The FTTH Council Europe has been monitoring annually the evolution of full-fibre deployment throughout Europe since 2012. This essential work has been driven by the Market Intelligence Committee which publishes our flagship report FTTH/B Market Panorama, complete with FTTH Forecasts for Europe. The survey is commissioned through an external partner and the role of the Committee is to complete and refine these data based on the comprehensive input coming from the network of experts from our 150 members active in all European countries.

FTTH members have access to a more detailed version of the report with granular information regarding the individual FTTH markets in each of the 39 countries surveyed.

Two more reports have been produced under initiative of the Market Intelligence Committee, and launched during the last FTTH Virtual Conference 2021: the latest figures of the FTTH Forecasts for 2021 and 2026 and an overview of fibre deployments in rural areas.

The Market Intelligence Committee is also involved in other studies such as Copper Switch Off, Best Practices in Fibre advertising and the Socio Economic Impact of FTTH.

 

FTTH Market Forecasts 2023-2028

The market forecasts are consistent with the previous estimates and in line with the conclusions of the FTTH/B Market Panorama. The data foresee around 211 M homes passed for FTTH/B in 2028 in EU27+UK and 308 M homes passed in the EU39 region. It is expected that the top 3 countries in terms of homes passed will be Germany (33,5 M), France (33,2 M), and United Kingdom (30,7 M).

According to the forecasts, the number of subscribers is expected to reach 137 M in EU27+UK and 196 M in EU39 region, with take-up rates experiencing steady growth in both regions.

The physical limitation of existing cable and copper networks in terms of bandwidth is pushing telecom players to deploy full fibre solutions. In addition, increased traffic demand in the region is pushing operators to update their networks to Full Fibre in order to be ready for new traffic peaks. Thanks to recently launched national programmes coupled with DAE targets for 2025 & 2030, full-fibre connectivity will be reaching new high levels in European countries.

On the technology side, the data report a significant trend whereby PON is gradually but clearly prevailing over point-to-point fibre, as a consequence of the progress of PON technologies on one side, and the strong focus on power consumption and sustainability on the other.