The European and Chinese markets are very different. While China is primarily focused on building new infrastructure, Europe already has a robust broadband infrastructure. Europe also presents challenges; however, European consumers have many options and there is no urgent incentive to switch to fiber. This may impact adoption in the short term. However, in the long term, there is no problem. The widespread availability of broadband in Europe (regardless of the technology) means that end users are becoming accustomed to it.
This creates greater demand for higher bandwidth and a better quality of experience—and accelerates the transition to fiber.
The Chinese government is a strong supporter of fiber. Very recently, China announced plans to invest $326 billion in broadband infrastructure as part of its twelfth five-year plan. So far, there has been no similar investment across Europe. 

Can you identify key factors for fiber adoption across Europe? How do these differ from the factors elsewhere?
Applications are a major driver of deployment. When people encounter new applications that take advantage of the highest available speeds, they will see the limitations of their current connections, and demand will increase. This is very similar to how people buy computers. A new machine might work very well initially, but each software update will rely on a more powerful chipset. The computer will inevitably become slower, and a few years later, it will be obsolete. It's a similar idea with broadband. You might think you already have fast broadband, but as more advanced applications appear, limitations emerge. Fiber offers the only future-proof solution.
Wireless is another driving force behind FTTH. When we look at smartphone traffic, 90% is downloaded over fixed networks. After all, if you download a newspaper on your way to work using a mobile connection, you won't have it on your phone until you're already at the office. But if you download it at home, you can read it on your commute. Downloading videos or news programs "on the go" is often frustrating in many areas.
These factors are very similar everywhere, but markets address them differently depending on legislation, the number of operators, competition, infrastructure, and so on. In all areas, however, operators need to deploy fiber to attract new customers and retain existing ones. 

What do you think is the role of European legislators in stimulating deployment? How can they support this through their actions?
Regulators need to find ways to increase competition and encourage investment. So far, the focus of regulators has been mostly on competition, in some cases to the point that it has hindered investment. Governments and regulators need to realize the importance of providing broadband to people across Europe and the need for more attractive investments. This is vital for the telecommunications industry, which in turn supports other economic sectors. Governments need to invest and not be overly conservative. Furthermore, we as an industry must define targets based on the EU 2020 vision and then figure out how these services can be delivered through phased investments. After all, in a crisis, you have to invest rather than stop spending. Broadband helps economies flourish and can accelerate the end of a crisis. Good infrastructure can stimulate new local businesses, save money on housing or travel, and enable doing business globally. Telecommunications should be a long-term program issue, just like healthcare. 

How do you see the future of fiber in Europe?
Fiber deployments haven't really been as successful as expected, for several reasons. Regulatory discussions are still ongoing, and the number of operators is enormous compared to other regions, making the market more complex. However, despite the overall slow pace of fiber deployments in Europe, we are seeing several interesting developments. Fiber is moving closer to end users. While not everyone will have FTTH in the short term, people are experiencing increasingly higher bandwidth, and seeing the benefits, they will start demanding FTTH. The next step will be a much faster fiber deployment in Europe.
Although it will take time to bring fiber to every home, operators now have the tools to improve speed and reliability, as well as spread their investment across multiple phases. They can bring fiber to buildings and use another technology in the last hundred meters or less, which can be replaced at a later stage. This makes it more attractive to start investing in places where getting fiber to the home has been difficult.

What role does FTTH play in your future market strategies?
Alcatel-Lucent's constant goal is to offer better services to operators at a lower cost. For me, FTTH is the ultimate goal. I'm sure that if investment weren't an issue, everyone would have fiber to the home by now. Knowing that the future is fiber, but considering the fact that operators' resources are limited, investments must be used as efficiently as possible. Operators can offer precisely defined service levels to as many people as possible. They could start by offering 100 Mbps to 80% of their user base through a combination of fiber technologies and then migrate everything to FTTH. We can support them in that.

Alcatel-Lucent technology is helping to build Telefónica Spain's first 4G LTE network. What will the relationship between fiber and mobile progress look like in the coming years?
Alcatel-Lucent is focused on combining fixed and wireless ultra-broadband to deliver the best possible services. From an operator's perspective, there are many ways to combine 4G with FTTH in a commercially successful way. Operators are no longer thinking exclusively in terms of fixed and mobile; they see the bundled offering of both and recognize the enormous advantages it offers customers. In Spain, for example, Telefónica recently launched a fixed-mobile convergent service offering, and fiber to the home is part of this. Subscriber growth in recent months has been spectacular. Three major operators in Spain—Telefónica, Orange, and Vodafone—are beginning to deploy LTE, and all three are also investing in fiber.
As fiber is increasingly deployed, it is also being used more and more in the backhaul network for small cell deployments. You need fixed networks for efficient wireless networks. In the US, we see the growing number of LTE users requiring more wireless network capacity. This is achieved by introducing a significant number of smaller cells in shopping malls, sports stadiums, city centers, business parks, industrial parks, events, and so on. We believe that the deployment of small cells will be a vital boost for FTTH. These two technologies are not competing—they are complementary.

Source: FTTH Council, September 2013