National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon

Programme Overview

This five-day professional training programme provides public sector specialists with essential technical and operational knowledge for implementing large-scale broadband infrastructure. National digital transformation agendas rely on robust optical transmission networks and carrier-neutral peering facilities to lower connectivity costs and expand broadband access. Participants evaluate open-access duct-sharing models, technical engineering designs for fibre backbones, and governance frameworks for internet exchange points. The curriculum aligns with the technical standards and procurement guidelines required by multilateral development institutions including the World Bank, AfDB, and the European Union.

Delivered in Lisbon, the course offers direct exposure to modern telecommunications architecture and cross-border connectivity frameworks. Through structured modules, delegates analyse optical transport network planning, including dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), right-of-way management, and infrastructure sharing across civil utilities. The programme places strong emphasis on standardising wholesale open-access operations to prevent market monopolisation. Practical reviews of tender dossiers, concession models, and technical specifications ensure attendees can effectively execute capital-intensive backbone infrastructure initiatives within their national jurisdictions.

The sessions address the operational and regulatory mechanisms that sustain internet exchange points (IXPs) and regional data gateways. Participants review routing security, local traffic aggregation, autonomous system numbering, and technical colocation requirements. By linking physical fibre deployment with carrier-neutral exchange facilities, the course enables public officials, project management units, and regulatory authorities to establish resilient, scalable, and non-discriminatory digital corridors. The training combines rigorous operational frameworks with practical contract templates applicable to complex, sovereign-backed telecommunications investments.

Public sector institutions in developing and emerging markets are currently scaling up investments in high-capacity digital transit corridors to bridge domestic connectivity divides and foster regional trade integration. Large-scale operations, such as national digital acceleration initiatives financed by multilateral development banks, require public officials to master open-access telecom leasing, duct sharing, and carrier-neutral internet exchange operations. As governments deploy substantial capital into high-speed transmission networks, establishing precise technical specifications, equitable wholesale pricing regimes, and secure routing architectures is critical to ensuring long-term fiscal sustainability and open market competition.

Delivered by Risalat Consultants International in Lisbon, Portugal, it combines expert-led sessions, real cases and group work, so that participants can apply what they learn in their own institution.

The Programme Strengthens Institutional Capability

• Strategic principles of national optical backbone planning and terrestrial topology mapping
• ITU-T recommendations for optical transmission systems, duct construction, and dark-fibre deployments
• Geotechnical surveys, right-of-way acquisition, and environmental impact management for linear digital assets
• Civil engineering considerations: trenching methods, micro-trenching, and multi-duct asset deployment
• Review of national broadband master plans and donor-financed technical appraisal criteria
• Regulatory design for carrier-neutral, wholesale open-access telecommunications infrastructure
• Civil utility sharing models: optical ground wire (OPGW) deployment on power grids and rail corridors
• Cost-oriented pricing methodologies and reference duct-leasing offers (RDLO)
• Infrastructure planning and prioritisation
• Project appraisal and business cases
• Financing options and public-private partnerships
• Procurement and contracting for works

It is designed for telecommunications regulatory authority directors and legal specialists, broadband policy officers from ministries of digital economy and communications, digital infrastructure project engineers within national implementation units and others who want practical, current skills in infrastructure, urban development and partnerships.

The Growing Importance of National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon

Infrastructure and urban services shape growth, health and opportunity. Projects are large, complex and long-lived, and weaknesses in planning, financing or delivery are costly to fix later.

Governments increasingly combine public investment, partnerships with the private sector and new technologies. Teams who can plan, appraise, procure and manage these investments deliver better assets and services.

Organisations increasingly require professionals capable of:

• Plan and prioritise infrastructure investments
• Appraise projects and prepare business cases
• Choose financing and delivery models
• Supervise works for time, cost and quality
• Manage assets over their life

Strong infrastructure, urban development and partnerships systems help organisations:

• Select the right investments
• Deliver projects on time and on budget
• Attract financing and partners
• Keep assets working for longer

This National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon programme brings these elements together in a practical format, so that participants understand not only what good practice looks like but also how to introduce it in their own setting, with the people and resources they have.

Who Should Attend This National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Training?

This programme is designed for:

• Telecommunications regulatory authority directors and legal specialists
• Broadband policy officers from ministries of digital economy and communications
• Digital infrastructure project engineers within national implementation units
• Project coordinators from donor-financed broadband acceleration operations
• Utility infrastructure managers overseeing fiber-optic right-of-way assets
• Wholesale open-access telecom network operators and public asset managers
• Technical engineers responsible for regional internet exchange point operations
• Public-private partnership procurement specialists managing telecom concessions
• Sovereign data centre and optical transmission infrastructure planning teams
• Infrastructure and urban planners
• Engineers and technical managers
• Project and programme managers

The programme suits experienced professionals as well as those moving into new responsibilities. Groups that mix institutions and countries are encouraged, because participants learn a great deal from each other’s experience.

National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Training Objectives

Upon successful completion of this National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Training, participants will be able to:

• Evaluate national broadband backbone topologies, route engineering parameters, and optical transport network capacities
• Structure wholesale open-access telecom duct leasing frameworks and multi-utility infrastructure sharing policies
• Draft comprehensive technical specifications for dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and resilient dark-fibre networks
• Appraise public-private partnership (PPP) concession contracts and capital expenditure models for national fibre backbones
• Establish carrier-neutral internet exchange point (IXP) governance charters, pricing policies, and colocation rules
• Incorporate international standards such as ITU-T optical recommendations and MANRS routing security protocols into public procurements
• Design key performance indicators and quality-of-service compliance frameworks for wholesale digital transit concessionaires
• Explain how infrastructure is planned and prioritised
• Appraise projects and prepare a business case
• Compare financing and delivery models, including partnerships

Each objective is practised during the programme through exercises, cases or group work, so that participants leave able to do it, not only to describe it.

Programme Contents and Structure

The programme runs over 5 days. Each day combines expert input, practical work and a closing workshop or case study:

• First Day: Day 1: National Broadband Backbone Planning and Route Engineering
• Second Day: Day 2: Open-Access Duct Leasing and Multi-Utility Infrastructure Sharing
• Third Day: Day 3: Digital Connectivity Public-Private Partnerships and Concession Models
• Fourth Day: Day 4: Regional Internet Exchange Point (IXP) Architecture and Governance
• Fifth Day: Day 5: Quality of Service, Network Resilience, and Technical Compliance

Full day-by-day contents

First Day | Day 1: National Broadband Backbone Planning and Route Engineering

• Strategic principles of national optical backbone planning and terrestrial topology mapping
• ITU-T recommendations for optical transmission systems, duct construction, and dark-fibre deployments
• Geotechnical surveys, right-of-way acquisition, and environmental impact management for linear digital assets
• Civil engineering considerations: trenching methods, micro-trenching, and multi-duct asset deployment
• Review of national broadband master plans and donor-financed technical appraisal criteria

Workshop: Day 1: National Broadband Backbone Planning and Route Engineering: Applying It to Your Institution

Working in small groups, participants apply the day's methods to examples from their own institutions and agree practical next steps.

Second Day | Day 2: Open-Access Duct Leasing and Multi-Utility Infrastructure Sharing

• Regulatory design for carrier-neutral, wholesale open-access telecommunications infrastructure
• Civil utility sharing models: optical ground wire (OPGW) deployment on power grids and rail corridors
• Cost-oriented pricing methodologies and reference duct-leasing offers (RDLO)
• Contractual frameworks for public asset leasing, maintenance service-level agreements, and fault repair
• Dispute resolution mechanisms for space allocation in crowded telecom ducts and subterranean conduits

Workshop: Day 2: Open-Access Duct Leasing and Multi-Utility Infrastructure Sharing: Applying It to Your Institution

Working in small groups, participants apply the day's methods to examples from their own institutions and agree practical next steps.

Third Day | Day 3: Digital Connectivity Public-Private Partnerships and Concession Models

• Evaluating public-private partnership models for broadband: Build-Own-Operate versus Design-Build-Operate-Maintain
• Capital expenditure forecasting, commercial risk allocation, and revenue-sharing mechanisms in telecom PPPs
• Structuring multilateral procurement dossiers: standard procurement documents and technical evaluation criteria
• Wholesale tariff regulation: avoiding price discrimination and ensuring non-exclusive network access
• Case study analysis of national backbone concession contracts and long-term asset handover conditions

Case Study: Day 3: Digital Connectivity Public-Private Partnerships and Concession Models in Practice

Participants analyse a realistic case, compare the choices made with good practice and draw lessons they can use in their own setting.

Fourth Day | Day 4: Regional Internet Exchange Point (IXP) Architecture and Governance

• IXP network architecture: Layer 2 switching platforms, colocation facilities, and power resilience standards
• Governance structures for carrier-neutral IXPs: non-profit associations, industry consortiums, and public stakes
• Autonomous System Numbers (ASN), Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing, and local peering economics
• Implementing Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (MANRS) and route server configurations
• Developing participant agreements, joining criteria, and cost-recovery fee models for national peering points

Workshop: Day 4: Regional Internet Exchange Point (IXP) Architecture and Governance: Applying It to Your Institution

Working in small groups, participants apply the day's methods to examples from their own institutions and agree practical next steps.

Fifth Day | Day 5: Quality of Service, Network Resilience, and Technical Compliance

• Optical line performance monitoring, optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) testing, and SLA metrics
• Network resilience strategies: physical path diversity, redundant routing, and subsea cable landing linkages
• Regulatory inspection procedures, testing protocols, and acceptance verification for public works
• Cybersecurity, critical digital infrastructure protection, and disaster recovery planning for transmission nodes
• Participant action plan presentations: adapting international deployment templates to home-country projects

Capstone Exercise: National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Action Plan for Your Institution

Participants bring the week together in an action plan for their own institution, with priorities, owners and first steps, and present it for feedback from peers and facilitators.

National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Training Methodology

The training is conducted through an interactive professional development format that combines expert-led technical presentations with practical document review workshops. Participants analyse real-world technical tender documents, engineering schematics, and regulatory concession agreements. Working in cross-disciplinary groups, delegates resolve practical implementation scenarios, including drafting open-access terms and evaluating IXP technical designs. Structured plenary debates and guided peer reviews encourage the sharing of operational challenges, ensuring the direct transfer of knowledge to donor-backed digital infrastructure projects.

The programme combines:

• Expert-led sessions on current practice
• Regional and international case studies
• Group work and practical exercises
• Simulations and role plays where relevant
• Discussion of participants' own challenges
• Peer learning across institutions and countries
• Practical tools and templates to take back to work
• Daily reflection and action planning

Before the programme, a short pre-assessment helps the facilitators understand each participant’s role and priorities, so that examples and exercises can be adjusted to the group. Each day ends with a short reflection in which participants note what they will apply at work.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Training, participants will be able to:

• Competence in auditing national optical transmission route designs and right-of-way licensing processes
• Ability to formulate fair, non-discriminatory reference duct-leasing offers and utility co-deployment rules
• Capability to review and validate complex PPP procurement dossiers and concessionaire performance agreements
• Practical understanding of carrier-neutral IXP operational requirements, BGP peering, and routing security
• Proficiency in applying ITU-T technical standards and donor compliance frameworks to digital infrastructure works
• Preparedness to manage acceptance testing, operational monitoring, and wholesale tariff compliance effectively
• Plan and prioritise infrastructure investments
• Appraise projects and prepare business cases

Participants leave with a personal action plan and practical tools they can use in their institution from the first week back. Institutions that send several participants can use the programme to agree shared methods and templates across teams, which makes improvements easier to sustain.

Institutional Application of National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Training

This programme supports organisations in strengthening:

• Investment planning
• Project appraisal
• Partnership management
• Works supervision
• Asset management

Participants return with practical tools to improve:

• Business cases
• Risk allocation
• Contract management
• Maintenance planning
• Service monitoring

The programme is built so that learning moves from the classroom into the institution. Participants work on their own processes and documents where possible, and leave with an action plan that their managers can review and support.

Regional Relevance & Application

Europe

European institutions apply infrastructure, urban development and partnerships within detailed regulatory frameworks and reform agendas. Participants from Europe can compare their practice with colleagues from other regions and test how established methods work under different conditions.

Africa

Across Africa, ministries, agencies and project teams working in infrastructure, urban development and partnerships increasingly operate alongside donor-financed programmes that expect clear systems and evidence. The programme helps participants adapt good practice to the institutions and resources they work with.

Middle East

In the Middle East, national development strategies and diversification plans place growing demands on infrastructure, urban development and partnerships. Participants explore how to build the capability these plans need inside public bodies and companies.

Asia

Institutions across Asia combine rapid growth with ambitious modernisation programmes. Participants from Asia can share their experience of scaling systems quickly and learn from approaches used elsewhere.

Pacific

Small island and Pacific states face particular constraints of size, distance and capacity. The programme highlights practical, proportionate approaches to infrastructure, urban development and partnerships that suit smaller institutions.

Holding the programme in Lisbon, Portugal brings participants together away from their daily pressures, so they can compare how infrastructure, urban development and partnerships is handled in different settings. The same programme can also be delivered in-house for one institution, in its own country or online, with cases taken from its current work.

Host Country Profile – Portugal

Training programmes and study tours in Lisbon suit professionals focusing on public sector governance, maritime affairs, renewable energy, and urban administration. Delegates attend from across Europe, North Africa, and Portuguese-speaking nations in Africa and South America.

Studying away from their own country gives participants time to focus, a fresh view of their own institution and the chance to build a network with colleagues from other countries.

National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Training Deliverables

Participants receive support before, during and after the programme, so that preparation, learning and follow-up form one continuous experience.

Before the Programme

• Participant Pre-Assessment
• National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Readiness Assessment
• National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Resource Pack
• Preparatory Reading Materials
• Complimentary Visa Support & Advisory

During the Programme

• Airport Pickup & Welcome Assistance
• Accommodation with Breakfast
• Welcome Networking Dinner
• Risalat Training Kit (Bag, Bottle, Mug, T-Shirt, Cap, Passport Cover, Pens, Notebook, Magnet & Keychain)
• Comprehensive National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon Training Manual
• Project Appraisal Template
• PPP Risk Allocation Matrix
• Works Supervision Checklist
• Asset Management Plan Template
• Practical Workshops & Simulations
• Group Discussions & Peer Learning
• Daily Lunch and Refreshments
• Full Access to Training Venue Facilities
• Mini Pad / Tablet with Digital Learning Materials
• Field Visit (where applicable)
• Entertaining City Tour

After the Programme

• Certificate of Completion
• Risalat Programme Participation Recognition Award
• Post-Training Reference Materials
• Business Case Review Checklist
• Maintenance Planning Template
• Post-Training Support & Follow-Up Guidance
• Programme Report

Institutions can also request a tailored in-house version of this programme, delivered at their premises or online. Request a proposal.

Common Challenges in National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon, And How This Training Helps

How can institutions plan and prioritise infrastructure investments?

The programme addresses this directly on the first day (Day 1: National Broadband Backbone Planning and Route Engineering), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions appraise projects and prepare business cases?

The programme addresses this directly on the second day (Day 2: Open-Access Duct Leasing and Multi-Utility Infrastructure Sharing), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions choose financing and delivery models?

The programme addresses this directly on the third day (Day 3: Digital Connectivity Public-Private Partnerships and Concession Models), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions supervise works for time, cost and quality?

The programme addresses this directly on the fourth day (Day 4: Regional Internet Exchange Point (IXP) Architecture and Governance), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

How can institutions manage assets over their life?

The programme addresses this directly on the fifth day (Day 5: Quality of Service, Network Resilience, and Technical Compliance), where participants practise the methods involved and adapt them to their own institution, then build it into their action plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where does the National Fibre Backbone and Regional IXP Infrastructure Deployment in Lisbon programme take place?

It runs from 3 May 2027 to 7 May 2027, in Lisbon, Portugal. The registration deadline is shown at the top of this page.

Who should attend?

The programme is designed for telecommunications regulatory authority directors and legal specialists, broadband policy officers from ministries of digital economy and communications, digital infrastructure project engineers within national implementation units, project coordinators from donor-financed broadband acceleration operations, and others who want practical skills in infrastructure, urban development and partnerships.

Will I receive a certificate?

Yes. Participants who complete the programme receive a Certificate of Completion from Risalat Consultants International.

Can this programme be delivered for our institution only?

Yes. We can deliver a tailored in-house version at your premises, in another city or online, built around your own cases. Use the proposal request on this page.

Do I need prior experience in infrastructure, urban development and partnerships?

No specialist background is required beyond experience in a related role. A short pre-assessment helps the facilitators adapt the sessions to the group.

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