Asteo Red Neutra‘s CEO, Pedro Abad, and Manuel Garnelo, the company’s CTO, participated in different panels at the #FTTH23 European Conference held in Madrid. Both highlighted the importance of connectivity as a tool to fix population in rural and ultra-rural environments.
ASTEO Red Neutra, in its role as the first wholesale neutral operator specialized only in rural areas, shared during this conference its experience in the deployment of last generation fiber optic in municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants in Castilla León and Extremadura.
“Spain has been a pioneer and stands out in Europe for its rapid deployment of fiber optics. However, the pending task, and the challenge, is to become the country with the largest number of rural areas with fiber optic networks in the world. 
It is important to work with these municipalities and local authorities to help encourage the adoption and use of new technologies by their residents. It is important to work with these municipalities and local authorities to helpencourage the adoption and use of new technologies by their residents, as this is a fundamental tool to help fix this populationand digitize their habits as consumers and users of the Administration and other public services. ” Pedro Abad said during his speech at the workshop “FTTH network deployment in rural areas“.
The panel, formed by Alexandra Reich, executive chairwoman of Speed Connect Austria; Mariam Sulaberidze, CEO of OpenNet; Peter Hendrick, CEO of NBI (National Broadband Ireland); Wojciech Dziomdziora, general counsel of Nexera; and moderated by Christof Sommerberg, senior vice president public affairs at Deutsche Glasfaser Holding and member of the board of FTTH Council Europe; agreed on the importance of deploying in rural areas, but above all to promote and contribute to the use of fiber optics as one of the technologies that will best support future connectivity needs.
The challenges of investing in rural broadband infrastructure
Manuel Garnelo, CTO of Asteo Red Neutra, who participated in the panel dedicated to “Investment in rural broadband infrastructure“, summarized the 4 keys to take into account when designing and planning the
deployment projects, and especially the backhaul, such as the 1,900km interprovincial to connect the 500 ultra-rural populations, with XGS-PON technology, of the first phase of deployment that the company is carrying out. In particular, he stressed the importance of “conducting studies of all possible alternatives prior to construction; carrying out careful planning considering all possible solutions; having alternative routes where possible; working in parallel two construction zones and modifying access deployment plans depending on the results of the backhaul“.
The FTTH Conference, organized by the FTTH Council Europe, is one of the most representative events of the fiber optic sector in Europe and brings together the main companies of this industry, such as technical experts, suppliers, investors, operators and regulatory bodies.
