Fiber To The Home (FTTH) Market: Growth, Future Prospects & Competitive Analysis, 2018 – 2026

Market Insights

Fiber to the home (FTTH) includes the installation of fiber optic cables directly to an individual building to provide unprecedented high-speed internet access. The FTTH market has gained enormous growth in recent years, considering the increasing demand for high-speed internet. Another major factor driving market growth is the increasing number of internet subscribers worldwide. Lowering energy consumption and FTTH’s sustainable architecture has also contributed to overall market growth.

The FTTH market is highly driven by the growing demand for higher bandwidth and increasing internet traffic across the world. The proliferation of web-enabled devices coupled with improving internet infrastructure is some more factors supporting the penetration of FTTH services. Moreover, fiber connections produce lesser carbon footprints as compared to conventional copper cables. As a result, the increasing use of fiber connections is regarded as a more environmentally friendly option, among others. Further, the FTTH market is expected to witness incremental growth as more than 151 countries adopt National Broadband Networks (NBNs) policies, which use FTTH as a base and aim to build an ecosystem with high-speed internet access.

FTTH provides a less attenuated internet connection and is immune to electromagnetic interference. As a result, FTTH is a cost-effective and dependable option across the communication network segment. Considering the rapidly growing adoption of fiber optic networks, vendors are increasingly focusing on technological innovations and investing in R&D to improve FTTH bandwidth. However, the high initial cost poses a major challenge to the FTTH market’s growth, especially in emerging economies.

The UAE leads the global race of FTTH penetration with 94.3%, according to the FTTH Conference 2018 report. Similarly, the U.S. has 14.5%, Germany has 2.3%, Japan has 69.1%, China has 61.6%, and France has 14.9% FTTH penetration. The European market has had incremental market growth of 20.4% since 2016. Latvia is one of the prominent markets in the region, with 50.6% FTTH penetration. Further, Asian governments are encouraging more investment in FTTH in order to ensure seamless internet infrastructure in their respective countries. Subsequently, these statistics are expected to continue rising over the following years.

Major drivers of the FTTH market:

• universal demand for high-speed internet
• Growing adoption of advanced network infrastructure
• Growing investments in R&D for high-bandwidth fiber cables
• Incremental demand for entertainment sources for residential applications

Major restraints of the FTTH market:

• High initial costs

The global FTTH market is segmented on the following basis:

By Type:

• Residential FTTH
• Single-family Homes
• Multi-dwelling Units (MDU)
• Commercial FTTH

By Speed:

• Less than 50 Mbps
• 50 to 100 Mbps
• 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps
• 1 GBPS to 10 GBPS

By Application:-

• Industrial
• Residential
• Commercial

By Geography:-

• North America
  • U.S.
  • Canada
• Europe
  • Germany
  • France
  • Italy
  • U.K.
  • Russia
  • Rest of Europe
• Asia-Pacific
  • India
  • China
  • Japan
  • Rest of Asia-Pacific
• Latin America
  • Brazil
  • Mexico
  • Rest of Latin America
• Middle East and Africa
  • GCC Countries
  • South Africa
  • Rest of Middle East and Africa

Key players identified for the FTTH market include, but are not limited to:

3M Communication Technologies, ADTRAN, Inc., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., DASAN Networks, Inc., Wuhan FiberHome Networks Co. Ltd., Enablence Technologies, Inc., ZTE Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Fujikura Ltd., Superior Essex, Inc., AT&T Intellectual Property, Reliance Industries Ltd., CityFiber Infrastructure Holdings PLC, Verizon Communications, Inc., Nippon Telegraph & Telegraph Corporation, Deutsche Telekom AG, China Mobile Ltd., Softbank Group Corp., Softbank Group Corp.,

Introducing advanced infrastructure with higher bandwidth capacity coupled with cost-effective solutions is a major market strategy followed by the leading players operating in the market. Similarly, FTTH providers pursue additional strategies to outperform competitors, such as strategic partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures. For instance, in November 2017, CityFiber Infrastructure Holdings PLC and Vodafone Group PLC entered into a strategic FTTH partnership to offer FTTH services to a minimum of 1 million homes in the U.K. This strategy is expected to result in a 20% growth in the current U.K. broadband market by 2025.