Despite its journalism-centric billing, the conference offered a range of discussions on how to update the regulation of US communications markets
US: FCC proposes a ban on phone locking
The US would join only a handful of other countries that have pursued a ban on SIM locking to encourage greater competition at the retail level
Restricting smartphones and social media for children
As political leaders debate banning the use of phones and platforms, tensions between teaching digital skills and ensuring safety online may be set to rise
Mobile market consolidation in the US
T-Mobile claims acquiring UScellular will boost competition, but M&A in such a concentrated market will attract scrutiny over the potential effects on pricing and consumers
US: Life without the Affordable Connectivity Program
As Congress stalls on allocating resources to the federal affordability programme, ISPs will shift their attention to state-level equity requirements for BEAD funding
Cloud market competition concerns in Spain
A complaint alleging anti-competitive behaviour by Microsoft reflects familiar anxieties about the dominance of US tech firms and Europe’s (in)ability to compete in digital markets
US: FCC issues fines for privacy violations
New legislative proposals on data privacy would transfer the regulation of privacy in the telecoms sector to the FTC but bring the US closer in alignment to its peers
UK: Regulating IoT product safety
The “world-first” law takes on the rapidly growing consumer IoT market as research finds that 99% of UK adults own at least one covered device
TikTok on the clock
Neither a sale nor a ban of the app seem likely in the 270-day timeline given the firm’s pledge to challenge the measure in court
UK/US AI safety partnership
As the UK and US draw closer in alignment on their approaches to AI safety, more countries have moved to consider the competition implications of the emerging technology’s boom
