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

 

 

European FTTH/B Market Panorama 2025

On the occasion of the FTTH Conference 2025, the Market Intelligence Committee of the FTTH Council Europe release the 2025 edition of the FTTH/B Market Panorama, presenting the latest insights in terms of FTTH/B coverage and adoption in Europe as of September 2024.

The total number of homes passed with Fibre to the Home (FTTH) and Fibre to the Building (FTTB) in the EU391 reached 269 million homes in September 2024, compared to nearly 244 million in September 2023.

The main movers in terms of homes passed in absolute numbers are the United Kingdom (+4,2 M), Germany (+3,8 M), and Italy (+3,1 M).

The top 5 of the annual growth rates in terms of homes passed is headed by Serbia (+26,5%), Greece (+26%), Finland (+26%), Germany (+25%), United Kingdom (+25%). FTTH/B coverage rate in EU39 now amounts to 74,6% (up by 5 percentage points vs 2023) and coverage rate in the EU27+UK now reaching 69% (vs 64,5% from 2023). These data re-confirm the continuous upward trend observed for several years in a row now.

The number of FTTH and FTTB subscribers in the EU39 region reached 143 million. The 5 fastest growing markets in terms of new subscribers were France (+3,1 M), United Kingdom (+2,5 M), Italy (+1,2 M), Turkey (+1,5M), and Spain (+1,1 M). All of the top 5 states have seen subscriber growth exceeding 1 million.

By September 2024, the EU39 FTTH/B take-up rate2 raised to 53% (up by 3,4 percentage point from the previous year). In the EU27+UK area the take-up raised to 54,5% (up by 1,8 percentage points compared to 2023). A clear indication that, despite the progress being made, there is still a huge gap between fibre coverage and adoption.

The report observes that more needs to be done in terms of subscriptions to reach the 2030 Digital Decade objectives of the European Commission, as only 1 in 4 countries exceeds the 50% penetration rate.

The Copper Switch-Off is a key driver to support the expansion of FTTH network and to accelerate the subscription growth.

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