The “Governmental Day” workshop took place on 14 February in Marseille and featured keynotes by representatives of the European Commission and authorities within the EU member states followed by subsequent discussions in the context of current broadband issues as well as best-practice experiences in Europe.
Similar to the previous two years, the workshop in Marseille was a great success in bringing together stakeholders from all over Europe and developing a common platform to exchange knowledge and experience on broadband initiatives and practices.
The workshop was moderated by Tony Shortall, director at TELAGE with the focus on the following topics:
European Commission policy update on broadband development
The workshop started with a keynote by Mr. Fabio Nasarre de Letosa, Senior Legal Expert – Investment in High-Capacity Networks at DG CONNECT, European Commission. He outlined the recent policy measures in broadband development focusing on the Digital Single Market, the major funding programmes as well as the new strategy on Connectivity for a European Gigabit Society.
Broadband development in the EU member states
Subsequently, a keynote presentation was held by Mr. Johannes Feldmann. The Chief Operation Officer at aconium GmbH informed participants about the latest development and trends in broadband development throughout Europe. Different practical measures for local and regional authorities were demonstrated in line with good examples for stimulating demand and supply for superfast internet in the EU member states.
Interactive session 1 (panel discussion): Winning projects of the European Broadband Awards 2016
The European Broadband Awards is an annual event where the European Commission recognizes outstanding broadband internet projects in Europe. It highlights the successful establishment of broadband infrastructures through these awards.
During the “Governmental Day” workshop, the winners of the categories “Innovative models of financing, business and investment”, “Cost reduction and co-investment” and “Openness and competition” participated in the panel discussion and exchanged their success stories. Mr. Maciej Midloch (CEO at WSS Operator from Poland), Ms. Sandra Lotti (Officer at LepidaSpA from Italy) as well as Mr. Hartwig Tauber (CEO at nöGIG from Austria) discussed their innovative approaches and shared knowledge from their projects. Moreover, Mr. Darijus Valiucko (project manager at aconium GmbH) informed the participants about the future coming European Broadband Awards in 2017.
Interactive session 2 (panel discussion): Driving forces of FTTH – supporting local and regional authorities
Moderated by Mr. Chris Ashe (Director of European Institute for Innovation), the second panel discussion tackled the challenging topic of broadband provision in rural areas. The session aimed to discuss the importance of segmented areas in terms of connectivity and investigated existing barriers towards bridging digital divide in these areas. This has been followed by alternative solutions and approaches as well as future forecasts by the panellists. Mr. Per-Olof Gustafsson (Deputy CEO at Stokab, Sweden), David Cullen (Director at ITS Technology Group, UK) and Dirk Strijker (Professor at Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, the Netherlands) exchanged their expertise on the following issues:
- Existing barriers towards bridging digital
divide in rural areas - Potential approaches, solutions
and alternative methods - Future forecasts in short,
mid and long term
At the end of the workshop, Mr. Christian Zieske, Deputy CEO of the German Federal Broadband Bureau, emphasized the vital role of local and regional authorities in the process of broadband development and highlighted the importance of events like the ”Governmental Day” in bringing together stakeholders to exchange knowledge and experiences.
The FTTH Conference is the biggest fibre to the home related conference in the world. Next year the conference will take place on 13-15 February in Valencia, Spain.
Find out more at: http://www.ftthconference.eu/
