Reshuffling Europe's Fibre to the Home Leadership

Munich (ots/PRNewswire) -

Leader Scandinavia may be overtaken by South and East Europe -
West Europe lags

The latest European FTTH market panorama for the full year 2011
was presented today during a press conference at the FTTH Conference.
Since the previous edition in June 2011, Europe (EU+8) has added more
than 600,000 new FTTH subscribers. FTTH adoption is clearly growing
across EU+8, in spite of the current economic climate: FTTH/B
roll-out has progressed at an annual rate of 41% in 2011, with more
than 5.1 million FTTH/B subscribers and nearly 28 million homes
passed at end-2011.

In the ranking of leading FTTH economies with more than 1%
penetration of households, the top three haven't changed since the
previous edition, with Lithuania (28.3% penetration), Norway (14,7%)
and Sweden (13,6%) in the lead. Countries that have significantly
improved their positions include Norway, number two, which confirms
that Scandinavian countries remain dynamic, Latvia, and Turkey, now
ahead of Italy. Hungary has dropped two positions, now lagging behind
Estonia and Portugal.

Household penetration in Lithuania has gone up a full 3% since
the previous edition, in Norway, the rise amounted to 2% and in
Sweden just 0.4%. Compared to the last market panorama, the average
increase in the top 10 countries was 1.23%.

Although Spain is not included in the FTTH Ranking, it is likely
to be included in the foreseeable future as it has witnessed the
largest growth for 2011, with +184%.

"It is good to see that FTTH adoption continues to grow, even in
times of economic uncertainty", states Hartwig Tauber, Director
General of FTTH Council Europe. "However additional efforts are
required to bring Europe on track to reach the Digital Agenda 2020
ultra-fast broadband targets with fibre-enabled connections."

The UN's Broadband Commission for Digital Development has stated
that every country should have a national broadband plan by 2015,
claiming Internet should be seen as a human need and a right, and
that broadband contributes to economic growth and job creation. And
the European Commission proposes to spend EUR9.2 billion from
2014-2020 on high-speed broadband and related services, with EUR7
billion available for investment in infrastructure.

The reshuffle of FTTH leading economies remains an ongoing
process, and now time is of the essence to secure a sustainable
future for the European economy.

Further information is available on http://www.ftthcouncil.eu

ots Originaltext: FTTH Council Europe
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Nadia Babaali, Communications Director FTTH Council Europe,
+33(0)6-20-88-72-38, nadia.babaali@ftthcouncil.eu