As always, time went by too quickly: The FTTH Conference took place in Berlin from March 19 to 21, 2024. More than 3,500 guests from all over Europe from business, associations and politics and over 100 exhibiting companies came together at HUB 27 on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds to discuss the latest developments and trends in the field of broadband expansion.
As one of the main sponsors of the FTTH Conference and a major player in Germany’s broadband expansion, aconium GmbH could not be missing this event. We were not only represented with an exhibition stand: On the first day of the FTTH Conference, the workshop day, we organized the Governmental Day for municipalities, participated in a high-profile panel and were able to deepen our connection to our Ukrainian partners
Successful format celebrates anniversary
For the tenth time, aconium GmbH organized the Governmental Day Workshop, which offers an interactive platform for knowledge exchange between stakeholders in the broadband industry. Franco Accordino, Head of the EU Commission’s “Investment in High-Capacity Networks” department, provided updates on the EU Commission’s plans for broadband expansion. He was joined by Elena Galindo from the Spanish Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda, Igor Brusic, CSO of nöGIG Service GmbH and Amanda Glancy, Director of Corporate Affairs at SIRO, as speakers at the Governmental Day Workshop.
A guest on a top-class stage
We also had a lot to say on other topics. For example, our expert Widar Wendt took part in the panel “Germany at high speed, keys to accelerate deployments”. He was joined on stage by Carsten Engelke from the broadband association ANGA, Christian Hoffman from Accenture, Jan Schindler from the FTTH Council and Ralf Puetz from Hexatronic. They discussed the rising costs along the entire value chain in fiber optic expansion and which best practices the German players could implement so that fiber optic expansion can succeed in times of a shortage of skilled workers and high prices.
Unique conversations with Ukrainian partners
In addition to other infrastructure, broadband connections are of vital importance for Ukraine due to the war of aggression unleashed by Russia. For this reason, a delegation from the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Affairs and the Ukrainian e-Governance Academy took part in Europe’s most important trade fair for broadband infrastructure. aconium has been supporting Ukraine since the beginning and has been operating an office in Kiev since 2021, which supports the country with challenges in infrastructure expansion. This provided a unique opportunity for an in-depth discussion with Olha Nasvishchuk and Nataliia Pohorska, two broadband experts from the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine (MDTU). They reported on everyday life under wartime conditions in their home country. The guests also used their stay to discuss the further development of the “Broadband Atlas Ukraine” project with aconium GmbH’s TechHub.
Event with highlights
There was also plenty to see and hear alongside the aconium stand. For example, guests were able to attend exclusive keynotes with Roberto Viola, Director General at DG CONNECT of the European Commission on the EU’s current regulatory initiatives to accelerate fiber connectivity and Tamira Snell, Senior Advisor & Futurist at the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies on insights into changing customer demands and how the telecommunications market can respond to them. The FTTH Council Europe presented its market report, with encouraging news: 244 million buildings in the EU39 region are accessible via FTTH and FTTB. Even rural areas could be supplied with 64 percent FTTH and FTTB. Michael Theurer, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV), provided information on the supply of gigabit connections in Germany in his speech. The FTTH Conference in Berlin was therefore a valuable event for both the organizers and aconium GmbH, at which knowledge and news about fibre optic expansion was exchanged, contacts were made with potential partners and existing partnerships were intensified.