World-class Hungarian 4G services
Monika Karas opened the Internet Hungary event
The Internet Hungary conference opened its doors to the public for the eighteenth time. At the event, President of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH) Monika Karas explained that trends are rapidly changing and innovations are progressing at dizzying speed, which demands rapid reaction not only from the Hungarian, but all European regulatory bodies. At the same time, however, due to its distinctive features, the legal environment managed by the regulatory authority is naturally unable to adapt in all cases to the changes as rapidly as the field requiring regulation, yet it sensibly irons out the unnecessary deviations and dead-ends of trends on the market, stressed the President of the NMHH.
The purpose of the Internet Hungary conference, one of the most significant forums of the internet as a market segment, is for the international and domestic representatives of the information society and digital economy to consider the opportunities offered by the internet and outline developmental trends. At the opening of the event on 26 September, the President of the NMHH explained—in reference to the conference’s motto: “Running late?”—that nowadays, tardiness doesn’t mainly refer to being late in time, but rather lagging behind and the fear of missing out on something. The average internet, and particularly, social media user is afraid of missing out on something, yet it is important to recognize that there is no need to compare ourselves to others if we dare to live at our own tempo.
The President also noted that the regulatory authority itself and the legal environment are unable to adapt in all cases to the changes as rapidly as the field requiring regulation. However, timely regulations can iron out the unnecessary deviations and dead-ends of trends and designate reference points which allow for the safe achievement of additional goals without regulating fields which are still under development and thus pose do not obstructions to development, she explained. The President stressed that apart from keeping up the necessary tempo, the authority monitors market trends and through discourse and the harmonizing of needs, it seeks to establish a regulatory environment which is predictable and reliable for consumers and market operators alike. In relation to this, the President touched on the now mostly free roaming regulations, EU net neutrality provisions and the plans on freeing up the 700 MHz frequency band, the latter of which will be carried out through the development of the National Roadmap.
In her speech, the President also highlighted the achievements in the field of Hungarian internet coverage: the domestic 4G-mobile networks are world-class systems as, based on the measurement of an international net speed measurement organization, the Hungarian mobile net is the third fastest system after Norway and the Netherlands, whilst the country is in the fourteenth place based on its fixed-asset internet services, both of which are achievements we can be duly proud of.