“Incumbent telecom operators have to react now to the double-squeeze from cable operators and from the deployments by utilities and alternative operators. If they do not act, they risk the erosion of their core business,” the report states.
Part of the reason for Europe's FTTH inertia is regulatory – European countries typically do not subsidize fiber rollouts, and regulators have not encouraged fiber investments. They also typically require carriers to open access to their networks to third parties, making deployments unattractive.
But facing down the pressures on their market shares, incumbent operators have begun to form partnerships with utilities, alternative operators and even each other to grow their fiber presence.
Swisscom, for example, has agreed to work with Swiss utility companies to rollout FTTH networks with wholesale rental capacity.
Deutsche Telecom is conducting a pilot fiber project with alternative network operator EWE Tel in Northern Germany, and has partnered with utility-owned M-Net to jointly roll out FTTH in Munich.
France Telecom will partner with arch-rival SFR to roll out fiber in two French cities.