The UK’s independent network sector has been praised for its significant contribution as the country was revealed as one of the fastest growers in Europe for delivering fibre networks to homes and businesses.

The UK is revealed as one of five of the fastest-growing markets in Europe for making new connections in the FTTH Council Europe’s annual FTTH/B Panorama report. It reveals that there was a 50 per cent increase in the year to September 2019, as 1.4 million additional homes were connected in the UK.

The Independent Networks Cooperative Association (INCA) has praised the independent network sector for its significant contribution to the UK’s broadband infrastructure, as the nation has also jumped two places in FTTH Council Europe’s annual FTTH/B Panorama table.

“To have made such progression over the space of a year – and only a year after the UK’s first appearance on the table – is encouraging,” said Malcolm Corbett, CEO at INCA. “This is a result of the positive policy environment, investment appetite and the capabilities of the UK’s digital infrastructure sector. It also highlights that the UK is playing a real role in the wider progression of fibre deployments in Europe as uptake across the continent increases.”

The annual FTTH/B Panorama is a pan-European campaign for the adoption of pure fibre optic-based Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P/B) style ultrafast broadband technologies. The report showed that, following the UK’s first inclusion last year, the country had progressed by two places to 27th in the ranking.

The report found that the number of homes passed by FTTH/B has reached nearly 172 million in Europe and that coverage confirmed a positive trend to nearly half of total homes.

Corbett also said that amidst the demand pressures as more people work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic, the contribution of independent operators is more important as ever as they continue to invest in full fibre and wireless broadband deployment.

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