Brussels, 10 March 2020 – Currently, Europe and the world are experiencing a major public health crisis with the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and our thoughts are with all those, who have been directly affected. According to World Health Organisation and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the new cases of COVID-19 infection throughout the EU have been increasing exponentially daily for the last few weeks, which inevitably raises concerns regarding the safety of the attendees and participants of large conferences and exhibitions. Moreover, several prominent shows and trade fairs have been cancelled or postponed due to the accelerating spread of the virus, and Switzerland and France have banned all major events gathering a large number of people.
Since its very first edition, the FTTH Conference has been a major hotspot for senior executives from the digital communications sector as well as top-level decision-makers, EU and national policymakers, infrastructure manufacturers, vendors, investors and broadband stakeholders at large for Fibre and 5G in Europe and beyond from around 100 countries in Europe and across the world.
The FTTH Council Europe is committed to delivering an excellent and successful event in conditions where meetings can be held, interesting and topical discussions can take place, business decisions can be made and partnerships and alliances can emerge and enrich the industry. Our top priority, therefore, is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all the FTTH Conference attendees.
It is also important to highlight that amid coronavirus concerns many companies and organisations that are to attend and exhibit at the FTTH Conference have been forced to install so-called "No Travel Policies", which would potentially prevent some participants from attending the Berlin Conference.
We have been carefully monitoring the development of the current exceptional circumstances in consultation with Messe Berlin, public authorities and expert advisors.
Due to the progressive spread of the coronavirus, which is currently accelerating day by day, resulting in force majeure measures across the world we believe that the best solution in the interest of all stakeholders is to postpone the FTTH Conference 2020, initially scheduled for 21-23 April in Berlin, and move the event to a later time slot, 1-3 December 2020 at the same venue, Messe Berlin – hub27.
Our goal is to deliver again a pre-eminent fibre and digital policy summit that represents relevant elements of the industry value chain and we want to ensure that the FTTH Conference 2020 becomes a memorable, fruitful and safe experience to every attendee. FTTH Conference Berlin Postponed to 1-3 December 2020
We thank all our members, sponsors, speakers, partners and attendees for their continued support and we look forward to continued cooperation to deliver another outstanding FTTH Conference 1-3 December 2020.
