European fiber optic network deployment continues to grow and FTTx penetration rate increases
FTTH Europe Commission and market research partner IDATE announced at their annual conference in Rosenborg on Friday that the number of FTTx users in Europe increased by 19% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2015, exceeding 35.9 million, while Croatia, Three European countries, Germany and Poland, exceeded the 1% penetration rate of FTTx for the first time.
IDATE’s research revealed that FTTx coverage in 39 EU countries increased by 17% year-on-year to 127 million.
Excluding the CIS countries Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine, the number of FTTx users in other countries within the EU was 17.9 million as of September 25, 2015.
Russia is still the country with the largest number of FTTH/FTTB users in Europe, with more than 15 million users.
Spain has 2.6 million users and an annual growth rate of 65%, France has 2.4 million users and an annual growth rate of 31%, and Romania ranks second only to Russia with 2.3 million users.
In terms of coverage, Lithuania 36.8%, Latvia 36.2%, and Sweden 35.2% are the three leading countries.
Croatia, Germany and Poland exceeded the 1% FTTH/B set by the FTTH European Commission for the first timeThe threshold of advanced countries.
The effectiveness of private operators and policies is the key to positive progress in the development of FTTH/B in these countries.
In comparison, the development of FTTH/B in Austria, Ireland, Belgium and the UK lags behind other European countries.
Take the UK as an example. In the first 9 months of 2015, they added 26,000 FTTx users.
British Telecom, the leading operator in the UK, is actively experimenting with DSL's G.Fast technology.
Obviously, optical fiber is not yet the main technical option for broadband construction in countries like the UK.
Regarding the development of FTTH in Europe, the editor had the opportunity to communicate with two Russian sales engineers from Yifeiyang Company.
They told the editor that the average Internet speed of Russian households has reached 100Mbps, and FTTx is at the forefront of European countries.
In particular, the Russian government has proposed the national broadband plan of “fiber to every home” in the past two years, and regards 2018 as an important development node.
Optical communications still have very good development prospects in Russia.
However, due to its vast territory, Russia’s FTTx construction is mostly in the form of point-to-point, and PON networks have just emerged.
Edgar Aker, Chairman of the FTTH European Committee, said that in 2015, Europe's fiber network deployment continued to grow, continuing the trend of 2014.
They are excited to witness this progress.
He also said that the European Commission's policies are more conducive to a fiber-friendly environment.
The company's joint venture broadband deployment and favorable policies for fiber-optic broadband will bring more development opportunities for fiber-to-the-home deployment in Europe.
