news2_1 28/02/2014 12:56 Page 3
MONITOR
KD chief: Cable essential driver of
telecoms competition
n the run-up to Cable
Congress in Amsterdam,
incoming Kabel
Deutschland CEO Manuel
Cubero – who is also vice
president of trade body Cable
Europe, shared his thoughts
on industry developments in
Germany and Europe.
With Kabel Deutschland having
been acquired by telco giant
Vodafone in a €7.7 billion deal in
June 2103, Cubero said that if the
acquisition proved only one point,
it was that you cannot do without
fixed assets and that the European
cable industry should be reassured. “In addition, the European
cable industry will increasingly be
looked at when it comes to showing how exactly ‘convergence’ can,
in fact, create value. In my opinion, we can be the ones liberating
this fuzzy concept from consultants and turning it into reality –
maybe in new and surprising
ways.”
“In order to do all this, we need
to keep working as an industry on
getting the right regulatory framework in place: one that truly supports the digital economy and
breakthrough innovation through
fair competition between infrastructures. In this regard, the further consolidation in our industry
will continue to play an important
role.”
He considered that, in general,
I
Kabel Deutschland
joins RDK community
Kabel Deutschland,
Germany’s largest cable
network operator, has formally joined the RDK community. The company
licensed the Reference
Design Kit (RDK) from RDK
Management aimed at
accelerating the development of next-generation inhome devices and video
services.
the European regulatory framework and its implementation by
European regulators have been
heading in the right
direction. “It has
enabled the much
desired and fruitful
infrastructure competition throughout
Europe. Cable with
its vast investments
in superior networks an