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19 Apr 2023
More than 3,000 optical communications professionals meet at annual FTTH Conference Europe.
Fiber to the home (FTTH) industry leaders from across Europe are gathered at this week’s FTTH Conference 2023, happening between 18-20 April 2023 at IFEMA Feria de Madrid. Building on the success of last year’s edition of the show in Vienna, Austria, the FTTH Conference 2023 is one of the most anticipated industry events bringing together policymakers, regulators, operators, and investors.Eric Festraets, President of the FTTH Council Europe, commented, “Nowadays, it is widely recognized that the future relies on FTTH. There is still much work to do, however, before everyone can enjoy the undisputed superiority of fiber connectivity: bringing the networks to those regions that are not yet covered and ensuring that fiber is actually chosen by end subscribers should be the top priorities for the industry in 2023.”
Every year, the event aims at covering the most crucial challenges and opportunities ahead for the fiber industry, by bringing on stage the perspective of regulatory bodies, investment funds, and top operators across Europe.
Diverse program
This year’s speaker line-up includes: Roberto Viola – Director General of DG Connect at the European Commission; Matías González Martín – the newly-appointed Secretary General for Telecommunications at the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation of Spain; Tomas Lamanauskas – Deputy Secretary-General at the International Telecommunication Union; Ulrik Vestegergaard Knudsen – Deputy Secretary-General at OECD; and Yuriy Matsyk – Head of the MDT’s Directorate of Fixed Broadband at Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation.
“With this year’s edition of the event being held in Spain, a mature market in terms of FTTH deployment, we take the opportunity to reflect on the lessons we can learn from the successful fiber rollout seen in this country and, more generally, on the next steps our industry needs to undertake once the network deployment is nearly completed,” said Vincent Garnier, Director General of the FTTH Council Europe.
“Stimulating the adoption of fiber and fiber-enabled services is definitely on top of this list, and we delve into this theme by reflecting on the most effective strategies to accelerate its take-up, both from a business and a regulatory perspective.”
The conference program also covers the usual focuses on some key European markets like Germany and the UK, several deep-dives into the latest developments in terms of technology (moving to 10G and beyond, the decommissioning of copper networks, future applications to run on fiber networks and the importance of in-home connectivity among these) as well as on the most recent policy and regulation initiatives that interest the fiber industry.
In addition to this, the program also explores the sustainability issue and the need to rapidly adapt corporate strategies to the undergoing climate and energy crisis, by significantly reducing energy consumption and lowering our carbon footprint.
Talent management and diversity also find relevant space within the conference agenda, by means of a dedicated panel session on how to attract and retain skilled labor in a time of shortage for the industry, and by the announcement of the new “Champion of Diversity Award”, introduced for the first time this year.
Award winners
Four awards in total were presented by Eric Festraets – President of the FTTH Council Europe, during the plenary session of the FTTH Conference on 19 April, rewarding the outstanding contributions to the well-being of the industry and the acceleration of FTTH deployment in Europe:
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