More than 18 million European homes have been passed by FTTH in the frame of more than 400 projects, according to a new report bmp TC & Greenfield FTTH In Europe 2010 Study.
According to the study, FTTH roll-outs are gaining momentum. In Italy, last May 2010 three operators, Fastweb, Wind, and Vodafone Italy, announced they are forming a new collaborative FTTH network deployment supported by a co-investment of €2.3 billion to deploy FTTH to 15 major cities reaching a potential market of 10 million end-users.
In Germany Deutsche Telekom has recently announced investments of €10 billion in order to reach 10% households with FTTH by 2012. Other operators planning investments include Swisscom and France Telecom, who each have resumed their FTTH deployments
Governments in Europe are also injecting billions of Euros to develop the Ultra Broadband infrastructures. The French Government launched an investment “envelope” of €2 billion dedicated to semi-dense and rural areas. The stimulus package set out by Portugal is targeting at least 1 million homes through FTTH networks to be connected by 2010. Sweden and Estonia have defined 100 Mbps as universal access.
Government subsidies for FTTH networks remain a hot potato, as under European rules they are not allowed to distort the market.
The study as notes the first consolidation trends: KPN in The Netherlands have invested in Reggefiber, in 2009 Dong Energy sold its Fibernet FTTH Open Access Network (network and operations) to the Danish incumbent TDC.
