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FTTH Conference: My Takeaways Iqbal Singh Bedi, Managing Partner, Intelligens Consulting
discussed how fibre markets can evolve from rapid rollout to sustainable long-term investment models. My key takeaways: 1. Winning customers matters more than passing homes. Build metrics alone do not create value. Take-up, revenue and cash flow now matter more than headline coverage numbers. 2. Public intervention must be tightly targeted. State support works best where there is genuine market failure. If subsidy distorts viable markets, confidence and future private investment suffer. 3. Demand can unlock investment. Anchor tenant models, where public sector demand helps underpin rollout, can leverage private capital with less bureaucracy and stronger long-term outcomes. 4. The next phase of fibre will be less about land-grab economics and more about disciplined capital, monetisation and smarter partnership models. On Day 2, the wider message was even clearer: Keynotes from Francesco Nonno
(FTTH Council Europe Chair), Enrico Letta (Former Prime Minster of Italy) and Kamila Kloc-Evison (Director DG Connect, European Commission) centred on resilience, sovereignty, competitiveness and European strategic autonomy. A recurring theme was that geopolitical events are changing the world quickly and policy makers, investors and operators must act quickly to protect digital sovereignty (with less reliance on America, Russia and China) and resilience (physical - think subsea cables and cyber). There was notably little discussion about AI. That itself was revealing. AI may dominate headlines, but without resilient fibre networks, secure connectivity and power, it cannot scale. My strongest takeaway: fibre is the nervous system of modern society, and Europe (UK included) increasingly recognises that resilience and sovereignty now matter as much as speed. Finally congrats to Jeremy Chelot and Netomnia - winners of the FTTH Operator Award, for its exceptional contribution to the development and widespread implementation of FTTH.
Iqbal Singh Bedi is Managing Partner of Intelligens Consulting, a specialist advisory firm helping local authorities and public bodies deliver smarter, more connected places through digital transformation and emerging technology. With over 25 years of experience across telecoms, digital infrastructure and public sector transformation, he has advised councils and regional authorities across the UK and Ireland on smart city strategy, 5G deployment, IoT-enabled services and data-led regeneration. He is a regular speaker at industry and public sector events. In April I attended the FTTH Council conference. The increasingly unstable global geopolitical situation was a significant and recurring discussion point. For most of the time I was involved in the FTTH Council Europe Conference. There are vital lessons to be learned for government, policy makers, investors, operators and regulators. My Day 1 panel session alongside senior leaders from Simmons & Simmons, Macquarie Group, DWS Group, ING OPENFIBRE NETWORKS, Deutsche GigaNetz GmbH, Palladio Group
https://www.intelligensconsulting.com/
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MAY 2026 Volume 48 No.2
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