With a triumphant return, VX Fiber’s Local Authority Forum: Delivering Connectivity for Everyone will be held at the Business Design Centre London on 19 September 2022. And with great excitement we are delighted to announce our first two confirmed speakers – both of whom set the bar extremely high and cement this a not-to-be missed event!
Our keynote speaker, Timothy Papandreou is a world leading expert in the future of mobility and automation. With almost two decades of global experience in moving people and things – in both business and government, he’s been responsible for developing vision, policy, and launching pioneering innovation across almost every mode of transport imaginable. As the former Strategic Partnerships Manager at Google X and Waymo, Timothy collaborated with cross-functional teams to prepare the commercialisation and launch of the world’s first fully self-driving ride hailing service. As Chief Innovation Officer in San Francisco, Timothy lead teams to deliver various programs such as the US Smart City Challenge, which used data and technology to help people and goods move more quickly, cheaply, and efficiently around the city. He also founded City Innovate, a smart city platform matching governments and start-ups to accelerate innovation.
Now, as the founder and CEO of Emerging Transport Advisors, Timothy provides strategic guidance to prepare clients for the active, shared, electric and automated disruptions to the transport system and how they affect wider society. Always ahead of the curve, Tim’s unique private, public and community experience allows him to see the signals and trends early and join the dots to develop unique perspectives and insights. During his keynote, Timothy shares how to put ideas into practice and build win-win partnerships to deliver forward thinking initiatives. Key to this Tim says, is considering how people connect and interact with each other within spaces; and how mobility is changing to be seen as more of a service, rather than something you own.
Our second confirmed speaker, of equal stature, has expertise and roots closer to our native home. Mikael Ek is the CEO of Swedish Fibre Alliance and a significant figure in the Swedish broadband industry having also been a member of the Committee of Broadband within the Swedish Government for over 12 years.
Under the session title ‘Lessons from Sweden’, Mikael will share the how’s, the experiences and the importance of the role of Swedish Municipalities in achieving 90% FTTP coverage. With an impressive 200 out of 290 municipalities owning fibre networks in Sweden, a staggering 55% of the total fibre infrastructure in Sweden is currently under the control of local government – all to the benefit of the communities and the local economy.
In conversation with our very own Mikael – Executive Chairman Mikael Sandberg, this session will explore exactly what we can learn from our Swedish neighbours who started their full fibre journey some 20 years ago. Including:
- How the Swedish Fibre Alliance (SFA) has empowered Municipalities to share their knowledge and learn from each other.
- How the municipal networks have ensured they are financially self-sustaining or even profitable, while staying true to their priority of delivering affordable broadband to residents.
- How the Swedish municipalities developed such a lively dark fibre and capacity rental market – renting their assets to mobile network operators (more than any other European country) and how this provided Sweden with the 3rd best 4G network in the world.
- Why local engagement is so crucial when deploying full fibre networks – and how local authority personnel, with a proactive strategy can ensure real social value and economic impact is born from the infrastructure investment.
- The future of the Municipal Local Networks – how can / will they be used to support public services and communities in Sweden
To learn more about the Local Authority Forum: Delivering Connectivity for All please visit: https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/connected-britain/Local-Authority-Forum.stm and keep an eye out for further speaker updates.
