There were close to 60 million Fibre To The Home or Business (FTTH/B) subscribers in September 2018 in Europe. The UK is bottom of the list in terms of fibre penetration, but is expected to shoot up to second place by 2025.

According to new figures released by FTTH Council Europe, FTTH/B penetration - of countries with more than one per cent household penetration - was just 1.5 per cent in the UK, while in Germany was 2.3 per cent. This compares to 50.3 per cent in Latvia, and 44 per cent in Spain, which added 1.86 million subscribers in the last year.

Nevertheless, it is the first time the UK was included in the ranking, having exceeded the one per cent penetration mark, with the pace expected to accelerate from here. The UK is likely to catch up to become second in the ranking in 2025, ahead of France and Spain, according to the FTTH Council.

Italy also saw growth in the number of homes passed, in the year to September 2018, with 1.9 million additional homes covered during the period to reach 6.3 million, an increase of 43 per cent, the FTTH Council said. Coverage is translating to take-up too; the number of homes subscribing to an FTTH service grew by almost 450,000.

Overall, the number of FTTH/B subscribers in Europe has increased by 15.7 per cent since September 2017, rising to 59.6 million in September 2018.

“In the European region, alternative players are the most involved in FTTH/B expansion," read the report. "We also see that governments and local authorities are getting more involved in fibre projects, either directly, by signing agreements with telecom players, or via public funds."

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