The FTTH Council Europe has welcomed this vote on a new framework that provides National Regulatory Authorities with the guidance and tools to reflect Europe's ambition to become a fully connected Gigabit Society.
“While the entire ecosystem is changing, with Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality applications leading the way in innovation, Europe needs to step up its efforts and give a real boost to infrastructure investments. We believe the Code creates a more investment-friendly environment and ensures the regulatory certainty needed to encourage efficient and competitive investments in future-proof digital infrastructure, not only from traditional business models but also from innovative new infrastructure models, such as wholesale-only,” emphasized Ronan Kelly, President of the FTTH Council Europe.
These digital highways will be the key foundation of a European Gigabit Society and the FTTH Council Europe congratulates the co-legislators for placing the promotion of investment and adoption in very high capacity fiber-based or equivalent networks [1] at the core of the objectives of the new framework.
“We believe that fiber is the only future-proof foundation that enables fixed and wireless gigabit networks, as well as all new technologies and innovative digital services. However, the words ‘fiber’ and ‘fiber speeds’ are increasingly used in advertising, while the advertised product is not actually a full fiber connection, but still uses copper at some points in the network,” emphasized Erzsébet Fitori, Director General of the FTTH Council Europe. “This confusion is misleading for consumers and prevents them from making an informed decision about the products available to them. It also risks hindering the adoption of fiber, which in turn could affect innovation and weaken the commercial case for investment.”.
The European FTTH Council therefore calls on policymakers to take the necessary steps to prevent misleading fiber advertising. Not only the interests of citizens and businesses, but also the interests of Europe's global digital competitiveness and sustainability, should not be subject to misleading advertising.
[1] "very high capacity network" means an electronic communications network consisting entirely of optical fiber elements at least to the point of distribution at the service location or [...] similar network performance [...]
