- The company was honoured at the FTTH Conference in Berlin for its contribution to the development of full fibre-optic infrastructure in Europe.
- The CEO, Mr Gola, “We are proud of our contribution to Italy’s breakthrough in digital infrastructure. Now, we need to accelerate the deployment of fibre-optic networks.”
Berlin, 20 March 2024 – Open Fiber has been honoured with the FTTH Council Europe Operator Award 2024, the European prize awarded to companies particularly remarkable for their contribution to the development of FTTH (Fibre To The Home) fibre-optic infrastructures across the continent, the very ones able to ensure the Gigabit connection speed at the heart of the Italian and European connectivity plans.
Open Fiber was awarded by FTTH Council Europe, the European organisation created to accelerate the spread of fibre-optic connectivity and the development of a digital society in Europe. With more than 14 million property units connected to FTTH by September 2023, Open Fiber is the leading Italian FTTH operator and the largest among non- incumbent (ex-monopolist) operators in Europe.
The award was presented to Mr Giuseppe Gola, CEO of Open Fiber, during the FTTH Conference, the annual meeting organised by FTTH Council Europe, held this year in Berlin. During the FTTH Conference, Idate’s annual report on the state of FTTH connectivity in Europe for September 2022 – September 2023 was unveiled. In this time span, Italy recorded an increase of 1.5 million property units (UIs) compared to the previous survey, reaching 15.5 million UIs, representing around 60% of the total, close to the European average (EU27+ UK). Largely due to the efforts of Open Fiber, our country has seen remarkable growth in recent years. In 2018, Italy’s FTTH coverage stood at 24%. However, the take-up rate shows a less flattering figure, i.e., the actual deployment of FTTH networks, with Italy still significantly trailing behind the EU27+ UK average (53%) at around 27%.
“We are very pleased to honour Open Fiber, an operator that has proven to be at the forefront of the FTTH rollout since its creation in 2016,” remarked Mr Raf Meersman, President of FTTH Council Europe. “Open Fiber’s achievements have had the merit of stimulating investment in FTTH technology in Italy, a key market for Europe’s digital competitiveness.”
“We are proud to receive this award, which recognises Open Fiber’s significant contribution to Italy’s progress in digital infrastructure. Until a few years ago, Italy lagged far behind the European average,” said Mr Giuseppe Gola, C.E.O of Open Fiber. “However, users need to use networks to achieve digitisation, and Italy still has some catching up to do. Switching off the copper network and migrating to fibre, as recently assumed by the European Commission, would make it easier to attain the gigabit connectivity targets set by the EU while ensuring a reliable return horizon for private investment in deploying ultra-fast networks.”