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Research Round-up August 2026

  • Writer: Veronica Regnault
    Veronica Regnault
  • 1 day ago
  • 7 min read

  

Key publication of the month:



We have produced the latest FTTP (Fibre-to-the-Premises) subscriber forecast for 31 European countries[1]. We expect FTTP subscribers in these markets to reach 157.4 million by 2030, up from 112.4 million at the end of 2025, showing a 40.1% growth rate over five years (7% CARG). Within the 27 EU member states, the equivalent increase is from 96.2 million to 129.6 million, a comparatively lower 34.8% growth between 2025 and 2030 (6.2% CARG). The difference reflects faster growth in the four non-EU countries, particularly the United Kingdom.


Our interactive dashboard presents all the figures referenced in this report at the country level. It includes quarterly figures for FTTP subscribers, FTTP coverage and take-up in 2013-2030.


The UK overtakes Spain by 2028, while growth elsewhere concentrates in lower-coverage markets


Figure 1 ranks the fifteen largest FTTP subscriber markets as of 2030. France leads throughout, reaching 31.7 million subscribers by 2030 against 27.1 million in 2025 — a comparatively modest 3.2% CAGR, reflecting a market where FTTP is already largely rolled out and adopted. The more notable shift in ranking is between the UK and Spain: the UK starts the forecast period well behind, with 12.4 million subscribers against Spain's 17.8 million in 2025, but overtakes Spain in 2028 and finishes 2030 at 23.2 million against Spain's 19.3 million. The UK's 13.4% CAGR over the period is the fourth-highest among the fifteen largest markets, behind only Greece, Germany and Italy.


Figure 1: Fifteen largest FTTP subscriber markets, 2025Q4 vs 2030Q4. Source: Point-Topic.
Figure 1: Fifteen largest FTTP subscriber markets, 2025Q4 vs 2030Q4. Source: Point-Topic.

Other key points

  • France will remain the largest single market (31.7 million subscribers by 2030). The UK is forecast to overtake Spain as the second-largest market in 2028, and to add more net subscribers than any other country over 2025–2030 (+10.9 million).

  • We expect fastest FTTP subscriber growth (CAGR) in: Austria (+22.5%), Greece (+20.8%), Belgium (+19.4%) and Germany (+16.5%) — all relatively low coverage or low take-up markets today.

  • Slowest FTTP subscriber growth (CAGR) is forecast for Iceland (+1.0%), Spain (+1.6%), Slovakia (+1.8%) and Romania (+2.0%) — markets already close to full coverage and high take-up.

  • FTTP coverage (homes passed as a share of households) across the 31 countries will increase from 76% (2025) to 90.7% (2030). The least-covered markets by 2030 will remain the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Belgium.

  • By 2030, 85 million of the 31-market households (35.1%) will still not be FTTP subscribers; of these, 62.5 million (73.5%) will already be within reach of the network but will not have subscribed.



See the full article here. For the complete analysis, the data behind it and the interactive dashboard, login to our subscriber site with your customer credentials. If you are not a subscriber to the relevant product, contact jolanta.stanke@point-topic.com


[1]The dataset covers 31 European countries: the 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Unless stated otherwise, ‘EU27’ figures in this report refer to the 27 EU member states. FTTP includes FTTH and FTTB.


Key August telecoms sector news

4 August – BT and EE scored a "historic double" award win, with independent studies naming BT's Full Fibre network the UK's best broadband and EE the UK's best mobile network for the 13th consecutive year.


19 August – Openreach set out plans for a wider rollout of XGS-PON, its next-generation full fibre technology capable of up to 8.5Gbps downstream — more than four times the 1.8Gbps ceiling of current Full Fibre. Openreach aims to make the faster speeds available to over 1 million premises within 12 months, and to around a third of its FTTP footprint within five years, building on a 40,000-premises pilot in Guildford that has been running since March.


19 August – Openreach's Tranche 21 "Stop Sell" rules came into effect across 139 priority exchanges, as notified in July, with the cumulative Stop Sell footprint passing 1,572 exchanges (around 15.4 million premises, or roughly 57% of Openreach's FTTP footprint) on schedule.


20 August – EE launched Fast Lane on 5G+, a UK-first network-slicing feature giving consumers and small businesses priority connectivity during the network's busiest periods.


27 August – Ofcom's consultation into Openreach's disputed "Incremental New to Openreach" wholesale discount, which the regulator provisionally proposed blocking on 28 July, in the first such intervention in its history, closed for responses. Ofcom's Natalie Black said "Openreach must be able to compete, but they cannot use their significant market power to drive other networks out of the market." A final decision remains due by the end of September.

11 August – VMO2 reported its decade-long network equipment recycling partnership with TXO has avoided 5,262 tonnes of CO2e emissions to date, of which 4,575 tonnes through refurbishing kit such as switches, routers and line cards for resale, and a further 687 tonnes by sourcing refurbished equipment instead of new, whilst diverting 690 tonnes of hardware from landfill, part of its path to Net Zero by 2040.


14 August – Liberty Global, Telefónica and InfraVia, via nexfibre have filed their formal response to the CMA's "Areas of focus" document, defending the proposed £2bn Netomnia acquisition (see CityFibre News below for rival submissions).


17 August – VMO2 reported that its partnership with the Good Things Foundation has now provided over 550,000 UK people experiencing financial hardship with free mobile data SIMs via the National Databank. Recipients receive 25GB of data a month (with rollover), plus unlimited UK minutes/texts and 50 international minutes, as it renewed its commitment to digital inclusion amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.


20 August – O2 has switched on its next-generation 5G+ network across Kent, including Maidstone, Sevenoaks and Canterbury. Up to 1.6 million residents across 125 towns, 303 villages and 246 hamlets could now benefit from faster speeds, better coverage and lower latency at no extra cost.


25 August – O2 customers in Westminster are set to benefit from improved mobile connectivity as 24 new small cells are deployed across the borough.

5 August – CityFibre filed an updated CMA nexfibre / Substantial merger inquiry response reiterating three core concerns: reduced local wholesale competition in overlap areas, entrenchment of a national duopoly, and harm to retail competition where networks overlap. Positions diverged sharply among other respondents: Hyperoptic said it saw no competition concerns and that the deal could "support a stronger alternative fibre platform"; BT argued Ofcom's existing regulatory constraints on Openreach limit its own competitive response; and Grain Connect agreed the deal could create a credible third-scale wholesaler but disputed claims it would lower retail prices, noting retail competition is already intense. The CMA's statutory deadline for a final decision remains 15 December 2026.

17 August – According to ISPReview, investor INPP declined to commit further capital to Hampshire-based altnet Toob, instead transferring its £24.1 million equity stake to debt holders (led by Ares Management) for minimal compensation and ceding operational control, while retaining a reduced £2.6 million exposure and future profit-sharing rights if the business is eventually sold. This is the latest sign of funding pressure across the alternative network sector amid rising build costs and competition.


28 August – Voneus, backed by Macquarie, the Israel Infrastructure Fund and Tiger Infrastructure Partners, acquired the assets and customers of Airband Community Internet out of administration, after lenders took control from previous backer abrdn (which had invested over £200 million in Airband) earlier in the month. The combined business now serves around 60,000 customers with 170,000 premises ready for service across full fibre and fixed wireless.


Throughout August – London-focused Altnet G.Network prepared to launch a 10 Gbps home broadband tier alongside fresh funding, while smaller full fibre builds continued to progress, including rural altnet Go Internet's quiet deployment of its own network to an Isle of Wight village and Wessex Internet's recognition in the 2026 Best of British Business awards for its rural FTTP network.


3 August – Sky Broadband filed its response to the CMA's Areas of Focus document in the nexfibre/Netomnia Phase 2 investigation, arguing nexfibre and Virgin Media should be assessed as a "single economic entity" and warning the deal would cut wholesale full-fibre competition from three players to two in overlapping areas.


3 August – TalkTalk sold around 120,000 consumer broadband customers, predominantly those connected via CityFibre's network, to challenger ISP Rise Fibre, taking Rise Fibre's total base to almost a quarter of a million as TalkTalk (carrying around £1.2 billion of net debt) continues to shed assets. CEO Steve Wilson said it "marks another major step in the emergence of a genuine new challenger in UK broadband."


8 August – Octopus Investments (via infrastructure investor Fern Trading, which also backs AllPoints Fibre Networks and Vorboss) emerged as the frontrunner to acquire TalkTalk's wholesale arm PlatformX Communications (PXC), reportedly outpacing rival interest from Epiris and Telecel Group, in a deal said to be worth "hundreds of millions of pounds."


20 August – A broad coalition spanning telecoms (BT, Openreach, Vodafone, Three), broadcasters (BBC, ITV), banks (Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, NatWest) and charities (Age UK, Citizens Advice, AbilityNet) launched The Connection Project, publishing a "Connected" report calling on government to set "a shared national ambition for high digital participation, with agreed outcomes, dates and milestones." The report notes around 1.6 million UK residents remain entirely offline and 22 million face meaningful barriers to digital participation, with the push linked to the planned terrestrial TV switch-off.


24 August – BDUK's August update on Project Gigabit contract progress showed 296,770 of 846,770 contracted premises built (35%), up around 9,260 from July's 287,510 (34%). The contracted total rose slightly on net, though several contracts saw data resubmissions, around 7,600 premises were temporarily removed pending corrected figures across Lancashire, Devon, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, which BDUK said reflected "updates to underlying administrative data rather than a change in delivery performance."


Please get in touch if you would like to find out more about UK datasets, Point Topic's Broadband Dashboards or particular publications.



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