The DigiWorld Institute, which is part of IDATE's consultancy business, has confirmed that there were 112.6 million fibre optic based broadband ISP subscribers (e.g. FTTH , FTTC etc.) worldwide by June 2011. By contrast the total number of "homes passed" (i.e. within reach of a fibre service) stood at 361.68 Million. This means that roughly a third of those who can get a fibre service end up taking it.

It's interesting to separate off and examine the figures for true fibre optic ( FTTH / FTTB / FTTP ) services, which take a fibre line right up to your doorstep instead of just the local cabinet ( FTTC ). DigiWorld reports that FTTH/B/P subscribers grew by 54% over 12 months to reach 67 million by June 2011. The number of "homes passed" for FTTH/B/P jumped 47% over the same period to hit 178.84 Million.


The report forecasts that the world will be home to 81.77 Million FTTH/B/P subscribers by the end of 2011 and this will reach 198.27 Million by the end of 2015. As usual the UK, which is home to around half a million fibre subscribers (FTTC and FTTH/B/P), barely even registers.

By comparison Russia remains the biggest FTTH/B market in Europe and the 5th largest in the world, with almost 5.2 Million subscribers. Sweden comes in 9th and France 10th. Meanwhile the rest of Europe and the UK are at risk of falling behind developing nations, although significant efforts are being made to improve the situation.

One of the toughest challenges is convincing people to swap from their existing service and onto a usually more expensive FTTx package. This wouldn't be such a problem in the UK if it wasn't for the fact that most of the major operators continue to build out their fibre services into areas that can already receive good connectivity (i.e. people have less incentive to upgrade). That will change but it's a slow process.