Last week The FTTH Council Europe held its premier fiber industry event in Berlin. With over 3,300 delegates, it was their largest event to date with people attending from across Europe and the Middle East.
IQGeo was pleased to play our part in this important event with our own Raf Meersman representing the Council as its President. We hosted a Workshop session with technology and customer partners, sponsored the Fibration Night social activity, and welcomed delegates to our stand. And to top this off, IQGeo’s Network Manager Telecom software was honored with an FTTH Council innovation award. It was a very busy, enjoyable, and inspiring three days.
The FTTH Council Europe celebrates 20 years
This years’ 2024 Conference represented a 20-year anniversary milestone. Over these two decades a huge amount of vision and hard work has made full fiber broadband a reality for millions of homes and businesses across the continent. It was truly inspirational to see what has been achieved and to hear from many of the Council’s past Presidents about their collective contribution to the fiber industry.
Looking back over the impressive progress, it’s clear that the journey is still far from over and there was no better assessment of the state of the market and its future direction than Raf’s keynote speech to the assembled delegation. The goals for the industry are evolving and the FTTH Council laid out three clear objectives for the years ahead.
Goal 1 - From 70% to 100% fiber coverage
Looking across Europe, today there is an amazing 70% fiber coverage for homes passed and the first goal is to complete the remaining 30%. While it may seem that we’re almost finished, this final 30% represents some of the most difficult geographies to reach and Raf speculated that it may take a similar investment to complete this 30% as did the 70% already deployed. Innovative technology like our own Network Manager Telecom and Comsof Fiber software will continue to play a strategic role in achieving this first important goal.
To achieve full fiber coverage, The Council encouraged a focus on rural rollout that leverage both public and private investment. It also sees fiber playing a key role in our global environmental challenge, while creating labor market diversity opportunities for a growing and highly skilled workforce.
• Focus on rural areas
• Leverage public and private funding
• Promote fiber as green investment
• Encourage diversity in the labor market
Goal 2 – From 35% to 100% adoption
Coverage is not a fair representation of adoption and there is much still to do onin connecting homes. In Europe the actual adoption rate of fiber is still only about 35% and this figure in North America is even lower at around 22%. The industry is slowly beginning a shift from a rollout planning and design phase, to an adoption and maintenance phase. This will require new innovative technology and skill sets which is a trend IQGeo has already begun to see with our Workflow Manager and Network Revenue Optimizer software that helps operators efficiently manage field tasks and optimize connection paths with rapid cost estimates.
The Council points out that improving the customer experience with a cost-effective and reliable service is key to meeting this goal as is the switch from legacy copper that delivers poor bandwidth performance with high energy costs and a large carbon footprint.
• Maximize end user experience
• Switch off copper
Goal 3 – Reduce carbon footprint
Reducing environmental impact is a key objective for all industries and this is certainly true for fiber deployments. Fiber network technology consumes much less power than copper or coax alternatives, it has an extremely long life, and broadband is facilitating a whole range of industries and applications that are also contributing to lower carbon emissions.
Fiber networks are a catalyst to enabling the net-zero carbon emission targets being established by companies and governments. To support this, The Council is active with sustainability initiatives for network operators, and ecosystem vendors and is keen to promote the benefits that fiber networks bring to improving digital equity and the quality of life across EMEA and around the world.
• Innovate to reduce carbon footprint
• Improve quality of life
IQGeo recognizes the importance of carbon reduction and we have been measuring our carbon footprint since 2019 and offsetting our emissions for the last three years to become a net-zero company. We are working to do our part by becoming a net-zero supplier to the fiber network ecosystem.
Engaging stakeholders to meet the goals
While these three goals are ambitious, we only have to look back over the achievements of the last 20 years to know that together we can meet these targets. As a collective effort, investors, policy makers, operators and technology vendors like IQGeo need to work together to achieve 100% coverage and 100% adoption with a net-zero carbon future.
• Investors
• Policy makers
• Operators
• Vendors
A fiber network lifecycle example
At this years’ conference IQGeo was pleased to present a workshop session with VIAVI Solutions, Deepomatic, and Deutsche Glasfaser to share the strategy and benefits of an integrated network lifecycle. Engaging with some of the stakeholders referenced above, each organization explained how network management software from IQGeo, and hardware and analytics from Deepomatic combine to help Deutsche Glasfaser create an integrated lifecycle for the management of their rural fiber network. It was a fascinating session that illustrated operational best practices for the planning and design, construction, and ongoing operations of the Deutsche Glasfaser network.
FTTH Council Europe Innovation Award for IQGeo
The icing on the cake for IQGeo in Berlin was receiving an Innovation Award from the FTTH Council Europe. This is the first year that The Council has organized awards and defined five different award categories. IQGeo received the accolade for our Network Manager Telecom software in the category of “Planning, workflow, mapping/GIS, and AI software”. The judging panel was comprised of experts from the world of FTTH, including the FTTH Council Europe Board, Committee Chairs, and conference and workshops speakers. It was wonderful to have our software recognized by industry colleagues for the innovation we bring to the market, and the contribution we are making to achieving The Council’s three strategic goals.
Read the press release for the FTTH Innovation Awards >>>
A bright future for fiber in Europe
The 2024 FTTH Conference in Berlin was an exciting, educational, and inspiring event and we want to thank the FTTH Council Europe team for all their hard work and commitment. They have created Europe’s leading fiber industry event and this is down to the leadership provided by The Council over the last two decades. The achievements of the European fiber network ecosystem is impressive but there is still so much more to do.
The fiber market continues to evolve and advance as we strive to meet coverage, adoption, and environmental goals. Technology and skillsets are constantly reshaping and IQGeo will continue to adapt our own software technology to support the ever-changing landscape. The future is bright for fiber across Europe and the IQGeo team is excited about the business, environmental, and lifestyle opportunities it creates and we look forward to the next 20 years.
To learn more about how IQGeo is contributing to the fiber industry, join us at our annual EMEA Meetup in Cambridge on June 3-4th.
Our popular Meetup event aims to bring together professionals from the telecom and utility industries to share their knowledge and experience of technology and business best practices. The Meetup will include a series of keynote sessions, market updates, case studies, and product plans to help our customers meet their ambitious fiber network objectives while maximizing their return on investment with IQGeo technology.
Find out more on our events page >>>