In February our team returned to the FTTH Conference, the premier event for the fiber industry in Europe. Here we launched both our new IQGeo branding to the sector and a new product: Workflow Manager
New solutions for global challenges
Workflow Manager was developed in close partnership with our customers and is designed to help Communications Service Providers (CSPs) meet business-critical KPIs for time-to-market, operational cost savings, Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), and customer satisfaction.
These themes and the impact on process optimization really resonated with delegates at the FTTH Conference. There was a lot of talk around the importance of real time collaboration between the field and office for operations and construction teams. The challenges faced by the industry are the same for CSPs in Europe and North America: everyone needs to do more with less, resources are limited, but expectations for improving Net Promoter Score (NPS) and rolling out new networks remains as high as ever. There is a general consensus that operators need to streamline process and increase team productivity using smart, innovative systems.
FTTH in Europe
A recent report by CBI flagged concerns about the impact of Brexit on full-fiber broadband rollout and 5G mobile network deployment, but at the FTTH European Conference there was better news for the UK. The FTTH Council for Europe, in conjunction with its partner IDATE, released the latest FTTH/B rankings list[i] which included the UK for the first time. This is no surprise given the impressive expansion of fiber infrastructure companies building networks in the UK like Openreach, CityFibre, Talk Talk, Gigaclear, Hyperoptic, Community Fibre and new entrant Zzoomm. The IDATE list documents fiber status in countries with more than 1% household penetration, showing just how mixed the picture of FTTH is across Europe. Clearly there is still much more work to do to meet EU targets.
Regulatory pressure
An underlying theme throughout the entire event was the critical importance of fiber networks to economic growth in our modern global society. This is supported by the European Commission’s EU Broadband Vision, which stated that the: ‘Availability of top-class connectivity, by means of fiber networks, together with the right set of digital skills in the workforce is predicted to have an impact on total factor productivity of the European economy, for example improving the way capital and labour are employed in the economy, and result in higher GDP growth.’
Event delegates also talked about the essential role that fiber plays in the success of 5G. Many echoed the sentiment that “without pervasive fiber there is no 5G”. This is another focus area for the European Commission which cited 5G as ‘one of the most critical building blocks of our digital economy and society in the next decade’. It has set out a roadmap that will see 5G services launched in all EU Member States by the end of 2020, followed by a rapid build-up to ensure uninterrupted 5G coverage in urban areas and along main transport paths by 2025.
Delivering the right solutions
European fiber network providers are under a great deal of pressure right now; as well as increasing regulatory oversight there’s huge competition and the requirement to make massive investments in multi-year, next generation fiber network rollouts. This dynamic created a real buzz at this years’ FTTH Conference together with a sense of excitement about the opportunities that these challenges present. There is clearly a widespread acceptance that in order to deliver, the industry must embrace digital transformation.
IQGeo works with CSPs around the world, including 3 of the top 10 telecom providers in North America, helping them to transform their infrastructure deployment and management to deliver high value services, increase customer satisfaction and reduce the cost of field planning, design, construction and maintenance activities. To learn more about myWorld* and its range of applications developed specifically for CSPs, please visit our website.
[i] Source: IDATE for FTTH Council, Europe, March 2019
*myWorld is now the IQGeo Platform
The 6.0 release of our software included a product name change from myWorld to the IQGeo Platform. This change reflects our focus on the IQGeo corporate brand that was launched at the beginning of 2019. Our website and latest product user interface have made the transition from the old myWorld name to the new IQGeo Platform name. Learn more about the IQGeo Platform 6.0 release.