As Europe's fibre market is redefined, how do investors, operators, and lenders respond?
Amidst a tough macro context, business plan underperformance, rising competition, and funding constraints, EMEA's fibre optic markets look set to be redefined in coming months.
In the U.K. and Germany, the steady flow of capital into the sector – backing ambitious plans – hasn't delivered the projected returns. Penetration rates are trending downward and there are expectations of increasing pressure on average revenue per user (ARPU) levels.
In the 2025 AlixPartners European Fibre Survey, a survey of 160 market experts entrenched across the European fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) industry, predominantly in these two markets, three key themes emerged:
- Operator business planshave been revised downwards as underperformance continues, with a shift from building networks to an operational focus on revenue generation.
- Funding is taking centre stage, as 50% of operators face an element of re-financing in the next 24 months.
- Long-anticipated consolidationis still expected and could reach elevated levels over the next 12 to 24 months: our survey respondents expect there to be 25% fewer companies in the sector after this period.
In this report, we take a deeper dive into each theme, exploring the expectations – and implications – for operators, lenders and investors – focusing on what is likely to matter most in this fast-evolving market.
You can download a copy fromhere.
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