In December 2019, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal with the ambition of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, boosting the economy, improving people's health and quality of life, caring for nature, and leaving no one behind.

Digitalisation will be at the core of this ambitious program and fibre is key to align the digital and sustainability agendas. As the most sustainable telecommunication infrastructure technology, full-fibre is a prerequisite to achieving the European Green Deal and making the European Union’s economy more sustainable.

The need to work collectively towards a more sustainable society has become a strategic objective of policy makers and the vast majority of private organisations alike. With this context in mind, the sustainability Working Group of the FTTH Council Europe has been created with two key objectives:

Promote full fibre as the most sustainable access network technology and enabler of multiple applications which can contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of our activities. Remote working and learning being the most obvious examples.
Support all stakeholders of the Fibre to the Home value chain in their efforts to make their respective activities more carbon neutral.

Insights from the Committee

Focus on the Sustainability Committee

In this episode we focus on the key sustainable challenges facing the fibre industry both in the context of the EU taxonomy and of the energy 2030 targets and much more.

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Steffen Leiwesmeier

Jun 3, 2024

All applicants | Board of Directors applicants |

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Applying for a Board of Directors position

First and Last Name: Steffen Leiwesmeier

Company Name: Deutsche GigaNetz GmbH

Current position: Head of Strategic Treasury

Company Type: Telecom Network Operator

Biography:

56yrs, marriaged, 2 daughters (13/15yrs), 1 dachshound. After studyding economics working as a banker for almost 25 yrs, mostly with focus on financing infrastructure and since 2011 fiber in particular. Since 2022 Head of Treasury of Deutsche GigaNetz, a vertically integrated network operator in Germany.

Position statement:

I am in touch with the Council since the Luxemburg Conference 2016, when I was priviliged being the only banker and spoke to so many open minded, experienced entrepeneurs, who all helped me to get on with fiber. The Council and its members opened the door for a huge deal pipeline - and to give something back to the Council I volunteered for the Treasurer position when I was elected into the board. Since the "goldrush" in Fiber is over cash remains king. It’s essential to save sufficient funds for the upcoming roll-out of the fiber sector. I will bring to the table my experience how to save the liquidity for keeping the wheel running. We need to be active in making the Council still attractive for banks and investors. The Council is THE ONLY platform for the entire Fiber ecosystem in Europe, where vendors, banks, investors and the operators are in multilateral touch. That should remain so.

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

Organising of/participating on workshops during the Marseille, Valencia, Vienna, Madrid, Berlin and the virtual ones during the pandemic. 2021-2022 member of the Board of the Council and Treasurer of the FTTH Council Europe

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