Fibre broadband hits the accelerator in Europe
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 04 December 2020
The time is now for operators to get their fibre networks in the ground and reap the benefits from not only of the demand for gigabit fixed broadband but also the rollout of 5G networks says research from the FTTH Council.
Openreach fibre 15Jan2020
The fibre industry trade association’s Fibre for 5G: The Story Of Convergence study set out to quantify the potential cost savings which could be made by building converged 5G-fibre networks. It ultimately observed that that deploying fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) today with sufficient spare capacity will result in significant savings tomorrow.

The report covers 39 countries and revealed a massive surge to around 202 million homes passed for FTTH/B in 2026 in EU27+UK compared with 26.2 million in 2012. Some countries are expected to experience an outstanding growth in the number of homes passed in the seven years to 2026. These include Germany, an increase of 730%, the UK (548%) and Italy (218%). In absolute numbers, Russia is likely to continue leading the charge in terms of FTTH/B homes passed, and is anticipated that Germany would join the second spot in the ranking in 2026.

Given the availability to access fibre nets, users are increasingly switching on. The study forecasts that the number of subscribers on fibre networks will increase further to around 148 million in 2026 for EU27+UK and approximately 208 million for EU38+UK and the FTTH/B take-up rate would reach 73.3% in 2026 showing a clear upward trend compared with a recorded 23.4% in 2012.

Attributing drivers for the massive growth, the study pointed to Covid-19 as partially explaining the surge as it undoubtedly led to more data traffic and new broadband demands with people staying at home, which in turn increased the demand for fibre. But the FTTH Council emphasised that Covid-19 needs to be considered as an accelerator which amplified pre-existing trends. That said, it was now clear that Covid-19 has changed public perception of the importance of broadband.

The Fibre for 5G: The Story Of Convergence study also noted that other factors also affecting positively FTTH adoption include copper switch-off plans; an increase in FTTH network sharing agreements and more appetite for single-build deployments; strong commitments of government and local authorities to FTTH; 5G deployment announcements which entail more fibre deployments.