A study by IDATE and commissioned by the FTTH Council Europe has found that there were 249 Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH)/Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB) projects in Europe as of the end of 2009, of which 136 were new initiatives launched since June 2005.

Municipalities and utilities are still the main category of players involved in FTTH/B deployments in Europe, representing 55.7% of the total number of projects.  However, they are described as "giving ground" to alternative players which - even if they only represent 28.7% of the total number of projects - reach 74% of homes or building passed by the FTTH/B networks.

In terms of subscribers, alternative operators still dominate the market: those which were involved first in FTTH/B deployments represent the most important customer base, according to the study.  All together, FastWeb (Italy), B2 (Sweden), Iliad/Free, Numericable and SFR (France), Orange Slovensko (Slovakia) and T2 (Slovenia) totalled 841,500 subscribers to FTTH/B services, or around 24% of Europe's subscriber base (including Russia).  However, this percentage is reported to be lower than one year previously, due mainly to the involvement of incumbents which have been deploying largely in 2009, after months or years of waiting for clarification of the market's regulation.

New FTTH/B markets, especially in Eastern Europe, are described as being "very dynamic", with countries such as Lithuania, Estonia and the Czech Republic being among the most dynamic in terms of new FTTH/B subscribers during the second half of 2009.  Sweden is still a very dynamic market, where local and national players continue to convince end-users to subscribe to such services.  On the other hand however, coverage is still increasing, and the country's penetration rate is lower than once year previously as a result of this.

The majority of subscribers (around 67% of FTTH/B subscribers at the end of 2009) are concentrated in seven countries in Western and Northern Europe, which are: Sweden, Italy, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.  Excluding Russia, which leads the FTTH/B market in terms of number of subscribers and homes/buildings passed, France was still ahead of all other European countries at the end of 2009.