Jari Arkko's panel speech at the OECD Ministerial Meeting in Mexico, June 2016: [Question: What should be the focus of a reassessment of existing regulation in light of convergence, and are regulators equipped to do so?] Thank you. I want to dig a bit deeper first on what we mean with convergence and how it relates to Internet architecture and evolution, before returning back to the topic of regulation. Obviously, the Internet has fuelled innovation and economic growth, but why is that? One part of the answer is that it fullfils our need to communicate. But maybe an even bigger factor is how the Internet is architected. It has been fundamentally built for innovation and for accommodating different applications. So it is not a suprise that we are talking about convergence. The Internet architecture allows different underlying networking technologies such as cellular or fiber to evolve independently. The architecture also supports permissionless innovation, by allowing anyone to come up with new applications and run them over the same global network. And it allows even the technology or at least some of the technology to evolve easily, as well. When we talk about convergence, we often think of applications such as TV merging with Internet. The economics of the Internet have made it possible to run this service on the Internet instead of using a dedicated network. But at the same time, thousands if not millions of applications are becoming possible because there is no need to build that dedicated network for them. Environmental monitoring. Smart farming. Health applications. And so on. But the Internet is not standing still. We need to avoid us policy makers or engineers working towards just our own perception of the world, as the younger generations keep redefining what is needed. The changes are not just about delivering a service in a new way, they are more fundamental. Lets take the TV service as an example. It is changing not just in terms how the bits are transmitted, but the concept itself evolves. We are moving from linear TV to different services. This changes who you interact with, who the players are, and what kinds of business models apply. My kids don't watch TV channels at all, they follow individuals on youtube. And who knows what they will do in five years. And there are technical changes as well. For instance, we're seeing a big change in security and privacy technology use in the Internet. Through the choices of various web sites, the amount of encrypted traffic in the Internet is rapidly rising. Because it fits the needs of those websites and their users. And because an ever larger fraction of Internet content is personalised, needing to be better protected. And to some extent also due to concerns over pervasive surveillance. This change by the way also impacts on how operators can manage their networks. For background, I am from Internet Engineering Task Force or the IETF, the organisation that develops the core technical standards for the Internet. So back to the effects of the use of security technology on the Internet. Experts from the IETF and GSMA -- the association of mobile operators -- for instance have been working together on designing tools that allow the operators to manage their networks without having to rely on access to the details of the traffic flowing through their network. Other technical changes relate to how web traffic is carried through networks. For instance, last year, the IETF published a new version or a redesign of the web's underlying protocol, HTTP, for all browsers, and this year we are looking at even further changes. We are also working on putting real-time communications and phone calls to browsers, enabling any website to use the technology that today is available from applications such as Skype. Imagine the innovation when any small company can use this technology in the manner that supports their business. Going from tradional phone service to VoIP applications and now to the browsers. And again, what's next? All this results in faster evolution, and the ability of the endpoints to better choose how their applications work. My point with this long background is that the Internet is a moving target. And that there are fundamental issues at play, from the ability to innovate to making it possible to build and manage networks. The Internet architecture is a boon for application development and diversity. You can expect that global competition, new services, and new ideas continue to flow, and that the pace is likely only increasing. Yet there are many of issues relating to competition, market dominance, fairness, consumer protection, privacy, trust, freedom to innovate, and so on. These issue span across the Internet ecosystem, by the way, and are not merely related to broadband services. The Internet generates a global market, and you have to watch for, for instance, winner-takes-it-all situations, state of competition, and ability to innovate in all kinds of Internet-related services. So when we talk about regulation, there are no easy answers, and the policy makers must carefully weigh where they should put their focus. I should also note that we in the IETF have no opinion on regulatory or business model matters -- in general, we build technology components, but how they are applied is up to others. But I would personally like to suggest though a couple of starting points: Be aware of the evolution and future trends. Be aware of the whole ecosystem and global nature of some of the questions. Be aware that many of the issues are difficult judgment calls. Managing the traffic in networks is more of an art than precise science, for instance. [Question: How can both competition and innovation be protected in a context of industry consolidation (regarding access obligations, bundles, etc.)?] I'd like to acknowledge again that these questions are complex, and weighing how access obligations, pricing, and competition works requires careful judgment. I'd like to focus a bit on the side that doesn't involve regulation. Competition and innovation work best when everyone has the same possibilities. One aspect of that is ensuring that the interfaces that the different players need to work together stay open. Obviously standards play a big role here. We at the IETF for instance are working hard on further evolution of interfaces between browsers and web servers, and the interworking between operators, content delivery networks, and content providers. It is very important that we continue to have an open, well-specified Internet infrastructure. There's also role for the the different businesses and governments to demand that it continues indeed to be the case. This is what allows the small players and starts to connect and innovate. Finally, I'd like to suggest that most Internet issues are best dealt with in a open and multistakeholder fashion. We develop standards openly among the engineers, academics, operators, and even some regulators. We develop Internet's global administrative processes the same way. This model is probably a good one also when thinking about the possible regulatory responses.