV counterpart CSA, preferring to work more closely with telcos.

“The regulator must be a referee, not only a good cop,” Soriano commented.

Not eager to regulate the Internet, Soriano has pledged for a better regulation of some of the larger platforms which impose their own rules online.

Categories: Articles, People, Regulation