Broadband Forum’s new Executive Advisory Board
July 12, 2023
By Chris Forrester

AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Nokia, Orange and Vodafone are amongst the list of firms to join the Broadband Forum’s new Executive Advisory Board (EAB).
The EAB will advise the Broadband Forum’s Board of Directors to help the organisation and the wider broadband industry gain new insights to pinpoint industry challenges and explore new market opportunities.
The next stage of intelligent, services-led broadband will be supported by fixed and wireless industry standards thanks to the formation of the new Broadband Forum EAB. The companies involved in the first inaugural meeting included: AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Calix, DZS, Ericsson, Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), FTTH Council Europe, F-Secure, Huawei, Lumen, NBN, Nokia, Orange, and Vodafone. The role of the EAB is not to make decisions but rather to agree and provide wider insights and industry direction, critical thinking, and analysis.
Potential topics on the agenda moving forward could include making broadband truly ‘multi-service and multi-customer’, application aware and differentiated broadband, network convergence, security, sustainability, and increased network and service agility with Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and Software Defined Networking (SDN).
Consisting of major broadband companies from across the globe, the new body will ensure that the future investment needs of service providers are addressed, and greater value ultimately delivered to residential and business subscribers.
“Broadband continues to evolve, but so too does the broadband subscriber. Within the connected home there is a ’gamer’, a homeworker, a HD video streamer, an IoT and smart home device user, and each need the relevant service quality and experience,” said Craig Thomas, VP of Business Development and Strategic Marketing at Broadband Forum. “In addition, the current and future advancements in broadband technologies will make broadband infrastructure truly multi-service and it needs to meet the demands of enterprise, mobile backhaul, and Industrial IoT alike.”
“It is important to align industry-wide standards with the future investment needs of service providers in order to achieve reduced R&D investment cycles and multi-vendor interoperability, so ultimately we continue to deliver best broadband services to our customers,” said Ahmed Hafez, VP Technology Strategy, Deutsche Telekom. “I look forward to working with my industry peers on the EAB to ensure our future broadband network and service requirements guide the Broadband Forum’s strategic direction and work.”
“I was delighted to bring together global companies from across the industry and establish this new body. The EAB represents the executive and strategic voice of the industry to drive a future dynamic and proven broadband ecosystem,” said Bernd Hesse, BASe Chair and CMO of the Board of Directors at Broadband Forum.