UK behind in fibre-to-the-home broadband

The UK is falling behind many European nations in terms of providing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband access.

A report issued by the FTTH Council Europe shows that Scandinavian nations Sweden and Norway are ahead of the pack when it comes to providing fast fibre-optic lines right up to individual premises.

Other nations in the top 10 include Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.

Of the larger economies, Italy has been pushed out of the top 10 while France, Germany and the UK don't figure on the list at all.

"The ranking clearly demonstrates that Scandinavia and the continent?s smaller economies are continuing to dominate this list," says Thomas Kallstenius, chair of the FTTH Council Europe?s Marketing and Intelligence Committee.

BT is increasing its efforts to provide fibre-optic technology to UK homes in the form of a combination of FTTH and FTTC (fibre-to-the-cabinet) connections, which can be many times faster than traditional copper-based telephone lines.

However, BT is still some years away from completing its fibre roll-out in the UK, but insists it is ahead of target to connect 10 million homes by 2012.