The total number of homes passed with Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and Fibre to the Building (FTTB) in the EU39 reached 219 million homes in September 2022, compared to nearly 198,4 million in September 2021.
The main movers in terms of homes passed in absolute numbers are the United Kingdom (+4,2 M), France (+3,5 M), Turkey (+2,9 M), and Italy (+2,1 M).
The top 5 of the annual growth rates in terms of homes passed is headed by Belgium (+60%), the United kingdom (+51%), Serbia (+40%), The Netherlands (+34,7%), and Greece (+34,5%). FTTH/B coverage rate in EU39 now amounts to 62,2% (up by 5 percentage points vs 2021) and coverage rate in the EU27+UK officially surpasses half of total homes – 55,1% (vs 48,5% from 2021). These data re-confirm the continuous upward trend observed for several years in a row now.
The number of FTTH and FTTB subscribers in EU39[1] region reached 108 million. The 5 fastest growing markets in terms of new subscribers were France (+3,3 M), United Kingdom (+1,5 M), Spain (+1,1 M), Turkey (+898), and Italy (+822).
By September 2022, the EU39 FTTH/B take-up[2] rate raised to 49.5% (up by 1% from the previous year). A clear indication that, despite the progress being made, there is still a huge gap between fibre coverage and adoption, as demonstrated by the even slower progress in the EU27+UK, where the take-up rate only grew up by 0,4% (reaching 52,8%).
Overall, the report observes an increasing contribution from incumbent operators to FTTH/B coverage figures, with around 56% of the total homes in the EU39 being passed by alternative ISPs and around 39% by the incumbent ISPs, and the remaining 4% being municipalities/utilities. Alternative operators’ initiatives are still dominant, but incumbents are now closing the gap.
In terms of the homes still to be covered, Germany, United Kingdom, and Italy are the countries with the most work left to be done: altogether, 62 million homes are still not connected to FTTH/B networks, accounting for 55% of the total EU27 household without a subscription.
[1] EU39 is defined as 27 European Union Member States + United Kingdom + 4 CIS countries + Andora, Iceland, Israel, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey
[2] Take-up rate is defined as the number of subscribers as a proportion of homes passed