European Financiers Urge Telecom Operators to Invest in Fiber

BRUSSELS  ? The FTTH Council Europe initiated its first investors’ road show to present the advantages and development potential of fiber access, meeting with Frankfurt?based investment companies such as Frankfurt Trust, COMINVEST, Union Investment, DWS Investment and DEKA Investment. The meetings were organized by WestLB, a major European commercial bank with investment banking activities, and focused on the market development of FTTH in Europe and the business case for fiber rollout. Council members were joined by Jan Davids, director of wholesaling of Reggefiber, a major FTTH operator in The Netherlands.

According to the Council, the investors’ feedback was extremely positive. Investors acknowledged that fiber access could herald the next wave of growth in high-technology telecommunications, and many agreed that investing in FTTH deployment is a low-risk, secure, long?term investment.

Considering the economic, environmental and social impact of FTTH and its development potential, investors expressed concern that some telecom operators may be missing the turning point, and said they believed further delay in investing in FTTH technology could lead operators to lose market share. The investors raised specific concerns about some incumbent operators that are hesitating to build FTTH networks while their competitors continue to roll out fiber and connect customers to their advanced networks.

“This road show was an important step forward to convince the investors community that the best point in time to invest in fiber is today,” says Karel Helsen, President of the FTTH Council Europe. “It is a good sign that the investors see FTTH deployments as secure long?term investments. Now that investment experts have accepted that FTTH represents the only future?proof wired broadband solution while all kinds of new wireless technologies are seen as important but complementary offerings, we feel strongly supported in our continuous efforts towards FTTH mass rollout.”

Based on feedback and requests from participating investors, the FTTH Council Europe plans to organize another similar information tour next year.