UTC Europe opens an office in Brussels, Belgium
UTC Europe opens a new office in Brussels, Belgium to support all European initiatives.
The UTC Europe office provides local resources to better support members in the region. The office will coordinate educational sessions throughout the year. Peter Moray remains Director of European services and will lead the Brussels team. For more information, please contact Peter Moray [6].

European UTelco Workshop: 22-23 March 2007, SAS Radisson Hotel, Brussels, Belgium
This UTC Europe Workshop is for all European utility executives interested in the opportunities available to utilities in the competitive telecommunications market. The workshop will examine and debate the issues which are critical to establishing a successful UTelco. This includes the UTelco's ability to continue to deliver "best in class" services to the core utility and to develop an external business using the utility assets and complimentary access technologies and solutions in order to enable reach to new customers across the telecom value chain. Sessions include: Access Technologies and the FTTx Opportunities, Maximising the Use of Existing Telecom Infrastructure, Extending the UTelco Networks Beyond the Utility Operational Infrastructure, European UTelco Case Studies, Utility - UTelco Business Relationships and a Roundtable Discussion of current European UTelcos. For more information, contact Peter Moray [7].

UTC Europe launches a Telecoms Benchmarking Programme
UTC Europe is launching a Telecoms Benchmarking Programme addressing the lack of knowledge in respect to other utilities companies, the benchmarking program helps today's Telecom Directors and Managers easily assess the effectiveness of their delivery model. UTC Europe feels this is particularly important now as Utility Companies in different countries are being encouraged to adopt similar core business operating models and have increasing pressure to improve many aspects of service quality. To address this issue, UTC Europe has decided to contract Mason Communications to implement a telecoms benchmarking programme across its Charter Member companies.

This programme will:

• review the options available to utility organisations in the delivery of telecoms services
• identify a benchmark to measure the proficiency of service delivery from a technical, commercial and market capability perspective, and draw recommendations from industry best practice
• provide a report that will give a clear understanding of how and where the service delivery models are employed, and the rationale behind the choice of model.

The final report will help Telecom and IT Directors and Managers understand the factors influencing telecom service delivery within the European arena. The programme will be updated continuously. For more information, contact Peter Moray [8].

Multimode or Single-Mode Fiber?
As applications push the envelope in regards to enterprise networks, designers often consider the difference between single-mode fiber and multimode fiber. This short article prepared by OFS discusses the differences of the two and stresses the advantages, particularly the cost savings with using multimode fiber. While many designers opt for single-mode fiber as speeds increase, multimode fiber should be considered a viable choice is some situations. To read the complete article, click here [9].

EU Developments to Watch
The Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7) has had several recent calls of importance to members.

Energy (found here: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.CooperationCallsPage&id_activity=5 [10]) has two – Energy Call Part 1 giving background and general information and Energy Call Part 2 which is more specific (When downloading these documents, the best choice is the work programme). While these are both large documents, of import are two particular sections - Activity Energy Part 7 on Smart Energy Networks and Activity Energy Part 8 on Energy Savings. Both of these sections deal with the future of energy companies and both will have large impacts on telecommunication networks.

Information and Communication Technologies (found here: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.CooperationCallsPage&id_activity=3 [11]) also has two sections that UTC Europe members need to be familiar with moving forward. Both of these sections can be found in downloading the work programme associated with ICT Call 1. Specifically, on page 32 the Objective ICT-2007.3.7:Network Embedded and Control Systems and starting on page 44, the entire Challenge 6: ICT for Mobility, Environmental Sustainability and Energy Efficiency.

i2010 – First Annual Report on the European Information Society
Europe, recognizing the need for continued growth and jobs, has put together a three pronged approach, “the single information space; innovation and investment in research; inclusion” to address these issues proactively. This strategy includes a strong focus on energy efficiency throughout Europe and the policy measures to get this done. To read the complete report, click here [12].

Submarine Cable Market Status - Lightwave Europe [13] Article
Lightwave Europe's article on the submarine cable market suggests strong growth in 2007, to 60,000 km conservatively, mainly driven by competition. Additionally, the growth of high-speed internet and mobile telephony will drive the market further. And with competitors charging high costs to access fiber lines already in place, many companies are opting to build their own lines instead, further fueling the market. Two other factors spurring growth are offshore oil, gas wells and windfarms, all sources of energy that are expected to grow in the coming years. While fiber optic companies are expected to benefit, so too are companies that supply systems to interconnect offshore operations to shore.

European Utility Telecom - Lightwave Europe [14] Article
Summarizing the UTelco Workshop meeting included in the European Utility Telecom Conference 2006 (EUTC 2006), the article focuses on the trend for utilities to use excess fibre capacity and rights-of-way for non-utility revenue building a carrier’s carrier. While some utilities that were in the UTelco business in the 1990s have spun off their telecom business to focus on the core business and the ever increasing number of regulations, others are just getting started, particularly in Eastern Europe. With utility companies hanging on to equipment longer than actual telecom companies, there is often pressure for them to upgrade more frequently as well as the challenge to connect old and new communication systems together. With the EU SmartGrid effort, this pressure is increasing as the effort pushes utilities to better communicate with customers on the demand-side management requires upgraded systems. No matter what utilities decide to do, the future should bring much more interconnected utilities to the industry, including business opportunities outside the core line of business of providing electricity, gas and water.

Other Conference of Interest
EURELECTRIC Conference [15] on "The Future of the Electricity Distribution Business" 29 March 2007, Hotel Le Plaza, Blvd Adophe Max 118-126, 1000 Brussels.