FTTH Council Europe warns strong incumbents harm broadband efforts

Strong incumbent telecoms operators are holding back efforts to boost super-fast broadband provision, according to the FTTH (Fibre-to-the-Home) Council Europe.

Nadia Babaali, communications director for the organisation, told Computer Weekly that this problem affects countries such as the UK and Germany, where incumbents BT and Deutsche Telekom have made big investments in copper networks.

These operators are keen to keep their old infrastructure up and running for as long as it remains profitable, rather than investing in next-generation technology, she explained.

However, Ms Babaali said copper networks are now obsolete and insisted: "The operators know it."

This problem does not exist in countries where there is greater rivalry in the communications market, the FTTH Council Europe chief stated.

"In countries where you have a lot of competition ... then the incumbents have to switch technologies, but we do not see this situation too much yet in the UK," she claimed.

Although BT has pledged to invest £2.5 billion in its commercial fibre optic broadband rollout, the FTTH Council Europe's gripe lies in the fact that the company is still utilising its copper infrastructure in the deployment.

Instead, the organisation believes operators should focus on rolling out pure fibre optic networks.