Stefano Fogli

Applying for a Board of Directors position

First and Last Name:  Stefano Fogli

Company Name: Adtran

Current Position: Director Technology and Solutions

Company Type: Vendor/Reseller (Products)

Biography:

• 2006, Alcatel-Lucent EMEA, FTTx solution manager
• 2014, Huawei UK, E2E network consulting director
• 2015, Openreach UK, head of FTTx architecture
• 2019, Sky Italy, broadband marketing director
• 2022, Adtran EMEA, technology and solutions director

Position statement:

Your vote is extremely important. Our Council has one critical goal: to create value for its members and for the whole industry. Full fiber is now in the spotlight across Europe, as we have just reached an average coverage rate of 70%. But in less than 3 years we will reach 80%, and the building pace could slow down abruptly, while full fiber’s priority risks to be downgraded. We must act now.  So how can the council create more value in this situation? This can be done in two ways: 1)    Copper switch-off, to deliver deep profitability. The Council has done a great job putting the switch-off at the heart of the EU agenda, and now we must make it happen. We have to collect and share best practices and we have to identify and neutralize potential blocking factors, working at policy, market and engineering level. This is an activity that potentially will involve several committees. 2)    “100%” fiber coverage, to deliver wide adoption. While we know that true 100% coverage is not reachable, our Council must maximize this number, pushing fiber to every relevant use case.   If elected, I will actively drive and contribute to the points above. My somehow unique career path spanning many diverse companies of our industry (operators and vendors), and my technical and business background will help me in this.   My employer, Adtran, has a long-term commitment to the Council and has always supported it, seeking to have a meaningful impact, and not just representation. Adtran is now happy to allow me to dedicate some of my time, and a lot of my energies, to the workings of the Board. I have the direct support at our most senior management levels to provide my time, energy and effort as needed to work for the Council Board of Directors.  Thank you for your consideration.

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

Since June 2022 I have been the Chair of the Market Intelligence Committee, arguably one of the toughest jobs around. As Chair of the Market Intelligence Committee, with the fantastic help of the Vice Chair and the other members, we have reached important goals:

• We have improved the market data set. No complaints this year about “wrong” data, a first in the Council’s history!!!
• We have published the Market Per-Country data, a new report which uses the full extent of the Council’s historical FTTH data
• We have contributed to the selection of the provider of the copper switch-off tracker – a milestone for our future
• Together with the Investor Committee, we have implemented the market sentiment survey
• We have changed the way we work as a Committee, involving more members to verify the market data, and making it easier to get things done