Kees de Waard new president of the FTTH Council Europe!

The FTTH Council Europe sets out its priorities for the new European Institutions and elects new President, Board members and Committee Chairs

Brussels, 4 June 2019

During its General Assembly, the FTTH Council Europe formally adopted its working programme and announced the results of the annual election of its President, Board members and Working Committee Chairs. As the European elections just took place, with a new Parliament soon entering into office and a new College of European Commissioners to be appointed in the months to come, the FTTH Council Europe is keen to continue engaging with EU and national policy makers as a constructive contributor to the discussion and is therefore outlining its upcoming projects. The FTTH Council Europe will release a follow-up report to the copper switch-off study published in March this year. Even though the benefits of copper switch-off represent a win-win both for the endusers and the industry, and the transition to fibre will have a positive impact on the environment by reducing energy consumption1 , only a handful of Member States made tangible progress in the migration process. The approach remains very patchy in Europe with most of the Member States lacking a strategy with regards to copper switch-off. We are in a period of technology change and the way this process will be managed will be crucial in ensuring that no citizen is left behind. We are planning to issue policy recommendations on this issue and to propose solutions to tackle the regulatory hurdles, which prevent Europe from becoming a full fibre continent. The FTTH Council Europe will also pursue its work on fibre/5G Convergence. Fibre deployment will be the main underlying infrastructure of 5G and it will be instrumental to the European 5G leadership. The FTTH Council Europe is therefore convinced that fibre availability should be part of the measurement of 5G readiness and is willing to put its expertise and knowledge at the service of the European Institutions by contributing actively to their work.

Read more : https://bit.ly/2EM0O6X