At its General Assembly in Amsterdam on 19 and 20 April, the FTTH Council Europe appointed Ronan Kelly as its new president.
Kelly becomes the eighth person to hold this position since the organisation was founded in 2005. He replaces outgoing president, Edgar Aker, who occupied this position for the past year and came to the end of his term (see FTTH Council Europe renews call for action).
In addition to his new position as president of the FTTH Council Europe, Ronan Kelly continues in his role as chief technology officer, EMEA and APAC regions at broadband equipment maker ADTRAN.
“It is a great honour to have been chosen as the new President of the FTTH Council Europe,” said Kelly. “A lot has happened in the past year during Edgar Aker’s presidency. The FTTH market has matured and European decision-makers have shown a more ‘business-friendly’ approach to broadband policies.”
The FTTH Council Europe also outlined its strategy for the coming year, which will have a special focus on operators. The council will also continue its previous work plan, to ensure that the call for accelerated fibre deployment is heard by all the broadband stakeholders who can make a change in Europe (see A brighter future).
The FTTH Council Europe has set its main objectives:
- Motivate activists and stakeholders to support FTTH rollout and adoption
- Educate decision makers to understand the need for FTTH and its socio-economic benefits
- Convince operators and project leaders to deploy fibre networks
- Urge stakeholders to create a fibre-friendly environment
The FTTH Council Europe will also focus on consolidating the available studies, material, data and information produced by the organisation.
Following the elections held at the General Assembly, the Board of Directors now consists of the following nine members:
- Ronan Kelly, ADTRAN, Ireland – President
- Ismail Adibelli, Genexis, The Netherlands -– Treasurer
- Tobias Ahl, Rala Infratech, Sweden
- Magnus Angermund, Hexatronic Group, Sweden
- Antoni Bosch, Prysmian, Spain
- Michael Johansson, Ericsson, Sweden
- Joël Mau, Institut Mines-Télécom, France
- Ana Pesovic, Alcatel-Lucent, Belgium
- Edgar Van Essen, Reichle & De-Massari, The Netherlands
In addition, the Working Committee Chairs are:
- José Salgado, Portugal, Chair of the Deployment & Operations Committee
- Joeri Van Bogaert, Belgium, Chair of the Financing Committee
- Jan Schindler, Netherlands, Chair of the Market Intelligence Committee
- Karin Ahl, Sweden, Chair of the Policy & Regulation Experts Group
- Hans Kühberger, Austria, Chair of the World of Applications Committee
