18 March 2026
8:30 am-9:00 am
Welcome Coffee and Registration
9:00 am-9:05 am
GCR welcome remarks
9:05 am-9:15 am
Chairs' opening remarks
Antonio Bavasso
Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Michele Davis
Partner, Freshfields
9:15 am-9:45 am
Keynote address
Carlota Reyners Fontana
Director, IT, Communication and Media, DG Competition, European Commission
9:45 am-10:00 am
Lightning talk: status of the Media sector
Sean McGuire
Director of Investment & Strategy, Oliver & Ohlbaum
10:00 am-11:00 am
Media sector: wave of consolidation ahead
- Challenges and pressures driving consolidation across the media sector
- Evolving role of competition policy and regulatory frameworks in a converging media landscape
- How is increased interaction between media formats impacting the application of the plurality framework?
Antonio Bavasso
Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Kristina Barbov
Director of Competition & Regulatory, Sky
Mike Darcey
Media Executive and Commentator, Formerly News UK (CEO) and Sky (COO)
Oliver Latham
Vice President, Charles River Associates
Thomas Masterman
Partner, A&O Shearman
Simeon Thornton
Economics Director, Ofcom
11:00 am-11:30 am
Networking break
11:30 am-11:45 am
Lightning talk: status of the telecoms industry
Karen Egan
Managing Director & Head of Telecoms, Enders Analysis
11:45 am-12:45 pm
Telecoms industry: lessons learned and an analyst view
- Lessons from UK cases and their implications for future market dynamics
- Explore international case studies and proposals for regulatory reform in mobile and infrastructure sectors
- How should competition and regulation evolve to support public policy and growth in telecoms?
Andrea Coscelli
Senior Partner, Head of Europe, Keystone
Luisa Affuso
Chief Economist and Group Director Economics and Analytics, Ofcom
Katie Curry
Partner, RBB Economics
David Foster
Executive Director, Frontier Economics
Jenine Hulsmann
Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Ben Wreschner
Group Regulatory Policy Director, Vodafone
12:45 pm-1:15 pm
Keynote address
Martijn Snoep
Chairman, Netherlands Authority for Consumer and Markets
1:15 pm-2:15 pm
Networking lunch
2:15 pm-2:30 pm
Lightning talk: status of the AI industry
Richard Kramer
Founder, Arete Research
2:30 pm-3:30 pm
AI upstream: infrastructure and innovation
- Examine competition and regulatory concerns across the upstream AI value chain - chips, data, cloud, and models
- Can current regulatory frameworks keep pace with rapid innovation and shifting market dynamics?
- Implications of foundation model development and infrastructure access in AI ecosystems
Jenny Leahy
Partner, Freshfields
Andrea Appella
Associate General Counsel EMEA, OpenAI
Kirsten Edwards-Warren
Founding Partner, Econic Partners
Ben Maynard
Director of Communications, CISPE
Ingrid Vandenborre
Partner, Skadden
3:30 pm-4:00 pm
Networking break
4:00 pm-5:00 pm
AI downstream: where AI meets users
- How are tech firms embedding AI into core products and what are the legal implications of this shift?
- How are AI-driven enhancements being evaluated under antitrust laws and emerging regulatory frameworks?
- Can innovation and competition be balanced in an increasingly AI-powered marketplace?
Nicole Kar
Partner, Paul Weiss
Luuk Bressers
Associate General Counsel - Competition & Regulatory, Meta
Dominique Costesec
Senior Competition Counsel, Google
Rita Wezenbeek
Director Online Platforms: Economy, DG Connect, European Commission
Ricardo Zimbrón
Partner, Cleary Gottlieb
5:00 pm-5:15 pm
Chairs' closing remarks
Antonio Bavasso
Partner, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Michele Davis
Partner, Freshfields
