From fibre rollout to network utilisation: Europe’s next FTTx challenge

Fibre Council Europe Director General Vincent Garnier has contributed a new expert article to The Fast Mode, examining the next phase of Europe’s fibre development as the market increasingly shifts from network rollout towards network utilisation.

With FTTH/B networks now passing around 295 million homes across EU39, Europe has made significant progress in expanding fibre coverage. The next challenge is to translate this infrastructure into active connections, while continuing deployment in areas where coverage gaps remain.

In the article, Vincent Garnier looks at some of the key factors that will shape this next phase of the market, including fibre take-up, the migration from legacy copper networks, network resilience and the growing role of fibre beyond residential connectivity.

The piece also explores the importance of high-capacity fibre infrastructure for enterprise environments and data centres, as well as emerging opportunities such as Optical LAN.

As Europe’s digital infrastructure evolves, maximising the utilisation of existing fibre networks will be central to unlocking their full economic and societal value and supporting Europe’s long-term digital ambitions.

The article was featured on the front page of The Fast Mode.