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 2026

According to the new figures, FTTH/B networks now pass approximately 295 million homes across the EU39, representing around 79% household coverage. This marks an increase of roughly 23 million additional premises passed in the past year, confirming that fibre deployment continues to expand across Europe, although the pace of rollout is gradually moderating as several markets approach advanced stages of coverage.

At the same time, fibre adoption continues to accelerate. The number of FTTH/B subscribers across the EU39 reached around 160 million, reflecting more than 13% year‑on‑year growth. The average take‑up rate also increased, reaching approximately 54%, an improvement of slightly more than two percentage points compared to the previous year. This indicates steady progress in converting network availability into active connections, although a significant activation gap remains between infrastructure deployment and subscriber uptake.

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