News
Achieving EU wide cohesion on copper switch-off and fighting misleading FTTC ads remain top of the agenda for the Council
The FTTH Council Europe has announced that Kees de Waard of Skyplane Optics will serve as the company’s new president. De Waard was elected to the position following the completion of Ronan Kelly’s second term in office.
One of de Waard’s key priorities will be ensuring that the FTTH Council Europe continues to lobby for a unified position on copper switch off among EU member states.
"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," an FTTH Council Europe spokesperson said.
De Waard will also be tasked with lobbying against misleading fibre advertisement campaigns, which still market fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) services as "full fibre" solutions.
"We believe that misleading fibre advertisement prevents consumers from making an informed choice about the products, which are available to them and risks hindering the fourth objective of the recently adopted European Electronic Communications Code, which is fibre take-up. Our request is to complement the new Code with guidelines on fibre advertisement," the spokesperson continued.
Also in the news:
Ofcom grants UK’s ISPs and MNOs unrestricted access to Openreach’s ducts and poles
