Italy's FTTH footprint is set to rise from 23 percent of all premises in the country at the end of 2019 to around a third by the end of December 2020, reports Corriere delle Comunicazioni, citing the latest data from EY. Measures imposed to boost take-up appear to be paying dividends after FTTH coverage rose from 18 percent to 23 percent in 2019, reaching a total of 6.8 million homes and businesses, above all due to the contribution of wholesale-only provider Open Fiber.
Coverage ranges from 85 percent of cities with more than 250,000 inhabitants (flat year on year) to 55 percent of those over with over 100,000 (+4%), 25 percent of those with over 50,000 (+22%) and 6 percent of towns with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants (+22%). In total, FTTH infrastructure currently reaches around 200 localities compared to over 4,000 with FTTC (copper + fibre), said the report.
In geographical terms, FTTH networks are present in nearly 30 percent of premises in the north west of Italy, nearly 25 percent of those in the centre of the country, 21 percent of those in the south (+ islands) and 19 percent of those in the north east.