The following transcript has been edited for length and readability. Listen to the entire discussion here on The Broadband Bunch. The Broadband Bunch is sponsored by ETI Software.
Pete Pizzutillo:
This episode of The Broadband Bunch is sponsored by ETI Software and VETRO FiberMap.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Broadband Bunch. My name is Pete Pizzutillo, and I am joined today by Rob Chambers. He is the managing director of Total Telecom. Robert, thanks for joining us again.
Rob Chambers:
Yeah, nice to be here again, Pete.
Pete Pizzutillo:
It’s been a while since we had you on the show. A lot of stuff is going on in Total Telecom as well and the event is coming up a few days away. Are you still standing; are you exhausted; are you excited? Where are you on that emotional journey getting ready for one of these things?
Rob Chambers:
There has been so much going on here, but I’m excited. I’ll leave it to other people to be exhausted. But it’s the biggest event we’ve ever put on. We’re going to have 5,000 people next week at ExCeL in London. So yeah, there’s a lot riding on it. But it’s going to be good. I’m sure of it.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, I’m sure. You guys always do a great job of these events. And I love your energy, and it exudes through your team. So I’m looking forward to it, and we’ll be there recording. What are you looking forward to most this year?
Rob Chambers:
What am I looking forward to most this year? I think the big thing for all of us this year is going to be the move to the new venue. We’ve been for the last four, maybe five, years at a lovely venue in Central London called the Business Design Centre, which we outgrew, sadly. We literally couldn’t get anything else in it. So we’ve moved down to ExCeL, which is London’s purpose-built exhibition center. And so the big thing I’m looking forward to is that move. It really is shifting the game for the event to a new level. Yeah, I’ve already said we’re going to have 5,000 people. It’s 13,000 square meters. It has over 300 sponsors and exhibitors. So the big thing I’m looking forward to is seeing how that all comes together.
We hope some people turn up, which I’m sure they will, and see how the whole thing gels. We’ve got nine stages of content. We’ve got 360 speakers. It’s going to be a huge event, absolutely huge.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, so the Connected Britain event, this is, I don’t know, the fifth year, is that right?
Rob Chambers:
No, I think it’s about the eighth year, I think.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Eighth year? Wow. Time flies. And it’s growing so big that you guys need to find a whole new venue, right?
So the UK broadband market’s a little bit different than some of the other markets that we deal with. It is a little bit more mature and a little bit more thrashing going on there. What do you think that’s continuing to drive the growth and attention towards this kind of industry gathering?
Rob Chambers:
I think there are a couple of things that are driving the growth. There’s still a lot to do in the UK. The UK’s come from being the laggard of Europe in terms of fiber rollout to being a lot more competitive, but there’s still a lot to do. There’s a big difference between the number of properties past and the number of people adopting fiber broadband for their own use. So there’s plenty to do there.
We’ve got things like 5G coming online, which is obviously a huge issue now, particularly in terms of the real use cases for the industry. And then we’ve got the whole adoption of just how people are using faster connectivity in their daily lives, whether it be the shift to more hybrid working, whether it be entertainment, whether it be education, whatever it might be, health. There are a million and one applications, and that’s continuing to drive it. And you see that in the sense that there are huge amounts of investment still going on.
There are some figures that were put out by the Independent Networks Cooperative Association recently, INCA, which people probably know. The independent networks, the altnets, are planning to invest 24 billion pounds by 2030. And you can easily see, sketched out direct investment term was 50 billion pounds plus still, so there’s plenty of money coming to sector even directly. And then when you look at all the things that get added on in terms of investment by companies who are using it and communities and all that kind of thing, there’s plenty still to drive this sector.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, for sure. And there’s a lot of money. There is a lot of interesting overlap between mature networks and new networks and people are trying to figure out how to monetize that. It’d be interesting, and maybe it’s a broader conversation, about what the US market can learn from what’s happened in Europe and the UK when you do throw a bunch of money at a problem, right? I mean, there are potential ways to squander that opportunity, which we’re considering here, but there are also a lot of good best practices. So it’d be interesting to see what the tenor is at the event this year of what’s going on.
And so what does that look like for you when you’re trying to figure out themes and agenda and keynotes? How do you do that, and what are some of the things that you’re looking forward to at this year’s event?
Rob Chambers:
Well, there’s a whole sort of raft of things that come through there. If we look at the keynotes themselves, then they are as strong as we’ve always come to expect from Connected Britain. We have the government minister, the Minister of Data and Digital, who’s a guy called John Whittingdale. He’s speaking. We have Theo Blackwell from the mayor’s office in London speaking as well. So we have the big public sector names, both from London and actually from further around the country, as Steve Rotheram, the Metro Mayor from Liverpool, is speaking as well. So there are some big public sector names.
There are huge industry names as well, Clive Selley, the CEO of Openreach, and Amber Pine, the MD of Sky’s broadband side. So the names are definitely there. And I think the thing that may actually interest you is because, I think, a lot of your audience is probably North American based still, there are some big American names in there as well. People like Kevin Morgan from Clearfield, the CMO there, and the CTO from Calix. So it’s actually quite global, the lineup, considering it’s a totally UK-centric event.
In terms of sessions that interest me, I guess on a personal level there’s some stuff on regeneration and how connectivity is helping to regenerate cities, which is very close to my heart. I’m really looking forward to seeing that. Last year we launched a pitching competition for startups, and that’s returning for the second year as well. And basically, we do live pitching at the event and then one of the startups wins an award at the Connected Britain Awards. So those are all really nice things to see. There are so many things I’m looking forward to seeing.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, it sounds like a lot. So just to help round out, and that’s great about in terms of the topics. This is the eighth year you’ve been doing this. How have you seen the audience change and how would you, for a newcomer, describe the folks that will be walking the halls next week with you?
Rob Chambers:
Yeah. So I guess when we started it, Connected Britain, was very much about building out networks. And because of that, the key audience in the early years was the alternative networks, and then the more traditional telcos, and then, to an extent, cities and counties in the UK and the superfast bodies and things like that. Those are all still core parts of the audience, even though there are now an awful lot more altnets out there and a lot more players from that point of view.
But now, we’re seeing a lot more people who are focusing on the use of broadband rather than just on the build of it. So there are more people from public sector areas, the health sector, from education, from utilities, who are coming. There’s a lot more representation from the industry that’s starting to deploy technology based on connectivity. So there are people like Bosch who are present at the event and speaking at the event this year. And then you’re also getting more people from the property development and the real estate sector as well who are appearing. So it’s evolving to being one which is a broader digital economy event rather than just being about building out networks.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, that’s super encouraging. I mean, I do think a lot of the conversation has always been around access, right? But what are steps two and three? And once the access is in place, it’s important to kind of define the success of network design and builds based on those kinds of higher-order, advanced applications that you mentioned, right? I think that’s something that we need to bring forward in some of the emerging efforts that are happening here at the state and local level. What’s the end goal in making sure that we’re building networks and processes that affordably make those a reality, right?
Rob Chambers:
Yeah, I think you’re right, and that is definitely the end goal. And when you look at a lot of the organizations that are looking at digital equity and access and skills and things like that, they are certainly talking about the end goal. And then you’ve got the political debate if you like that goes on behind that and the discussions around overbuilding and reaching the more remote areas and all those kinds of good things as well.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, you’ve been listening to The Broadband Bunch, and we’re speaking with Rob Chambers. He’s the managing director of Total Telecom, and we have been talking about Connected Britain 2023, which is coming up on September 20th and 21st at the ExCeL Centre in London.
Rob, I just want to mention there are industry awards. It’s something that you guys do, which I think is really nice for our community. And I get to participate in that this year, so thank you for that opportunity. Maybe just give us a quick overview of some of the award categories and the motivation, why you think it’s important for us to recognize our peers.
Rob Chambers:
Yeah. The awards we’ve been running for a few years now. And when we started them, I guess they were quite lighthearted at first. It was nice to go out and do some recognition, but actually, they have become quite serious now. You’re recognizing the great things that individuals and companies are doing. I think it is always a good thing to do. And we try and keep it quite broad-based. So we have categories in there that are aimed at the operators, whether it be the altnets or whether it be the largest of broadband providers. But also, we go out there and try and recognize enterprises and what local authorities and cities and all those kinds of things are doing.
So it’s quite broad-based, and there’s things coming in now like sustainability as well gets into it, and enterprise solutions, as well as startups. So there’s a good chance for a lot of people to seek some recognition from their peers. It’s good for the morale of the companies. And it’s good for the industry to see that people are taking it seriously because obviously people go out there and shout about it then. It’s basic PR. So something I’ve always worked on in awards ceremonies, and I think they are possibly more important now than ever.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, I think the industry events are a great way to highlight the things that are important that people may not be thinking about in the industry as well as to shed light on a lot of the interesting innovation that’s happening, both from a policy perspective, but also a technology perspective and the service perspective. So looking forward to seeing what that is and sharing a cocktail with you at that reception.
So you got all this going on. It is a massive event, the biggest one in eight years. There are a lot of great market dynamics happening in the UK as well as globally. One of the things I wanted to talk to you about is Total Telecom recently acquired the Broadband Communities properties. So I was wondering if you could just quickly share what motivated that and how you see that folding into all that you guys have going on.
Rob Chambers:
Yeah, as I said, it’s been a busy time, hasn’t it? Yeah, well, I guess really the sort of motivation behind this is sort of similar to where we were when we launched Connected Britain those years ago. The dynamic in the United States has become very pro-connectivity. The Infrastructure Bill obviously changed the dynamic there and put a lot of money into it, and that suddenly took the market from being interesting to us to being incredibly interesting. As some people know, earlier this year we launched our own event in Dallas called Connected America, and that went down very well with people, it was very successful.
And then we became aware of the fact that there was an opportunity to acquire Broadband Communities as well. Now, it’s a very good fit for what we already do. It’s more focused on the communities themselves, on the real estate sector, and, if you like, it’s a little bit more nuts and bolts of how and why people build out networks for communities, and how they get the money to do that, and what they do with them.
Whereas, the Connected America event, for example, is perhaps a little bit more strategic, high level, with the operators, and the regulation for landscape, and things like that. So they’re a very good fit together, and we think we can bring a lot of the resources and the knowledge we have as a business to bear on Broadband Communities and grow both out as great events. They’re great brands, and so we’re really looking forward to the challenge of developing it.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, it’s exciting to inject some fresh thinking into that. And also, I do think that it’s important what you talked about in terms of event alignment and differentiation. I think there are a lot of events over the last five years that have popped up, and there might be some atrophy or wearing of people trying to go to these events. But if we can identify the clearer stakeholders that are attending or they’re designed for, I think that’s really powerful. Because going to the same conference and hearing the same people speak… I’m a little sensitive to it because I go to a lot more events than most people do. How do we get down to the next level to dig into certain areas or within a certain community? And that’ll be interesting to see how you guys shape that together.
So, congrats, and best of luck with that. Connected Britain 2024, what do you see doing differently, or what do you hope to see that event look like a year from now?
Rob Chambers:
There’s no sign of Connected Britain slowing down. We’ve gone from 3,000-odd people attending last year to looking for 5,000 this year. We’re probably looking for 7,500 next year. We’re still getting a lot of appetite from sponsors and exhibitors who want to have more presence on the show floor. And that’s not just what you’d consider to be sort of the traditional telco or network type companies, but also other companies that are interested in that sort of connectivity space, I guess you might say. People like Salesforce, for example, would stand out to me as being one, but there are various other companies like that who are coming to the fore and companies who are starting to do things like in-building connectivity, and in-home connectivity. So I see a lot more growth for that.
Next year, I think we’ll have more space again, we’ll have more people again. We won’t necessarily have a hell of a lot more speakers. There will be more speakers, but not necessarily a lot more. I think we’re at 362 this year, and there are only so many sessions that anyone can go to.
But it’s certainly going to grow. And the challenge, obviously, for my content team here really is to keep their ears to the ground, keep talking to everyone, and understand where the market’s going, and try and be sort of one step ahead a little bit, just so that when the event comes around, it’s not just talking about the things that are current, but also the things that they’re going to be thinking of in the next year or two years.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, thank you for that. So how can our listeners learn more about this year’s event, Connected Britain 2023?
Rob Chambers:
Well, we still have a few days; it’s not till Wednesday next week, Wednesday the 20th. The easiest way to find it is on the website, which is totaltele.com/connectedbritain, or you just put “Connected Britain” into any of the search engines and it should come up first.
Pete Pizzutillo:
That’s great, and I hope people do take the opportunity to investigate not just this event, but all the other great stuff that you guys put together. I appreciate all you do for our community. Rob, I’m looking forward to seeing you in a couple of days. I really appreciate your taking the time to share everything with us today.
Rob Chambers:
I look forward to seeing you there. It’ll be great to have you here in London. So thanks for the time to talk to people.
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, man, keep the rain away. And I’ll be there.
Rob Chambers:
Keep the sun out, hey?
Pete Pizzutillo:
Yeah, exactly. That’ll wrap up another episode of The Broadband Bunch. I want to thank Rob for joining us today. When you get a chance, check out Connected Britain’s website. If you’ve made it this far, you’re definitely into all things broadband, like we are. So if you get a chance to visit broadbandbunch.com, you can get a look at some of the other episodes that we have and resources. And honestly, we’d love to hear your story, so please reach out, and hopefully, we can get you on the show. Thanks again for listening.
