Successful flagship events in Amsterdam and Bangkok The Association hosted successful flagship events in Amsterdam on 19th October and Bangkok on 28th October, convening broadband industry stakeholders throughout the world, both in person and virtually. Representatives from some of the most renowned telecoms operators and vendors across the globe formed the impressive speaker line-up, including Nokia, China Telecom, Openreach, Chorus, Openserve, and China Unicom, to name only a few. In addition, keynote speakers joined the events from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – and the FTTH Council Europe.

On 26 February, the World Broadband Association (WBBA) held its first board meeting in Barcelona. The Board of Directors consists of twelve industry leaders, including network operators, equipment manufacturers, and network testing manufacturers from China, Switzerland, New Zealand, South Africa, Finland, the United States, Jordan, Canada, Gambia and Egypt. The establishment of the Board marked a milestone for the WBBA to enter a new stage of development. The Association is committed to serving the members and speeding up development and expansion with the strong leadership of the Board.

Li Zhengmao, the former President of China Telecommunications Corporation was elected as the Chairman of the Board at the pre-board meeting. Twelve newly elected members of the Board attended the meeting, including Tang Yongbo, VP of China Unicom; Richard Jin, President of Optical Business Line, Huawei; Markus Reber, EVP Networks of Swisscom; Sandy Motley, President of Fixed Networks, Nokia; Chip Strange, Chief Strategy Officer of Ookla, and Maged Tawfeek, Access Planning Director of Telecom Egypt, among others.

At the meeting, the Board appointed Martin Creaner as the Director General of the Association and established its Nomination and Governance Committee. Martin Creaner, as the Director General of the Association, reported to the board about the “2022 Work Summary and 2023 Work Plan”. With general consent, the meeting passed two motions namely “The Motion of Appointing the Director General of the Association” and “The Motion of establishing the Nomination and Governance Committee of the Association”. Subsequently, the Board members had constructive and fruitful discussion on the establishment of the Oversight Committee, WBBA development roadmap, etc.

Li Zhengmao pointed out that, the rapid advancement of the broadband industry is promoting the world’s digital transformation at a quick pace. He hopes, through the joint effort of all its members and the Board of Directors, the WBBA can address the industry-wide challenges and difficulties, pursue open cooperation to stimulate the potential of cloud and broadband to benefit individuals, industries and the whole of society.

In the future, by leveraging a series of activities and events coming up, the Association will play an important role in uniting the cloud and broadband industry chain, promoting the construction of integrated information infrastructure and innovative development of the cloud network, helping solve many challenges facing the development of the industry, and realizing the sustainable and prosperous development of the global broadband industry.

The participants conducted extensive communication and shared ideas, practices and considerations by focusing on the topics of the potential of cloud-based broadband infrastructure to provide flexible and high-quality internet connection globally, and to explore the actions that both industry and government need to take to ensure that digital gains are shared more equitably.

Endorsement from renowned organizations and telecoms operators and vendors across the globe formed the impressive speaker line-up, including Shao Guanglu, Executive Director, President and COO of China Telecommunications Corporation Limited; Martin Creaner, Director General of WBBA; Li Zhengmao, Chairman of WBBA; John Hoffman, CEO and Director of GSMA Limited. In addition, keynote speakers joined the event, including Brennen Smith, Vice President of Technology, OOKLA; Li Jun, Vice President of China Telecommunications Corporation Limited; Stefaan Vanhastel, CTO of Fixed Networks, Nokia. A fireside chat and panel discussion were hosted with the participation of industry leaders, including Paul Morrissey, Advisor at EXFO; Richard Jin, President of Optical Business Product Line, Huawei; Stephen Wilson, Senior Principal Analyst at OMDIA; Tao Qiu, Executive Vice President and CSO of China Unicom.

The WBBA is a multilateral, industry-led association, providing leadership for digital broadband across the next decade. The WBBA provides an open, multilateral organization and platform for future-facing broadband cooperation and partnership across the industry, championing the business, consumer and citizen outcomes that broadband is capable of delivering across the world, through converged network and cloud infrastructure. The WBBA was officially entered into the Swiss Directory of International Organizations in 2022, and held its first board meeting on 26 February, 2023, which gave great significance to WBBA governance improvement and future development.

The seminar advocates that the industry stakeholders actively join forces to promote the prosperous development of cloud network broadband industry. WBBA will play an important role in serving global broadband network operators, vendors, cloud service providers and other stakeholders, uniting the global industry chain, facilitating industry chain communications and exchanges, enhancing technological cooperation, and promoting the innovation and development of the global cloud and network information infrastructure, and to achieve the prosperity of the cloud and broadband industry around the world.