INCA Conference: The Road Ahead to 2025

Our main conference event for 2020 is running online for obvious reasons. We've designed the conference as a one-day interactive event focusing clearly on the key issues for our industry as we look ahead to the challenges of achieving ubiquitous gigabit-capable connectivity by 2025.

Conference Programme

09:00: Conference Welcome and intro to the Remo system

09:20: Video interview with Graham Bolton, CommScope

09:30: #TheRoadAhead to 2025 - Opportunities and Challenges for the Independent Sector

Chair: John Irvine – WightFibre

Panellists: Graeme Oxby – Community Fibre; Michael Maltby – Jurassic Fibre; Conal Henry – Fibrus, Jeremy Sheehan – Obelisk; Graham Bolton – CommScope

This session will look at the particular issues related to the government pledge to deliver gigabit connectivity to all homes and businesses by 2025. The independent sector is stepping up to the challenge: since the start of 2019 nearly £1.8bn of investment has been announced bringing the total to at least £7.7bn in the period to 2025/6. Government has announced £5bn of investment in the most challenging areas. Key topics for discussion will include: the land-grab, competitive pressures, overbuild, and Outside-In funding. How do we enable customers to get on to the new networks? How close can we realistically get to the 2025 target?

10:10: Video Interview with Matt Hunter, HellermannTyton & Gabocom

10:20: Achieving 100% Rural Connectivity

Chair: Matt Hunter – Hellermann Tyton

Panellists: James Saunby – GreySky/INCA; Hector Gibson-Fleming – Wessex Internet; Catherine Colloms – Openreach, Michael Armitage – Broadway Partners, Ryan Lewin – Commercial Lead for Vouchers, BDUK, Ilan Scorah – Voneus

This session will explore the particular challenges in the hardest to reach rural areas, and the government interventions to address this. Rural areas present the greatest challenges to network build. This session will discuss how both the independent sector and Openreach are responding to the challenges.

Key topics: Factors that support (or inhibit) rural commercial build; BDUK funding - Outside-In and voucher schemes; Technologies - fibre and wireless

11:00: Break - visit sponsor stands, visit other tables

11:15: Regulating the Market to Secure Altnet Investment & Consumer Benefit

Chair: Gita Sorensen – GOS Consulting

Panellists: Alex Blowers – CityFibre; Tim Stranack – Community Fibre; David Cullen – ITS Technology Group; Robert Skinner – Octopus; Paul Jacobus – Ofcom

The session will consider the current actions of the regulator and the impact that might have on investment in the sector. Ofcom regulation impacts both incumbent and challengers. Regulation affects investment decisions with ‘certainty' being the watchword.

Ofcom’s Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review has been the subject of much debate in the industry with INCA and independent operators arguing for greater recognition of the significance of the challengers. where are we heading with the WFTMR? What's the impact of the EECC - particularly the rules on Gaining Provider-led Switching? PIA - on a day-to-day level many independent operators are keen to access Openreach passive infrastructure - are we getting where we want to be with PIA?

12:00: Tackling the Skills Challenge

Chair: Claire Stanley – Connectix/INCA

Panellists: Emma Atkins – Fibre People; Chris Sinclair – Manpower; Philip Lawrence – Airband; Matt Smith – Fastershire; Melanie Reid – CTTS; Anthony Basham – SCTE

This session addresses the widely acknowledged problem of capacity in the workforce. Building new networks requires access to a pool of labour with the full range of skills needed.What are the nitty gritty issues and how can the sector best address them? How significant is the labour and skills shortage in the sector?

12:40: Lunch break

13:30: Welcome back

13:35: Video interview with Calix

13:45: Encouraging Consumer Take-up and Choice

Chair: Lloyd Felton – County Broadband

Panellists: Philip Lawrence – Airband; Evan Wienburg – Truespeed; Mike Locke – INCA, Guy Miller – TalkTalk; Ronan Kelly – Adtran; Bo Larsen – Calix

In this session we look at the issues of wholesale access, take-up and demand. Financial viability obviously requires customer acquisition. This session brings together a range of perspectives on persuading customers to switch to new networks.

Key topics: Retail and wholesale; Getting major service providers to work with the independent sector; Moves towards creating an industry-wide Wholesale Aggregation Platform.

14:45: Keynote: Matt Warman MP, Minister for Digital Infrastructure - DCMS

Government Action to Achieve 100% Gigabit Connectivity

15:00: Conference Wrap-up

Our Online Conference Platform

For 2020 the INCA Conference will be held online. We've put a lot of effort into researching and selecting an online platform that will best meet the needs of conference participants. By now we're all too familair with the sense of isolation that can make a conventional webinar experience less than ideal. We're really keen to build in lots of networking opportunities for participants, and maximise interaction. For this reason we've opted to make use of the Remo conferencing platform, which uses a graphical conference hall metaphor enabling participants to move around in the vitual space and engage in conversations at a range of 'tables' (see below) and sponsor exhibition 'stands' in the digital space, whilst missing none of the main event taking place on the stage. It promises to be an enagaging event and we're really looking forward to it.

Pricing: £65 + VAT per person for INCA members, £80 + VAT per person for non-members

For any queries about this INCA event, please contact Gill Williams.

Image from an original by Shireen C. von Schulthess from Pixabay