Workshop on Municipal Fiber Networks - presentations & report online

On October 24th, a workshop on Municipal Fiber Networks was hosted by Ghent University/IBBT in Gent. It was co-organized by three projects: the European FP7-project OASE "Optical Access Seamless Evolution", the IBBT-ICON project TERRAIN "Techno-Economic Research for futuRe Access Infrastructure Networks" and the NGInfra project “What are the Public Benefits of Open Access? Evaluating the Social Cost and Benefits of Municipal Fiber Networks.”

The workshop contributed in spreading knowledge from existing fiber network initiatives towards different players involved in potential future deployments. Distinguished speakers from throughout Europe tackled different aspects including expected revenues as well as indirect effects, potential synergies in deployment and operations and suitable business models. The keynote speech was given by Benoit Felten, who stressed the importance of a universal and competitive Fiber-to-the-Premises infrastructure.

Over one hundred registered participants contributed to the sessions and participated in the discussion. The final part of the workshop was a panel discussion on the role of the city and its involvement in rollout and operations of such FTTH network as well as on the benefits for actors like inhabitants, companies, tourists, etc.

The final program, all presentations and an extensive report can be found on the event website
http://events.ibbt.be/en/workshop-municipal-fiber-networks