Episode 1: the Market Intelligence Committee

Stefano Fogli and Icíar Martínez Núñez, respectively Chair and Vice-Chair of the Market Intelligence Committee of the FTTH Council Europe, address some of the most common questions we receive on the work of this very dynamic working group:

  1. What are the main activities of the Market intelligence Committee?
  2. Who participates in the committee and how is the work organised?
  3. What is the workplan of the committee for 2023?
  4. What do you value the most from your work at the FTTH Council Europe?

Read the full interview below to get the anwers to these questions.

 

What are the main activities of the Market Intelligence Committee?

The purpose of the Market Intelligence Committee is to analyze the European market with regards to full-fibre deployment, in order to understand the status and the future evolution for every European country. We try to detect and share with both other Members of the FTTH Council Europe and the general public valuable market drivers, best practices and lessons learned from the data we gather.

We summarize the above analysis within our flagship report, the “FTTH/B Market Panorama”, which we publish since 2012. This report is built from the ground-up every year in cooperation with a partner analyst, using various official sources and the fundamental input coming from many Members active in all European countries.

In the last few years, the Committee has broaden its scope by producing two more reports: the FTTH Market Forecasts 2022-2027 and an overview of fibre deployments in rural areas. 

More and more often, we collaborate with other committees of the Council, as we see various overlaps in the topics we cover. In fact, we have been already involved in many other studies such as the Response to the public consultation on the draft BEREC Report on a consistent approach to migration and copper switch-off, a study on Best Practices in Fibre and advertising and on the Socio Economic Impact of FTTH. 


Who participates in the committee and how is the work organised?

The Market Intelligence Committee can count on almost 80 members, from 50 member companies.

We have a monthly call to review the workplan and to catch up on the ongoing activities. During the General Assemblies of the FTTH Council Europe, we usually have a wider exposure to the entire membership, and we take the opportunity of such gatherings to present and discuss our future plans. As a committee, we pursue our work in coordination with the Board of Directors of the association, thanks to a specific liaison contact.

As the annual FTTH Conference approaches, our workload consequently increases, and we strengthen the collaboration with our partner analyst to get our Market Panorama report ready to be officially presented during the event. In addition to this, every year we organize a workshop focused on the country where the conference takes place. Next year's FTTH Conference will happen in Madrid, and we are working hard to prepare a good session for all the delegates coming to Madrid!


What is the workplan of the committee for 2023?

As already mentioned, the key activities of the committee are the main reports we produce on an annual basis:  the FTTH/B Market Panorama, the FTTH Market Forecasts and the FTTH/B in Rural Areas report.

We are working closely with our analyst partner to strengthen the market data and to introduce some additional elements to our reports, such as new insights covering the technology used in fibre deployment. Also, we aim at todelivering extra value from the historical data we have at our disposal, offering a vertical view per each country, which highlights the path towards FTTH/B.


Personally, what do you value the most from your work at the FTTH Council Europe?

Stefano: what I value the most is being able to see from a very privileged angle the progress that Europe is making towards a major goal, which has an enormous benefit to our society

Iciar: For me, the best part of working at the Market Intelligence Committee is having the possibility of sharing experiences and best practices with colleagues from other countries in Europe. You can easily find companies with similar business models to yours, and you are therefore able to understand their experience and their working methods. Ultimately, being part of a Committee gives you many networking opportunities with other Member companies.

 

 

 


 

More about Stefano Fogli


In my professional life, I have had the opportunity to work towards the development of full-fibre access market in amazing – and very different – companies. I started with Alcatel-Lucent in Italy in 2006, then I moved to the UK – first with Huawei and then I joined BT, where I have been the head of architecture for Openreach for four years. In late 2019 I moved back to Italy, to enjoy the adventure of launching a new full-fibre operator called Sky Wifi, and finally in late 2021 I joined Adtran, with the role of business development director in the EMEA region, working with the CTO office. Within this so varied experience, I have always tried to champion the latest and emerging products and ideas, while providing internal and external education to the advancement of broadband access.
 


More about Icíar Martínez Nuñez

 

Icíar Martínez Núñez is Markets and Product Director at Onivia. Telecommunications Engineer, specialist in Telecommunications Economics with strong connections to the world of telecommunication. Icíar has worked at Orange since her early days in landlines and internet and, during the expansion of the French operator into new brands and services, she worked in different technical and commercial roles, including Product Marketing management in the Sales Department. Currently, she is the Director of Markets and Product at Onivia, the first neutral and wholesale FTTH fibre operator in Spain.

 


 

James Wheatley

Applying for a Board of Directors position

 

First and Last Name:  James Wheatley

Company Name: IQGeo

Current position: Head of Product Management 

Company Type: Vendor/Reseller (Products)

 


Biography:

I have worked in the telecoms industry, specifically the geospatial software business for over 25 years. I am currently Head of Product Management at IQGeo, with responsibility for all aspects of product management relating to the IQGeo solutions portfolio for both telecoms and utility markets, in particular working with our end customers to define our product roadmap. I completed my doctorate in Geographic Information Systems at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK and then went on to work at GE Smallworld.  During my time at GE, I worked in a range of roles in the telecommunications business before moving into product management. I managed the Smallworld telecoms portfolio for over 10 years. At IQGeo I have been Head of Product Management since 2022 leading the team with responsibility to define the product roadmap.

Position statement:

I am currently the Head of Product Management at IQGeo. I have worked my entire career, now over 25 years, in the telecoms domain, always working in the geospatial\GIS part of the industry, with a particular focus on physical network inventory. I joined IQGeo two years ago and prior to that I held various roles at GE in the Smallworld business, always focused on the telecoms market. My experience in product management working with customers has provided me with a global view of the telecoms industry from a software perspective, and I see software as a critical aspect for the industry and important to be represented at Board level within the Council. The nature of my role in product management requires me to keep up with a broad range of topics within the telecoms industry, software but hardware also, and constantly evaluate and consider how these changes, both socio-economic and technological, will impact the world of FTTH in Europe. My global role also allows me to see wider trends in the industry and understand how they may apply to the Council’s focused mission in Europe.  IQGeo’s recognises the importance of the Council and I have the on-going support of the senior leadership team to dedicate time to being a member of the Board, as Raf Meersman has done in the past four years. I believe that I can make a valuable contribution to the Board by bringing perspective from the software vendor community to the Board level first and foremost but my many years experience with the conference also provides me the opportunity to provide insights into the future of this critical element of the Council’s activities.  If successful with my candidacy I look forward to working the board over the next two years to drive forward the Council’s mission to reach full fibre adoption in Europe.

Your past role(s) and activities in the FTTH Council Europe:

I have been engaged with FTTH Council for 10 years now. I first attended the conference in 2015 and have participated in the conference every year since.  During that time I have organised and participated in opening day workshops nearly every year with variety of operators and vendors, frequently with my colleagues from Comsof.  I have engaged with the D&O committee on and off over that time, particularly regarding the FTTH Handbook which I have contributed too, first time version 4 or 5 and I largely re-wrote the GIS section in the last major release, version 9, from 2021. I have also attended the last 3 General Assemblies to increase my participation and representation at the Council.

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