Q&A: Dr. Peter Charissé, ANGA COM

Dr. Peter Charissé, managing director of ANGA COM and ANGA The Broadband Association, talks to DTVE about what attendees to this year’s ANGA COM can expect when they visit Cologne in May. 

What do you see as the main themes of this year’s ANGA COM?

The overriding issue will be the gigantic fibre optic expansion we are facing in the next years. The German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport recently announced to expect a private investment of 50 billion euros in fibre-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. Under this headline ANGA COM’s key topics include Gigabit Networks, FTTX, 5G, OTT, AppTV, Cloud TV, Video Streaming, Smart City and Smart Home.

How do these themes reflect the changing video and broadband environment in Germany and internationally?

The roll-out of broadband networks is booming more than ever. Regarding the TV business, the current conclusion is that time-shifted video and streaming are growing rapidly. The usage shares will continue to change from linear to on demand. Here, the age will play an increasingly important role. Prices are also increasingly on the move.

What are your expectations for the show as the world emerges from the pandemic and how different will ANGA COM 2022 be to the pre-pandemic event?

First of all, it feels great to be back on the exhibition floor soon and to see the growing optimism of our exhibitors every day. 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 sqm. This is very close to 2019. Even more important: The quality in the two exhibition halls is higher than ever. Also, we have a major advantage with our location: With 15-meter 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. Following the recent amendment of the German legislation, it is expected that in May almost all COVID restrictions in Germany will be lifted.

What are the major innovations for this year’s show?

In the conference programme, 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).

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