Internet
Reshuffling Europe's Fibre to the Home Leadership
The latest European FTTH market panorama for the full year 2011 was presented today during a press conference at the FTTH Conference. Since the previous edition in June 2011 , Europe (EU+8) has added more than 600,000 new FTTH subscribers. FTTH adoption is clearly growing across EU+8, in spite of the current economic climate: FTTH/B roll-out has progressed at an annual rate of 41% in 2011, with more than 5.1 million FTTH/B subscribers and nearly 28 million homes passed at end-2011.
In the ranking of leading FTTH economies with more than 1% penetration of households, the top three haven't changed since the previous edition, with Lithuania (28.3% penetration), Norway (14,7%) and Sweden (13,6%) in the lead. Countries that have significantly improved their positions include Norway , number two, which confirms that Scandinavian countries remain dynamic, Latvia , and Turkey , now ahead of Italy . Hungary has dropped two positions, now lagging behind Estonia and Portugal .
Household penetration in Lithuania has gone up a full 3% since the previous edition, in Norway , the rise amounted to 2% and in Sweden just 0.4%. Compared to the last market panorama, the average increase in the top 10 countries was 1.23%.
Although Spain is not included in the FTTH Ranking, it is likely to be included in the foreseeable future as it has witnessed the largest growth for 2011, with +184%.
"It is good to see that FTTH adoption continues to grow, even in times of economic uncertainty", states Hartwig Tauber , Director General of FTTH Council Europe. "However additional efforts are required to bring Europe on track to reach the Digital Agenda 2020 ultra-fast broadband targets with fibre-enabled connections."
The UN's Broadband Commission for Digital Development has stated that every country should have a national broadband plan by 2015, claiming Internet should be seen as a human need and a right, and that broadband contributes to economic growth and job creation. And the European Commission proposes to spend €9.2 billion from 2014-2020 on high-speed broadband and related services, with €7 billion available for investment in infrastructure.
The reshuffle of FTTH leading economies remains an ongoing process, and now time is of the essence to secure a sustainable future for the European economy.
Further information is available on http://www.ftthcouncil.eu