FTTH in Europe
The development of the optical fiber to the home (FTTH, Fiber to the Home) is the clearest indicator of long-term bet for broadband. And Spain has reached the first division to far exceed the barrier of 300,000 households connected, when the cut is 200,000. About this discussed at length in the XVIII Cable and Broadband in Catalonia (7-9 May 2013).
Russia is a leader in the deployment of FTTH after adding 2.2 million new subscribers in the second half of 2012. In fact, adding more than 27 member states of the European Union subscriber, Russia is the first. A total of 7.5 million Russian households have installed fiber optic cable (+42% of subscribers).
In the EU27, the number of FTTH subscribers grew 15% in the second half of 2012, representing more than 820,000 subscribers. Households connected to FTTH are now 6.24 million. Scandinavia, the Baltic States and the Netherlands (26%), Eastern Europe (33%) and France and Portugal (30%) recorded the most significant contributions.
Data can dislodge classification attempts. Thus, the first five dynamic economies (high subscriber growth, 2012 + new subscribers representing a high proportion of total subscribers at the end of 2012) were Turkey (doubled in number), Ukraine, Spain, Bulgaria and Russia. Spain managed to enter the FTTH ranking in June 2012, has long coveted milestone.
If we go by household penetration, Lithuania is a leader, since it has a 100% coverage in FTTH (over 31% of households are connected to the optical fiber). Sweden (22.6% of households subscribing) comes on the heels. A dozen countries have more than 10% penetration of FTTH (in June 2012 there were seven). By order, they are Lithuania, Sweden, Bulgaria, Latvia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Denmark and Portugal. It is noted that Eastern European and Scandinavian countries reinforce their position and deepens the gap between the most advanced and the most backward. Services such as telehealth and smart grid technologies may be conditioned not universalized where the optical fiber, an essential factor in the Broadband Society. This was discussed in the Research Group about Digital Journalism and Broadband, in the UAO-CEU and CECABLE.
In Western Europe, Italy and Spain are at the end of the table, but Germany and the UK are out. Thus, the number of households connected to fiber in the UK is less than 0.1%. The FTTH Market Overview is updated twice a year by IDATE for FTTH Council Europe. It shows the number of subscribers in each country in Europe, and is classified according to the percentage of households with direct fiber connection. It includes FTTH and fiber to the building or FTTB (Fibre to the Building), solution focused on the apartment blocks where they can leverage the existing cable in the building to connect with the client end. To be included in the ranking of FTTH, a country must have more than 1% of connected households and more than 200,000 homes. Spain finally has succeeded.
