Portugal leaps ahead in FTTH race

Portugal has entered the FTTH Council’s global ranking of leading fibre-to-the-home economies following a 186% increase in the number of subscribers in the course of 2009.

The country, whose capital Lisbon hosts the forthcoming FTTH Council Europe conference in February, had 41,500 FTTH subscribers at the end of December, according to the organisation.

FTTH homes passed grew in the same period from 200,000 to 1.15 million, representing growth of 475%, thanks to strong investment by the leading players Portugal Telecom, Zon Multimédia and Sonaecom.

The global ranking lists countries where FTTH penetration exceeds 1%.