Curious to understand the current landscape in terms of Gigabit Coverage, i.e. to what extent networks/households in Europe are capable of achieving gigabit speed?

Building on that as a starting point, the session will discuss future challenges and developments in the field, whilst keeping in mind the overarching competitive connectivity goals of the Gigabit Society to be achieved by 2025.

To illustrate and exemplify our session, we will focus on three specific areas: Land (Connectivity offered by ground operators), Sea (Undersea Cabling) and Air (Satellite Internet).

The panel on “Connectivity Landscape” will focus on land-based cables, whilst the section on “Undersea Cabling” will bring some insight on the latest developments of submarine infrastructures.

Lastly, the panel on “Satellite Internet” will focus on the main challenges of connections made via geostationary communications satellites, as well as future European interests in the area.

Subtopics

• Political aspects and connectivity targets

• Financial instruments and investments in connectivity

• Satellite Internet: Main challenges and European interests

• Undersea Cabling: Latest developments of submarine infrastructure, current market situation, latest challenges, cybersecurity risks

• Connectivity by land: telecom operators and latest connectivity regulation

Speakers

• Rita WEZENBEEK, Director B Connectivity

• Franco ACCORDINO, HoU B5 Investment in High-Capacity Networks

• Bram TIJDHOF, Director Regulatory, Policy & Public Affairs, Vodafone Ziggo 

• Bruce HOWE, Dept of Oceans University of Hawaii

• Aarti HOLLA-MAINI, Secretary General, Global Satellite Operators Association

Background information

This event is part of the CONNECT University Autumn School 2022 on Secure & Sustainable Digital Infrastructures, that aims to  address how this decade’s state-of-the-art digital infrastructure solutions fit over existing ones, fostering a circular economy system, while ensuring a high degree of security

Check this blogpost for the full programme and more information.