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

 

 

D&O Committee Releases POLAN Whitepaper and Advances Network Resilience Work

The Deployment & Operations (D&O) Committee continues to advance its work across two flagship technical initiatives: Fibre Deep – Passive Optical LAN (POLAN) Applications and Network Resilience & Maintenance.

The POLAN whitepaper has now been officially released and is available to the wider community. The publication explores how Passive Optical LAN architectures can support fibre-deep deployment strategies, particularly in enterprise, campus, and multi-dwelling environments. It highlights key benefits such as scalability, energy efficiency, and reduced operational complexity, alongside comparisons with traditional copper LANs, deployment scenarios, and real-world case studies.

Building on this momentum, the Committee hosted a well-attended workshop at the FTTH Conference in London, sparking valuable discussions on the growing adoption of POLAN in the market.

The Network Resilience & Maintenance whitepaper is progressing steadily, supported by active member engagement. In parallel, the FTTH Handbook is being updated to reflect recent publications, ensuring alignment and consistency across technical guidance.

These initiatives reinforce the Committee’s role in delivering practical, forward-looking solutions for efficient, secure, and future-proof fibre deployments across Europe.

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