Real instead of digital – conference on September 28th, 2022
On September 28th, representatives from the telecommunications industry met for a professional exchange. At the 3rd Telco Industry Conference in 2022 there were again exciting presentations about new services, open access and technical interfaces.
New Services & Open Access
The third Telco Industry Conference in Kassel concluded with new insights. In a video greeting, Hesse's Minister for Digital Strategy and Development, Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus, highlighted efforts to streamline and reduce bureaucracy in the legal framework for telecommunications. The minister expressly supported the industry's growing willingness to cooperate, which was also reflected in the conference topic “Open Access”. Watch the film about the conference on our YouTube channel.
“No Limits: All Access with the 1&1 Versatel Wholesale Platform”
Felix Verfürth from 1&1 Versatel kicked off the topic. He introduced the wholesale area, which is constantly developing its modular product portfolio. He showed that new carriers in particular, but also municipal utilities, are unnecessarily limiting themselves in their telco offerings. They only offer products for their own network or wait until their own fiber optic expansion takes place gradually. You can also reach over 80% of German households via VDSL via 1&1 Versatel's wholesale platform. In addition, Deutsche Telekom's FTTH network with over 1.2 million households can be accessed via the platform. Public utilities and carriers thus expand their reach and competitiveness. Parts of the platform's product portfolio are provided by dimari.About Felix Verfürth
Felix Verfürth has been working in telecommunications for over ten years. As team leader for White Label Services (Wholesale) at 1&1 Versatel, he oversees the partnerships for this area and is responsible for business development.
"Open fiber optic network access - The Swedish model in practice"
Lars Weyerstrass gave a digital lecture on the topic of Open Access in Sweden. In keeping with the VATM's parallel excursion to Sweden, the conference visitors in Kassel got to know the Swedish model. The key point here is a clear separation between service and infrastructure providers and network operators. Even if you are not a customer of the expanding company, you will still receive a connection. In Sweden you can choose a different provider for each service, whether internet, telephony, TV and, more recently, home surveillance. The infrastructure expansion is organized by so-called special-purpose communities and the costs are passed on to all participants. So far, 82% of Swedes have benefited from a fiber optic connection.
But can this open access model be transferred to Germany? The participants then discussed this in the plenary session.About the person Lars Weyerstrass
Weyerstraß is the founder and managing director of WeyTeCon. The company advises and supports telecommunications projects in the European and German markets. Weyerstraß is a qualified engineer in electrical engineering with a specialization in communications engineering and technical acoustics.
In addition to his job, he works in the working group for technical and operational issues relating to numbering and network interconnection (AKNN for short). Lars Weyerstraß is also in demand as a speaker on regulatory topics and publishes books.
"Open Access: At high speed for fair competition"
Lars Wiechmann from SWN Stadtwerke Neumünster reported on practical experience in Germany. According to a survey by Breko among its network operators, 81% of providers are ready to introduce open access. For 14%, it is already part of their core business. In areas where market penetration is low, open access improves network utilisation. Mr Wiechmann pointed out that its introduction involves long-term decisions and that the offer then applies equally to all competitors. He explained that open access saves resources, avoids overbuilding and creates a productive challenge to develop innovative ideas that stand out from those of other market participants. About the person Lars Wiechmann
Lars Wiechmann is Head of Projects & Processes (TKP) at Stadtwerke Neumünster. The business administration graduate has ten years of experience in telecommunications. At that time he worked in project management and later as a team leader in the mobile communications industry. Today he is responsible for fiber optic expansion and IT projects in the telecommunications sector at SWN.
"If the excavator takes too long: microwave as a quick alternative to fiber optic connections!"
In addition to the classic fiber optic, there are also alternative data connections in the B2B sector. Sabine Nowagk, Managing Director of LAN-COM-East, presented point-to-point radio as a resource-saving means of transmitting data. She emphasized that the construction of radio links can often be implemented within a very short period of time. As long as there is a line of sight between 2 antennas, data can even be transmitted over a distance of 60km (at speeds of 20 MBit/s) with a latency of less than 1ms. These are used, for example, in hospitals that have to communicate constantly. She emphasized that no failures are to be expected due to weather conditions. The prerequisite for this is good route planning.About Sabine Nowagk
The qualified industrial engineer (FH) grew up in the LAN-COM-East company. Sabine Nowagk got to know the business from the ground up. She was hands-on with splicing, repairs, erecting transmission towers, and much more. Ms. Nowagk has been working as managing director since 2021. She is committed to ensuring broad acceptance of point-to-point radio, in addition to fiber optic projects.
"No network interconnection without automation"
Wolfgang Drost from Axiros GmbH reported on possibilities to automate telecommunications processes at the OSS (network) level. Smaller carriers in particular benefit from this. But even telco providers with constant customer growth can only gain from existing processes. If a provider has a large number of hardware manufacturers in its portfolio, Axiros technical systems and services help with automatic configuration (for example through DHCP segmentation). Even if a carrier changes supplier and thousands of SIP accounts have to be reconfigured, automated processes are necessary. Axiros offers the appropriate solutions for this.
The speakers agreed that the telecommunications market remains on the move. New market participants create additional competition. In the future, especially through technical standards such as S/PRI Open Access will become more and more a reality PersonWolfgang Drost
As a partner & Product Manager, Wolfgang Drost looks after the municipal utilities and carriers of Axiros GmbH in the DACH region. He has been working in the ICT sector for over 25 years and has implemented over 100 customer projects with providers across Europe. With smart-fttx, Drost works as a freelance consultant in network automation.
Information
What we offer?
- Exchange with industry representatives in a cozy atmosphere
- Lectures on current topics in telecommunications, fiber optic expansion and legal matters
- Information stands and networking
- Coffee breaks and lunch as well as a snack for the way home included
Location
The Schlosshotel Wilhelmshöhe offers a pleasant atmosphere for professional exchange. If you stay overnight, the pool and sauna area are available. Right next to it you can visit the Wilhelmshöhe Mountain Park, which is a World Heritage Site.
Kassel – Documenta City
This year the Documenta is taking place for the 15th time. Every five years, artists from all over the world meet and transform Kassel into an intercultural venue.