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.

Read more

Barbara Tonarelli

Jun 3, 2024

All applicants | Committee and Working Group Chairs applicants |

Watch video testimonial Back to library

Applying for the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee Chair position

First and Last Name: Barbara Tonarelli

Company Name: ADTRAN

Current position: Principal Sales Engineer

Company Type: Vendor/Reseller (Products)

Biography:

Over the years I gained a wealth of experience in network access solution projects from Tier 1 to Tier 3 telecommunication operators. I have worked for over 20 years on many FTTx projects in typical fixed access telecom infrastructure markets around Europe in different sales roles from Technical Sales and Product Management to Solution and Project Management. After a long experience on access technologies within Siemens and Nokia Siemens Networks, since 2012 I joined the Sales branch of ADTRAN Italy, following activities in the Fixed Access Network field, dealing with customers and partners predominantly in Southern Europe. I am part of an international team of Sales Engineers sharing experiences from several operators in the World and an FTTH Council volunteer since 2019

Position statement:

I am a Principal Sales Engineer with over 20 years of experience in the FTTH industry. My technical expertise in end-to-end access network solutions, combined with my open-minded attitude, has enabled me to contribute effectively to multiple initiatives within the FTTH Council over the past five years, particularly through my work with several committees. Since joining the FTTH Council in 2019, I have been passionately dedicated to advancing our industry’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) goals.

Since joining the FTTH Council in 2019, I have been passionately dedicated to advancing our industry’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) goals. As chairman of the DE&I committee, I am committed to enhancing inclusivity in all senses starting from achieving a more balanced gender representation within our industry.

I look forward to continuing this vital work and driving meaningful change in our industry, focusing on these three fundamental values in which I thoroughly believe.

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

I stepped in as a volunteer in 2019 and initially worked primarily with two teams: the Deployment and Operations Committee and the “Women in Fiber” Working Group, which last year evolved into the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. In the meantime, I also joined the Sustainability and In-home Broadband Excellence committees.

View all