The new European rankings include all member states with any FTTH activity, from Sweden at number one, to the UK at number 25 (cough, cough).
Like the global rankings, only fibre-to-the-home or building subscribers are counted, while while copper-based broadband access technologies like DSL, and fibre-to-the-node or cabinet are not included.
As noted, Sweden tops the rankings with a household penetration of just over 8%. Scandinavian countries dominate the European FTTH landscape, with Norway (7.2%), Iceland (3.9 %), Denmark (3.1 %), and Finland (1.7 %), in addition to Sweden (8.3 %), taking the top five places on the chart.
Only eight countries have FTTH penetration rates of more than 1% — the threshold for inclusion in the global rankings, which are published twice a year by the joint FTTH Councils. Those countries include the Scandinavian contingent plus Slovenia (4.7 %), the Netherlands (1.4 %), and Italy (1.3 %).
Overall, there are now 13 European economies where more than 0.5% of households have a superfast fibre connection. Next in the rankings are Estonia (0.99%), Latvia (0.99%), Lithuania (0.97%), Slovakia (0.67%), and France (0.58%).
| FTTH Council's full European rankings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sweden | 14. | Czech Republic |
| 2. | Norway | 15. | Ireland |
| 3. | Slovenia | 16. | Austria |
| 4. | Iceland | 17. | Switzerland |
| 5. | Denmark | 18. | Poland |
| 6. | Finland | 19. | Germany |
| 7. | The Netherlands | 20. | Portugal |
| 8. | Italy | 21. | Romania |
| 9. | Estonia | 22. | Cyprus |
| 10. | Latvia | 23. | Greece |
| 11. | Lithuania | 24. | Spain |
| 12. | Slovakia | 25. | Great Britain |
| 13. | France | ||
Of course percentages don’t tell the whole story. In terms of actual numbers, Sweden still comes out on top with 367,540 subscribers connected to a superfast fibre connection. But although France comes low down the rankings in terms of household penetration, it lies in fourth place when subscribers are counted, having 137,790 FTTH customers at the end of June 2008. France also has the distinction of having adding the most new subscribers during the year prior to that date.
| Country | Total no. of Subscribers |
|---|---|
| Sweden | 367,540 |
| Italy | 291,500 |
| Norway | 141,600 |
| France | 137,790 |
| Netherlands | 98,500 |
| Denmark | 75,450 |
| Germany | 41,500 |
| Finland | 39,720 |
| Slovenia | 32,340 |
| Poland | 15,265 |
Another interesting statistic is that in Europe nearly 60% of FTTH connections are installed by municipalities and utility companies, rather than telecoms operators.
• The next instalment of the global FTTH rankings, covering the period to the end of December 2008, will be unveiled at the FTTH Council Europe conference in Copenhagen on 11-12 February 2009. For more information see www.conference.ftthcouncil.eu.