The Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) celebrated its 20^th anniversary with a conference entitled "Communications, Results, Connectivity". Mr Nikola Kolev, Acting Chairman, made a brief review of the regulator's activity over the years, focusing on the achievements in the field of the competitive environment of the electronic communications market, which creates conditions for the emergence new, affordable and high quality services to benefit of the Bulgarian consumer.

In her keynote, Mrs Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, pointed out the next challenge for Europe - the development of 5G networks. In order to enable users to benefit from the next generation of Internet, a coordinated harmonization of spectrum should be achieved by 2020 at the European level. The penetration of 5G networks will help to bridge the digital divide between big cities and small settlements, which is one of the Digital Agenda’s main objectives.

The Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Mr Rossen Jeliazkov, the recent Chairman of the CRC, stressed that the Commission in the years of liberalization of the market and services, has succeeded in consolidating its independence and beneficial impact for the society. He pointed out that the great challenge we are facing today is the successful and correct transposition of the European Electronic Communications Code (EECC). This requires coordinated cooperation between all stakeholders – the ministry, the regulator and the business.

The Chair of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) Mr Johannes Gungl also congratulated CRC. He noted the active role of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the EECC adoption.

The conference participants discussed the main issues in the light of 5G developments, such as the provision of radio frequency resource and investments, the necessity for legislative changes to facilitate the roll-out of networks, as well as the new rules for end-users protection laid down in the EECC.