The congress program opened with a future panel by KPMG on the afternoon of the third day in the aconium GmbH hall at the “Digital Regions – Today and Tomorrow” trade fair. Dr. Nicolas Sonder, Head of Digital Change in the Public Sector at KPMG, moderated the high-profile event. Marco Goymann, Director Regulatory Affairs, 1&1 Versatel, Dr. Stephan Pesch, Senior Expert Political Advocacy Regulation and Federal States Deutsche Telekom AG, Hans-Jürgen Bahde, Broadband Commissioner of the Stuttgart Region and Frank Krüger, Head of Digital Society and Infrastructure at the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) answered the moderator’s questions. “Where do we stand with broadband expansion in Germany?” was the first question posed by moderator Nicolas Sonder to kick off the discussion. While Stephan Pesch saw Germany as being on a “good path”, Marco Goymann felt that there was a lack of clear targets from politicians, among other things. Hans-Jürgen Bahde agreed with him and even stated for the Stuttgart area: “We are underserved!” and criticized the lack of fibre optic infrastructure. However, the panel participants were all optimistic about Germany’s digital future – as long as appropriate funding is used for the nationwide expansion of the broadband network and flexibility in implementation and cooperation between all players is maintained. Stephan Pesch emphasized: “More cooperation in the market is welcome from all sides.” Hans-Jürgen Bahde added: “The end consumer doesn’t care about the specific construct, which is why a broad range of offers is important for fair prices.” The BMVI expects a massive increase in the expansion of fiber optics and emphasized the importance of supporting companies, especially with campaigns such as Broadband@Mittelstand from the Federal Broadband Office. More inter-municipal cooperation and expansion with sustainable technologies were welcomed by all participants.
Stephan Pesch saw the various political funding programs as sensible, which “contribute to reducing the digital divide”, while Frank Krüger concluded with a positive view of the future and emphasized: “Good ideas that we can learn from are always welcome.”
Photo above: The KPMG panel
on October 26, 2017 in Berlin at the “Digital Regions – Today and Tomorrow” trade fair.
Photos below: Marco Goymann (Director Regulatory Affairs, 1&1 Versatel) and Dr. Stephan Pesch (Senior Expert Political Advocacy Regulation and Federal States Deutsche Telekom AG) at the KPMG panel.
Photo credits: aconium GmbH / Florian Schuh