In December 2019, the European Commission presented the European Green Deal with the ambition of making Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, boosting the economy, improving people's health and quality of life, caring for nature, and leaving no one behind.

Digitalisation will be at the core of this ambitious program and fibre is key to align the digital and sustainability agendas. As the most sustainable telecommunication infrastructure technology, full-fibre is a prerequisite to achieving the European Green Deal and making the European Union’s economy more sustainable.

The need to work collectively towards a more sustainable society has become a strategic objective of policy makers and the vast majority of private organisations alike. With this context in mind, the sustainability Working Group of the FTTH Council Europe has been created with two key objectives:

  • Promote full fibre as the most sustainable access network technology and enabler of multiple applications which can contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of our activities. Remote working and learning being the most obvious examples.
  • Support all stakeholders of the Fibre to the Home value chain in their efforts to make their respective activities more carbon neutral.

Insights from the Committee

 

 

The FTTH Council Europe Publishes First-of-its-kind Study on FTTH Adoption Drivers and Hurdles in Europe

Brussels, 23 February 2023 – Today, the FTTH Council Europe revealed a new study on the FTTH/B[1] drivers and hurdles in Europe, prepared by Plum Consulting. 

The new study addresses a key challenge for all decision-makers and the industry: the discrepancy between fibre rollouts and take-up rates. While the FTTH/B rollout coverage in Europe now amounts to 57% and is progressing steadily, the take-up rate is yet to reach the 50% mark, with considerable differences at country level. In practice, this means that only 27% of the population is effectively connected to a full fibre network. The study analyses the FTTH Council Europe data about the FTTH/B deployment and adoption, looks at the most prominent drivers and hurdles in Europe, and features an in-depth analysis of 8 European countries: Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. The selected countries are either overperforming compared to EU27+UK average or underperforming. The study provides a set of recommendations based on the key take-up drivers and hurdles as well as the most effective measures identified in the selected countries. 


[1] “Fibre to the Home” (FTTH) is defined as an access network architecture in which the connection to the subscriber’s Premises is Optical Fiber. The fibre optic communications path is terminated on or inside the Premises for the purpose of carrying communication services to a single subscriber. “Fibre to the Building” (FTTB) is defined as an access network architecture in which the fibre optic communications path is terminated within the building for the purpose of carrying communication services for a single building with potentially multiple subscribers.

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