The European FTTH Council unveiled its latest market reports at the FTTH Conference in Vienna.
The report outlines the latest data on fiber deployment trends in Europe: a market panorama to 2022; FTTH forecasts for 2022-2027; FTTH/B global rankings and rural FTTH/B reports prepared by Idate.
The report is based on the latest available data as of September 2021, and in their findings, the Council says they confirm continued progress in fiber deployment, with full fiber connectivity a clear priority for EU authorities, national governments and market participants across Europe.
Market Panorama shows that the total number of houses passing FTTH/B in the 39* EU countries/regions reached nearly 198.4 million in September 2021, compared to 176.3 million in September 2020. In absolute terms, the main drivers of homes passed are France (+4.3 million), the UK (+3.4 million), Germany (+2.4 million) and Italy (+1.5 million).
More than half of the households in Europe with FTTH/B coverage
For pass-through homes, the top five annual growth rates are Belgium (+109%), Greece (+90%), Cyprus (+83%), the UK (+80%) and Austria (+62%). FTTH/B coverage now stands at 57% in 39 EU countries (+4.5%) and almost half of the total number of households in the EU-27 and the UK - 48.5% (+4.6%). These data confirm the continuous upward trend observed in consecutive years.
The number of FTTH and FTTB subscribers in the EU39 reached 96 million, with EU27+UK accounting for 60%. The five fastest growing markets in terms of new subscribers are France (+3.8 million), Spain (+1.2 million), Romania (+1 million), Italy (+820,000) and the UK (+765,000).
By September 2021, FTTH/B usage in the EU39 reached 48.5% (+3.6% over the previous year). Growth is even faster in the EU-27 + UK, with 52.4% uptake (up 5.6%).
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altnets remain the largest component of FTTH/B players, with approximately 57% of homes in the EU39 served by alternative ISPs, approximately 39% by existing ISPs, and the remaining 4% by municipalities/utilities. Overall, the acceleration trend in fiber deployment is strong, with a firm commitment to cover both urban and rural areas.
In terms of households still to be covered, these three countries account for 58% of the total number of households to be covered: over 32 million in Germany, over 21 million in the UK and over 13 million in Italy. All of the top three countries show clear signs of progress this year
Global Rankings
The ever-anticipated global rankings show that 20 countries have exceeded 50% penetration. In the top five globally, the UAE leads with 97%, followed by Singapore (95.8%), China (94.9%), South Korea (91.1%) and Hong Kong (86.2%).
In Europe, Iceland topped the European FTTH/B penetration list for the third consecutive year with 78.4 percent penetration. It was followed by Spain (68.4 percent), with Sweden in third place (64.4 percent). Seven countries have penetration rates above 50 percent (Iceland, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Norway, Romania, Latvia). Overall, the report observes relatively high penetration rates in Eastern and Northern European countries, largely due to aggressive state interventions favoring fiber expansion.
Fiber Forecast
According to the Commission, market forecasts are consistent with previous estimates, with 199 million homes expected to pass FTTH/B in 2027 in the EU-27 + UK and 309 million in the EU39. The top three countries expected to pass the number of homes will be France (31.1 million), the UK (30.1 million) and Germany (26.9 million).
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The number of subscribers is expected to reach 124 million in EU27+UK and 190 million in EU39, and uptake is also expected to grow steadily in both regions, with the number of adopted home subscribers expected to reach 62.2% EU27+UK and 61.4% in EU39.
Rural localities
The report shows that by September 2021, only 30% of rural residents will have access to the features offered by a full fiber connection (compared to an average of 49% of European households in the EU27+UK region covered by FTTH/B networks . The five countries with the highest rural FTTH/B coverage are Denmark (76%), Latvia (74%), Spain (66%), Romania (62%) and Luxembourg (55%). It was emphasized that immediate action should be taken towards rural areas to eliminate "white spots". It is recommended that rural deployments be actively promoted and supported (subsidies, public-private partnerships, etc.) to cover every rural area. European prerequisites for high speed fiber optic broadband connectivity.
