Karin Ahl was chosen president of the board of the FTTH Council Europe at the group’s General Assembly in Amsterdam March 28 and 29. The council also elected seven new members to the board.
Ahl is marketing director of Rala Infratech, a systems integrator specializing in optical fiber networks. She has been a member of the FTTH Council Europe since 2009, when she joined the new Business Committee and helped to launch the first FTTH Business Guide. She became chair of the Business Committee in 2011, and was also elected board member and treasurer of the FTTH Council Europe in the same year.
Ahl replaces Chris Holden, who stepped down at the end of his maximum term as member of board of directors and president.
“Fibre to the home is future proof, and everybody agrees that it is the endgame for broadband access,” Ahl said. “With our new ‘World of Applications’ initiative we will show the proof that FTTH enables and enhances interesting services and applications. This will address end consumers as well as policymakers to create a ‘pull’ for fiber connections from the market.”
“The ‘Why fibre?’ and ‘How fibre?’ strategy that we adopted last year has been extremely successful; therefore our strategy in 2012 will keep this overall approach while also broadening the scope of our activities,” explained Hartwig Tauber, director general of the FTTH Council Europe. “The financing topic is of particular importance in 2012 as the EU budget for the period 2014-2020 is being prepared, and it is necessary to ensure that sufficient funds are allocated to fibre roll outs.”
The FTTH Council Europe says it will continue to address the “push” and “pull” forces in the FTTH market. The council adds it plans to continue to work with entertainment providers and application developers to create and demonstrate services that push the market towards higher-speed networks.
The council’s board now consists of the following nine members:
- Ahl
- Treasurer Matthias Nass, ECI, Germany
- Eric Festraets, Alcatel-Lucent, Belgium
- Carlos Barroqueiro, CBE, Portugal
- Pastora Valero, Cisco Systems, Belgium
- Pär Cedergren, Ericsson AB, Sweden
- Gerlas van den Hoven, Genexis, The Netherlands
- Paul Schwartz, ICOTERA, Denmark
- Edgar Aker, Prysmian Group, The Netherlands
The Working Committee Chairs are:
- Joeri Van Bogaert, Belgium, chair of the Business Committee
- Wolfgang Fischer, Germany, chair of the Deployment & Operations Committee
- Jan Schindler, The Netherlands, chair of the Market Intelligence Committee
- Chris Holden, United Kingdom, chair of the Policy & Regulation Experts Group
- Ana Pesovic, Belgium, chair of the World of Applications Committee
The annual report 2011-2012, containing all the latest findings of the FTTH Council Europe’s Working Committees, was unveiled at the General Assembly. It is available for download at www.ftthcouncil.eu/documents/Reports/FTTHCE_AnnualReport_2011-2012.pdf.