In 2017, Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) connectivity in the UK was available to around one million homes. Soon after, market announcements made it clear that the nationwide roll-out of full fibre networks based on Passive Optical Networks (PON) networks, with broadband speeds up to 1 Gbit/s, was fully supported by builders and investors alike. This was a real game changer for the UK market as legacy copper-based hybrid solutions such as Fibre to the Curb (FTTC) cannot match such capability in an effective way. According to the Building Digital UK (BDUK) winter update [1] in 2023,73% of premises could access gigabit-capable broadband (a total including FTTP and Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.1/Cable technology), an outcome that demonstrated good progress towards the "85% home passed target by 2025" set by the UK government in 2020. Globally, full fibre access is also becoming the biggest and fastest growing fixed access technology, expedited by ever-increasing demand for high-speed connectivity which has been accelerated by recent changes in digital behaviours such as hybrid working and remote learning.
展开▼
