The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that fiber became the most used medium for delivering broadband services among its 32 member countries last year. Fiber to the home/building (FTTH/B) accounts for 50% or more of fixed broadband subscribers in 13 OECD countries and 34.9% overall.
The OECD broadband portal reflects the fact that FTTH/B subscriber connections grew 18.6% in 2021 to surpass cable/HFC, which accounts for 32.4% of fixed broadband subscriptions. DSL provided 27% of connections last year amid an overall decline (see figure above).
The OECD countries in which FTTH/B serves more than 50% of fixed broadband subscribers includes:
- Chile
- Finland
- Luxembourg
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Portugal
- Iceland
- Japan
- Korea
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Spain
- Sweden.
FTTH/B provides more than 70% of fixed broadband subscriber connections in the last seven countries in this list.
Overall, fixed broadband subscriptions grew in almost all OECD countries, increasing by 3.9% across the OECD domain. Such subscriptions totaled 472 million, up from 454 million in December 2020, to average 34.4 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants within the OECD membership. Switzerland saw a penetration rate of 48.4 subscriptions per 100 people, followed by France (46%), Norway (45%), and Denmark (45%).
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