21581 - SCTE Broadband August2022 COMPLETE v1

14 Vol. 44 No. 3 - September 2022 Issue Besim Latifi, our Ambassador-At-Large has been busier than ever and has some great news for the SCTE. We caught up with him to see what’s happening on the ground in Kosovo and further afield too. scte balkans news How are things going with you Besim? In addition to our work in Eastern Europe, we are making steady progress. Our East African friends Wananchi, one of the region’s leading home entertainment operator and telecoms groups, is in process of getting approval for training more than 200 people in different level of HFC training. That’s good news – 200 peoplewill make a big difference. It really will. This is a significant investment that will be important in reducing the overall CAPEX of Wananchi over time. And how about further afield? In Indonesia we are in contact with various operators there to promote our training programmes. With the right products and good installation, one can have a successful and valuable network, but it is important that time is spent equally on both components in order for the initiative to be successful. It’s a balancing act, and an important one to get right, isn’t it. Yes, it’s clear to me that this has to be done right and done well. Finding that balance. Education and training are ongoing initiatives that operators need and must continually invest in. New technologies like 1.8GHz are coming too, requiring further network design and implementation. And what about closer to home? Another trend that the SCTE in the Balkans support is the optical networks industry. The bulk of our investment is taking place in this area, especially in terms of green fields – it is more logical to invest in opticals when this is the case. I’m also having conversations with Asia and Africa markets currently, where there are investments being made that are worth billions. It’s really exciting. Upon first impression, building an optical network sounds simple, but it’s the installation that makes it a complex proposition. Besim Latifi, SCTE SCTE ® Balkans Update from Ambassador-at-Large