Conference Programme 2023

With full fibre reaching more than 50% of UK households, fibre is fast becoming the ‘new normal’ in terms of fixed line digital connectivity. Despite the economic headwinds operators are still building out new fibre connections as quickly as possible.

However the emphasis is shifting from network build to attracting customers – the focus of much of this year’s INCA Conference.

In his opening remarks Ronan Kelly will use his vantage point to set the scene in terms of the UK’s frenetic rush towards gigabit-capable services everywhere, the benefits to consumers and businesses, and where we stand in the international league tables.

Government and Ofcom set the scene for the flood of capital into UK full fibre by creating the policy and regulatory environment that underpins competitive investment. However, recent decisions by Ofcom risk undermining investor confidence in the UK digital infrastructure space.

INCA’s recent policy report outlines the benefits that consumers are already gaining from competitive build and what we think needs to happen to sustain that competition for the long term.

• Oliver Helm, CEO FullFibre (Panel Chair)
• James Tickel, Director of Regulatory Policy & Strategy, Openreach
• Gita Sorensen, MD, GOS Consulting
• Alex Blowers, Director of Regulatory Affairs, CityFibre
• Tim Stranack, Founder and Regulatory & Trade Director, Community Fibre, and INCA Chair

Focusing on network planning and build efficiency this workshop will discuss some of the latest developments in street works permitting, plus products and services to help speed up deployment. Chaired by Jeremy Sheehan, INCA board member and CEO of 1ServCo

• Jeremy Sheehan, Group CEO and Founder, 1ServCo (Workshop Chair)
• Jesam Eyong, Head of Public Sector Engagement, Barrier Busting Task Force, DSIT
• James Wheatley, Head of Product Management, IQGeo
• Clive Bairsto CBE, CEO, Streetworks UK and co-chair HAUC (UK)
• Vimal Pindoria, Business Development Director, Routing & Switching EMEA, Ciena

Chaired by former head of BDUK Raj Kalia, this workshop will hear winners of Project Gigabit procurements and successful voucher projects. The workshop will discuss the different types of procurement and what altnets think make the best mix to deliver as much connectivity as possible as quickly as possible.

• Raj Kalia, MD, Arkal (Workshop Chair)
• Michael Lee, CEO, B4RN
• Helen Wylde-Archibald, CEO, Wildanet
• Andy Nash, Commercial Director, CityFibre
• Conal Henry, Co-founder and Chair, Fibrus
• James Saunby, Consulting Director, Greysky

Commonly agreed standards are the key to efficient interoperability delivering wholesale access and to support consolidation between altnets. Led by Max Fernando of Glide and Chair of the INCA Standards Group this workshop will discuss developments in standards, what more needs to be done and support from the wider industry.

• Max Fernando, Head of Regulatory & Compliance, Glide (Workshop Chair)
• David Turner, Business Development Manager - CTO Organisation, Adtran
• Niall Halpenny, Director of Telecoms, Sonalake
• Stephen Terry MBE, Head of Regulatory Partnerships - Allpoints Fibre
• Rob Leenderts, Founder and Director, The AssetHUB
• Jason Roisetter, Fibre Director, OFNL

PIA sits as the cornerstone for much of the competitive investment in full fibre infrastructure. Without access to the existing ducts and poles, Altnet capex would be much higher, there would be much more disruptive digging, and deployment would be far slower.

Whilst the PIA product has improved immeasurably since it was first introduced, there are still many issues that cause headaches for Altnet planners and operational managers. This panel will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of PIA and what we think needs to happen to improve PIA for the long-term benefit of Altnets servicing UK consumers and businesses.

Wholesale access is a longstanding strategic objective for many altnet networks whether they focus solely or primarily on building wholesale networks, or offer their own retail ISP services to end-customers. The ‘Holy Grail’ is to attract the large retail ISPs including TalkTalk, Sky, Vodafone and potentially even BT itself.

This panel will discuss the current state of play, including barriers to adoption of Altnet provision – e.g. scale, complexity, consistency in service levels and Ts & Cs, and what measures could help to move the dial.

James Blessing, Chair of the INCA Switching & Wholesale Special Interest Group will lead this workshop discussing the latest developments amongst platforms that support wholesale access to altnet networks.

• James Blessing, Head of IT Development, Freedom Fibre (Workshop Chair)
• Toby Treacher, MD, BroadbandHUB
• Matt Brewster, CTO, The Fibre Café
• Niall Halpenny, Director of Telecoms, Sonalake
• Marcel Horst, Director, Common Wholesale Platform (CWP)
• Clairton Fernandes, Sales Manager, Netadmin Systems

For the altnet sector to thrive engagement in public policy at both the national and local level is vital - particularly in a year that will see a General Election. Led by INCA Chair Tim Stranack, this workshop will discuss different approaches leading to successful outcomes and lessons learned along the way.

• Tim Stranack, Founder and Regulatory & Trade Director, Community Fibre, and INCA Chair (Workshop Chair)
• Till Sommer, Vice President, Clarity, and Head of Policy, ISPA
• Katie Crellin, Regulatory Policy & Reporting Manager, County Broadband
• Helen Wylde-Archibald, CEO, Wildanet
• Mike Scott, Senior Communications Executive, Ogi

Public sector organisations are increasingly looking at how they can commercialise their fibre assets to generate income and benefit local communities. Chaired by INCA board member Rob Leenderts this workshop will discuss an number of initiatives by transport, local government and other publics sector bodies.

• Rob Leenderts, Founder and Director, The AssetHUB (Workshop Chair)
• Stephen Dobbyne, Public Sector Sales Director, ITS Technology Group
• Shaun Fensom, CNI
• Shueb Ahmed, Commercial Fibre Lead Boldyn Networks (BAI)
• Owain Taylor-Shaw, Senior Commercial Development Manager, Transport for Wales Fibre
• Gary Littledyke, Lead Senior Technical Officer (Telecoms), Dorset Council

The telecoms industry is starting to become more diverse. This panel of women in senior positions will discuss what we can do to attract people from diverse backgrounds to better represent the communities we serve.

• Rosalind Singleton (Panel Chair)
• Lisa Hand, People Experience Director, Ogi
• Kat Randall Bowmaker, Head of nexfibre Delivery, VM02

INCA research has shown that altnets providing retail access offer reliable services at great prices and often have very positive scores on customer review sites like Trustpilot. However lacking the national recognition enjoyed by major ISPs like TalkTalk or Sky, take up can be slow. During the network build phase altnets also have to contend with understandable local concerns about traffic disruption and new pole installation. This panel will discuss what altnets can do to improve customer engagement and awareness, and what steps can be taken to help drive take up.

• John Irvine, CEO, Wightfibre (Panel Chair)
• Guy Miller, CEO MS3 Networks
• Veronica Speiser, Senior Analyst, Point Topic
• Hayden Shaw, Head of Client Services, Future Digital Media
• Chris Taylor, Partner, Plum Consulting
• Richard Dowden, Lead Engineer - Broadband, RVU (Uswitch)

This short session is an opportunity to discuss the work of INCA’s Special Interest Groups covering policy & regulation, switching and wholesale, labour and skills and PIA. The chair of each group will outline activities over the past year and plans for the year ahead, inviting your thoughts and contributions.

• Malcolm Corbett, CEO, INCA (Panel Chair)
• Oliver Helm, CEO FullFibre (Chair, INCA Policy & Regulatory SIG)
• Gita Sorensen, MD, GOS Consulting
• Max Fernando, Head of Regulatory & Compliance, Glide
• James Blessing, Head of IT Development, Freedom Fibre
• Julie Hobbins, Educational and Funding Lead, Cityfibre

Great services, great prices, positive customer experience are all attributes that attach to many of the altnets. This session will discuss how altnets are leveraging their advantages to build local and regional brands. The $64,000 question is whether these positive stories will by definition remain regional, or can we build (or attract) brands that take us beyond the early adopters and beyond the local?

• Hayley Sykes, Director of Communications & Public Affairs, nexfibre (Panel Chair)
• Ben Allwright, CEO, Ogi
• Lloyd Felton, CEO, County Broadband
• John Irvine, CEO, WightFibre
• Graeme Oxby, CEO, Community Fibre
• David Green, Regional Cloud Manager, Calix

The Digital Connectivity forum has created a Climate and Sustainability Work Group to help telcos navigate their way towards carbon footprint reductions. Chaired by Katie Lester Jones of DCF this workshop will discuss how the CSWG guidance can help the industry contribute to a Net Zero future.

• Katie Lester, Digital Connectivity Forum (Workshop Chair)
• Darren Kilburn, Principal Consultant, FarrPoint
• Paula Wilson, Compliance & Sustainability Manager, Zen Internet
• Will Ennett, Head of Sustainability & ESG, TalkTalk

Fixed wireless connectivity is an important component of digital infrastructure, particularly for harder to reach areas. Chaired by Ian Corden of Peira Consulting this workshop will discuss the latest developments in FWA and what we can expect to see emerging in the near term.

• Ian Corden, CEO, Peira Consulting (Workshop Chair)
• Paddy Paddison, Non-executive Director, Wildanet
• David Burns, CEO, Wireless Coverage and Chair, UKWISPA
• Stephen Muldowney, Sales Manager UK, Athonet

With consolidation very much at the forefront of many altnet leaders’ minds, ensuring that customers of converged networks continue to receive first class service is a critical success factor. Chaired by Stefan Stanislawski, CEO of Connect Fibre and of Lightning Fibre, this workshop will look at how some sector suppliers and their altnet customers are tackling these issues.

• Stefan Stanislawski, CEO, Connect Fibre and Lightning Fibre (Workshop Chair)
• Alex Hollingdale, CEO, Jetty Technologies
• Clairton Fernandes, Sales Manager, Netadmin Systems
• Calum Kerr, Client Director, Sabio Group

One Touch Switching is finally on the horizon. This panel will discuss the latest position with TOTSCo, key milestones ahead, engagement with the market and readiness of the different players for the OTS launch.

• Gita Sorensen, MD, GOS Consulting (Panel Chair)
• Paul Bradbury, CEO TOTSCo
• Josef Karthauser, CTO and Founder, Truespeed
• Lee Turner, Head of Industry Engagement and Regulatory Affairs, Gamma
• David Cullen, Chair, Common Wholesale Platform

The altnet sector has experienced a huge wave of investment into new digital infrastructure. However, the past year has seen a much tougher economic and investment climate. This panel will discuss the key priorities for investment, the impact of policy and regulation and expectations for the development of the sector.

• Charles Cameron, Partner, Cameron Barney (Panel Chair)
• Schellion Horn, Partner - Economic Consulting, Grant Thornton
• Stevie Ingamells, Associate Director Sustainable Infrastructure, Gresham House
• James Harraway, Managing Director, Infracapital
• Oliver Bradley, Senior Managing Director Infrastructure Investing, Macquarie Capital
• Robert Skinner, Head of Sustainable Infrastructure, Octopus Investments

After a period of frenetic growth leading to a sector of more than 100 altnets, consolidation is widely anticipated by investors and management teams alike. This panel will discuss the likely contours of a more consolidated sector with fewer, larger players. Inevitably there will be winners and losers in this process, but also cases where a good fit makes for more of a win-win between partners. This panel will discuss how consolidation is likely to happen, the drivers and timescales, and how much room will remain for smaller, regional players, or those focusing on more specialist market segments.

• Oliver Helm, CEO FullFibre (Panel Chair)
• Jeremy Chelot, CEO, Netomnia/YouFibre
• Alex Blowers, Director of Regulatory Affairs, CityFibre
• Giles Rowbotham, General Counsel and Chief Development Officer, nexfibre
• Neil McArthur, Founder and CEO, Freedom Fibre
• James Audley, Head of Wholesale Product, Marketing and Strategy, Virgin Media 02 Business