FTTH Council Europe Middle East Working Group is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the second edition of the FTTH Middle East Conference.
This two-day event was successfully launched last year in Amman, Jordan, under the patronage of His Excellency Eng. Basem Al Rousan, Jordanian Minister of ICT, who gave the opening speech. The conference attracted more than 260 delegates from 30 countries, and created unprecedented media attention, with several TV channels covering the proceedings.
The 2010 event will be held at the Mövenpick Hotel in Lebanon's capital city, Beirut on 30 November and 1 December with the theme "Taking your life to new horizons".
"We have big plans for the conference this year," said Chris Holden, President of the Board of the FTTH Council Europe. "The Middle East is a dynamic market with huge potential for fibre-to-the-home deployment, and we expect to see the rapid changes over the next few years."
In a study undertaken for the Council, analyst firm iDATE has identified more than 30 FTTH/FTTB projects in the Middle East. The largest networks are in the United Arab Emirates, where the incumbent Etisalat has passed 665,000 homes, and alternative operator Du has passed 400,000 homes. Many other networks are still in the early stages; only 7 of the 30 projects count at least 2,000 homes passed at December 2009.
The FTTH Middle East Conference will provide service providers, investors, regulators and other prospective stakeholders with valuable insight into the business and technical solutions for FTTH deployment in the Middle East region. The programme will include a mix of case studies, regulatory debate and technical best practice alongside a dedicated exhibition of the latest FTTH products.
Who should attend?
Operators looking for insight into the key trends in next?generation access and fibre; Investors assessing the potential of FTTH and the new services enabled by superfast broadband connections; Governments and municipalities wanting to understand how FTTH can deliver economic, environmental and social benefits; Content providers needing to understand how high-speed broadband can enhance application performance; Technology companies developing equipment and software that will deliver FTTH
