European Broadband Operators and Tariffs Benchmark Report, Q2 2026

Point Topic tracks the quarterly changes in the standalone and bundled broadband tariffs provided by European fixed-line residential and business operators. This article presents selected highlights from our latest tariff benchmarks at the end of June 2026, comparing trends to March 2026.

The complete tariff data — including all charts, country-level tables, regional breakdowns and operator-level analysis — is available within Point Topic's European Broadband Statistics subscription service.

Introduction

In Q2 2026, we tracked 1,420 residential and 915 business broadband tariffs across 31 European countries. The quarter tells a story of two shifting dynamics: at the technology level, copper continues its accelerated retreat while multi-gigabit fibre cements its dominance; and at the regional level, Eastern Europe's residential pricing softened rather than rose, with average tariffs falling by around 5% quarter-on-quarter to $58 PPP even as average speeds held strong at 817 Mbps, comfortably ahead of Western Europe's 768 Mbps.

Residential broadband: key highlights

Copper's endgame continues. Just 39 copper residential packages were tracked in Q2 2026, up slightly from 37 in Q1 2026 but down from 41 at the end of 2025. The average copper tariff now stands at $57 PPP for an average speed of just 43 Mbps, making it by far the most expensive technology on a cost-per-Mbps basis at $1.33 PPP per Mbps. Managed copper switch-off programmes continued to accelerate across Europe, with BT Group/Openreach, Deutsche Telekom and Orange France all progressing structured retirement schedules.

Fibre remains the dominant technology, even as speeds ease back from their peak. We tracked 1,127 residential fibre packages in Q2 2026, down from 1,165 in Q1. The average fibre tariff held steady at $70 PPP, while average speeds eased slightly to 895 Mbps, down from 927 Mbps in Q1, as operators increasingly focus on upselling higher-speed tiers rather than simply pushing headline maximums. Residential gigabit tariffs (900 Mbps+) eased slightly to 482, down from 490 in Q1 but still up on 446 at the end of 2025, while packages of 2 Gbps or more dipped to 133, from 137 in Q1, as multi-gigabit tiers continue to broaden across European markets.

Wireless FWA rationalised sharply. We recorded 119 wireless (FWA/4G FWA/5G FWA) residential tariffs in Q2 2026, down from 146 in Q1, reflecting a stricter classification of fixed wireless products. The UK remains the largest single FWA market with 65 packages, still buoyed by the ongoing rollout of VodafoneThree's 5G Home Broadband product targeting the roughly 3.7 million UK homes still on copper or part-fibre. Portugal again accounted for 30 FWA packages, reflecting the continuing role of fixed wireless in harder-to-reach geographies. The average cost per Mbps on wireless tariffs rose to $0.26 PPP, up from $0.14 PPP in Q1.

Figure 1. Average monthly cost and download bandwidth by technology, residential broadband.  Source: Point Topic.

Business broadband: key highlights

The average monthly cost for business broadband across all technologies was $146 PPP in Q2 2026, stable on $145 PPP in Q1. We tracked 915 business tariffs in Q2, down from 940 at the end of March. Fibre remained dominant with 729 packages tracked, down from 750 in Q1, at an average of $140 PPP per month and average speeds of 990 Mbps, down slightly from 1,011 Mbps. Cable business tariffs contracted further to 82 packages (from 83 q-o-q), with average bandwidth rising to 640 Mbps and average monthly charges easing to $92 PPP, as major operators including VodafoneZiggo, Telenet/Wyre and Sunrise continue migrating business customers toward DOCSIS 4.0 or FTTP.

The business broadband market has moved decisively from infrastructure build-out to commercial realism. The constraint is no longer access availability but the pace at which AI workloads, cloud connectivity and multi-site networking requirements translate into higher-value contracts. Next-generation enterprise demand will be defined by performance, latency, resilience and security, not simply speed.

Figure 2. Average monthly cost and download bandwidth by technology, business broadband.  Source: Point Topic.

Regional trends: the East is catching up on price

The most striking development in Q2 2026 is a reversal of last quarter's trend: Eastern European residential pricing fell back. The average monthly subscription in Eastern Europe dropped by 5% quarter-on-quarter, from $61 PPP to $58 PPP, while the median fell by just under 2%, from $51 PPP to $50 PPP. The consistency between average and median movements confirms this is a broad-based decrease rather than an outlier effect. Average speeds held strong at 817 Mbps, suggesting operators are monetising expanded fibre footprints by upselling higher-speed tiers rather than simply raising prices.

Western European pricing told a more static story. The average edged down by 0.1% to $70.61 PPP, while the median slipped by 0.65% to $59.51 PPP — a mild divergence suggesting mid-market pricing crept upward even as entry-level competition kept headline averages in check. New fibre entrants such as Digi Communications, along with continued promotional activity in Belgium and the Netherlands, are keeping headline tariffs disciplined at the entry level.

Figure 3. Regional bundled and standalone broadband tariffs and average downstream speeds by technology, residential broadband. Source: Point Topic.

Country highlights

Switzerland topped the speed rankings with an average downstream speed of 3,364 Mbps, followed by Austria (2,950 Mbps), Denmark (2,437 Mbps) and Slovakia (2,188 Mbps). Ireland (2,062 Mbps) and Germany (1,850 Mbps) rounded out the top six — Germany's continued appearance here is notable given its historically slower fibre transition, reflecting the accelerating impact of Deutsche Telekom's rollout programme. The Czech Republic (1,753 Mbps) nudged out Romania for seventh, followed by Luxembourg (1,734 Mbps), Iceland (1,385 Mbps) and new entrant Belgium (1,084 Mbps).

Denmark led the cost-efficiency table at just $0.02 PPP per Mbps. Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Switzerland all came in at $0.03 PPP, underlining how widely affordable multi-gigabit fibre has become. Ireland was the third-cheapest market at $0.04 PPP, with Austria, Malta, Germany and Hungary all tied at $0.05 PPP.

Malta stands out as the most affordable market in Europe by median monthly charge at just $21 PPP, followed by Czech Republic ($34 PPP, down sharply from $43 PPP q-o-q), Hungary, Luxembourg and Norway (all $47 PPP) and Finland ($50 PPP). At the expensive end, Italy topped the median table at $136 PPP (up from $132 PPP), followed closely by Austria at $129 PPP — markets where even entry-level tariffs sit at a premium, with the tightest spreads between entry, median and average of any countries in our dataset.

The variance analysis across all 31 countries reveals important structural differences. Denmark shows the highest variance (109.0) — ranking 23rd by entry level but 6th by median, indicating a two-speed market where a handful of budget entry products coexist with a predominantly mid-to-high-cost portfolio. Estonia (86.3) and Sweden (65.3) also show wide spreads. At the other end, Malta, Austria and Italy rank most consistently across all three metrics, with Luxembourg and Hungary equally coherent among the more affordable markets — all reflecting predictable pricing environments regardless of which metric is used.

Table 1. Country ranking by median, entry-level, and average residential broadband tariffs, Q2 2026. Source: Point Topic.

The full European statistics dataset covers all 31 countries with operator-level tariff data, technology breakdowns, regional comparisons, speed-tier analysis and quarterly trend tracking across both residential and business markets.

If you are not a subscriber to our European statistics data subscription and would like to gain access to the full dataset past and present, contact us.