For more than a decade, the deployment of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) networks has steadily reshaped Europe’s digital infrastructure. Today, fiber is no longer an emerging technology, but is becoming the foundation of the continent’s digital economy. Yet as the industry approaches maturity in many markets, the questions facing operators, policymakers, and technology providers are evolving.

The next phase is to move beyond deployment and focus on accelerating adoption, completing coverage, enabling innovation on top of fiber infrastructure, and ensuring that regulatory frameworks support long-term investment.

These themes will be at the center of the FTTH Conference 2026, taking place from 14-16 April at ExceL London. As Europe’s leading fiber optic event, the conference aims at bringing together more than 3,500 professionals from across the fiber ecosystem – telecom operators, technology providers, policymakers, investors, and innovators – to examine how fiber networks are shaping Europe’s digital future.

But before looking ahead, it is worth understanding where the industry stands today.

Building on a strong deployment story

According to the latest Market Panorama data from the FTTH Council Europe, fiber deployment across Europe continues to expand at a remarkable scale.

By the end of 2025, FTTH/B networks had passed around 295 million homes across EU39, representing roughly 79% household coverage. This is an increase of approximately six percentage points year-on-year and places many European markets close to late-stage deployment levels.

At the same time, adoption is steadily rising. Fiber subscriptions have now reached around 160 million, growing more than 13% year on year as consumers and businesses continue migrating from legacy copper and cable networks.

Take-up rates are also improving. The average activation rate climbed to roughly 54%, up slightly more than two percentage points year on year. This reflects meaningful progress in converting infrastructure availability into active usage, but the numbers also reveal a significant opportunity: that nearly half of the households already passed by fiber networks have not yet activated a connection.

Closing this ‘activation gap’ will be one of the defining challenges of the next phase of Europe’s fiber journey.

Another encouraging trend is the continued expansion of fiber into rural areas. In the EU27 plus the United Kingdom, around 65% of rural households are now passed by FTTH/B, a steady increase driven by public funding initiatives and targeted deployment programs aimed at connecting the most complex territories.

Looking forward, the outlook remains strong. By 2031, fiber networks are projected to reach around 366 million premises across EU39, with more than 236 million fiber subscribers. If these figures confirm one thing, it’s that fiber will remain the backbone of Europe’s digital infrastructure for decades to come.

From deployment to utilisation in automation, AI, and data centers

As Europe approaches these high levels of fiber coverage, the focus of the industry is shifting. The next chapter is about ensuring that fiber networks deliver their full economic and societal potential. This means accelerating adoption among households and businesses, enabling new digital services, supporting cloud and edge infrastructure, and powering emerging technologies – from AI applications to immersive media and advanced industrial automation.

Crucially, fiber is also the critical infrastructure enabling Europe’s rapidly expanding data center ecosystem. Across the continent, data centers are becoming the backbone of the digital economy – supporting cloud services, artificial intelligence workloads, streaming platforms, financial systems, and enterprise applications. None of these environments can function without robust fiber connectivity.

High-capacity fiber networks connect hyperscale facilities, metropolitan data centers, and edge locations, enabling the data center interconnect (DCI) architectures required to support modern digital services. As data volumes grow exponentially, the importance of scalable, low-latency optical infrastructure becomes even more pronounced.

In other words, fiber is crucial for connecting the digital infrastructure that powers Europe’s entire data economy, as well as homes and businesses. This growing convergence between fiber networks and data center infrastructure will be covered at the FTTH Conference 2026, where experts will explore how fiber supports data center interconnect, cloud expansion, and the distributed architectures emerging across Europe’s digital landscape.

Just as importantly, the conference will examine how fiber networks must evolve to support this demand, including higher-capacity optical technologies, and new network architectures designed for data-intensive applications.

The impact of the Digital Networks Act

However, infrastructure investment at this scale cannot happen without a stable and forward-looking policy environment. This is why the Digital Networks Act – currently under discussion in Brussels – represents an important milestone for the sector.

The FTTH Council Europe welcomes the European Commission’s proposal as a constructive step toward strengthening Europe’s connectivity framework. At its core, the DNA recognises the importance of encouraging investment while preserving effective competition – two objectives that must remain central to any regulatory framework governing digital infrastructure.

One particularly significant element is the proposal to facilitate the switch-off of legacy copper networks, which would represent a powerful economic signal that encourages the migration toward future-proof infrastructure. By enabling operators to progressively retire outdated networks while protecting consumers, this approach can accelerate fiber adoption and unlock further investment across the sector.

Equally important is the Commission’s decision to maintain the significant market power (SMP) framework, which has long provided a predictable mechanism for regulating access markets. Preserving this process helps ensure regulatory stability while allowing national regulators to tailor remedies to the specific conditions of their markets.

Such flexibility is essential, because Europe’s telecom landscape remains highly diverse. Market structures, competitive dynamics, and investment models vary widely across countries. National regulatory authorities are therefore best placed to determine appropriate obligations where necessary.

The FTTH Council Europe also recognises the importance of the DNA’s provisions on network security and resilience. However, as policymakers consider these measures, it is crucial that any additional obligation is matched with adequate national and European resources. The telecom sector is already investing heavily to achieve the EU’s digital decade connectivity targets. Policy must therefore remain aligned with investment realities.

A platform for the next stage of Europe’s connectivity

Ultimately, Europe’s fiber story is evolving, building on its success with infrastructure to enable digital transformation across every sector of the economy – including healthcare, education, manufacturing, entertainment, and public services. It is about ensuring that every community, urban or rural, can participate fully in a digital society.

The progress achieved so far demonstrates what can be accomplished when industry innovation, investment, and supportive policy frameworks work together. However, this work is not finished, since closing the activation gap, completing coverage, enabling the data-driven economy, and fostering sustainable competition will require continued collaboration across the entire ecosystem.

That is precisely the spirit behind the FTTH Conference 2026. As thousands of stakeholders gather in London this April, the forum is there to exchange ideas, share data-driven insights, and help shape the next chapter of Europe’s fiber future.

Because while the first phase of Europe’s fiber journey has been about building networks, the next phase will be about fully unlocking their potential, whether it’s homes and businesses or the data centers and digital platforms that power Europe’s connected economy.

And that is a conversation the entire industry must have – together.