With just six weeks to go before the return of ANGA COM, Broadband TV News sat down with Dr Peter Charissé, Managing Director ANGA COM and ANGA The Broadband Association.
Broadband TV News: It’s been a long two years. How good is it to be able to open up the Messe again?
Dr Peter Charissé: Yes, indeed. It feels great to be back on the exhibition floors soon and to see the growing optimism of our exhibitors every day. The broadband and media industry is facing a new and splendid level of investment. In Germany, for example, with its more than 40 million households, network operators and a steadily growing number of international investors have announced to invest up to 50 billion in new fibre infrastructure.
BTN: Have you made any changes to the show compared to how we remember?
Yes, we have completely new hall plans. The aisles in our exhibition halls will be wider than 2019. Besides this, we already have a major advantage with our location: With 15-metre high exhibition halls, a huge foyer and the popular open air plaza with food trucks, our venue has never been more attractive. ANGA COM will be the first major industry meeting with relaxed early summer conditions.
Are all the regular exhibitors back again?
2022 will not be the year of new records, of course. As expected, we will have a fewer number of companies from China. However, the exhibition space amounts to over 22,000 square metres. This is very close to 2019. Even more important: The quality in the two exhibition halls is higher than ever.
What are this year’s conference highlights?
We will have five high ranking summit discussions. The highlight of the international programme is the CTO Summit What’s new with Fiber, DOCSIS & 5G with Colin Buechner (Managing Director / Chief Network Officer, Liberty Global), Michael Fränkle (EVP Networks & CTO, TDC NET), Angie Hagemann (Chief Construction Officer, Deutsche Glasfaser), Dr Belal Hamzeh (SVP and CTO, CableLabs) and Mallik Rao (Chief Technology & Information Officer, Board Member, Telefónica Deutschland Holding). The highlight of the German programme is the Digitalization Summit Networks, Services, Connectivity: How do we create a digital Boost? with Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter (CEO, Vodafone Deutschland), Thorsten Dirks (CEO, Deutsche Glasfaser), Srini Gopalan (Board Member, Deutsche Telekom), Timo von Lepel (Managing Director, NetCologne) and Christoph Vilanek (CEO, freenet).
How is the roll out of fibre-optic broadband impacting on both Germany and ANGA itself.
The German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport recently announced to expect a private investment of 50 billion euros in fiber-optic expansion alone by 2025. That is very good news for the European broadband industry and all exhibitors of ANGA COM 2022. There is more money than ever in our market. And almost all investors will be present in May in Cologne.
Do you have the fast broadband at home?
More than that: I currently have the luxury of having cable internet with an excellent price-performance ratio and at the same time being able to watch new fibre-optic lines being laid in my street. What more could you want?
ANGA COM 2022 takes place between May 10 and May 12 at Messe Koeln, Messeplatz 1 Cologne, 50679 Germany
