Fibre to the Room (FTTR): Revolutionising Home and Business Connectivity

Author: Sahil Itkan, Research Manager, Strategy

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital connectivity, the advent of FTTR (Fibre to the Room) marks a significant milestone. Imagine having fibre connectivity in each of your rooms, ensuring seamless and high-speed internet access wherever you are within your premises. This technological advancement is set to redefine the way we experience internet connectivity, both at home and in business environments.

The Limitations of Traditional FTTH

Traditional FTTH (Fibre to the Home) setup typically involves optical fibre coming into an ONT (Optical Network Terminal), with a router physically connected to it via a network cable in order to provide coverage to your entire house via Wi-Fi. However, walls and interference can attenuate the signals from routers, resulting in lower speed and data throughput for connected devices in rooms further away from the router. Service providers often install Wi-Fi mesh networks and extenders to enhance coverage, but these fixes can downgrade the overall network experience due to reduced performance and inconsistent connectivity.

FTTR: A Game-Changer in Home Connectivity

To address these challenges, FTTR emerges as a transformative solution. In today's digital world, the surge in data consumption drives the need for reliable, high-speed networks that can support multiple concurrent applications, notably within large households. FTTR caters to these modern demands by providing high-speed connectivity to every nook of your house. It eliminates patchy network experiences and potential dead spots, offering gigabit connectivity and ensuring seamless performance for your connected devices across rooms.

Applications and Benefits of FTTR

FTTR is best suited to support usage of a wide array of increasingly mainstream applications simultaneously, such as online education, video conferencing, gaming, immersive extended reality (XR), and smart home devices such as security cameras. The growing number of smart and connected devices in modern homes and the flux in data-intensive applications across industries are anticipated to drive the rollout and adoption of FTTR solutions worldwide.

Global Adoption and Market Trends

Service and solution providers globally are recognising the potential and capability of FTTR technology. By the end of Q1 2025, around 39 service providers in 27 markets had either already launched or are planning to launch their FTTR offerings. The commercialisation of FTTR technology is generally driven by countries with relatively high fibre penetration.  Extensive fibre infrastructure facilitates the adoption of FTTR technology by providing the necessary infrastructure to support its deployment, thereby enabling seamless, high-speed connectivity and driving the growth of advanced digital applications and services. FTTR technology is not only revolutionising home connectivity but also transforming business environments by providing reliable, high-speed internet access.

FTTR-B: Extending FTTR connectivity beyond homes to business

Operators are expanding their FTTR offerings to cater to the connectivity needs of their business customers by launching FTTR-B (Fibre to the Room for Business). By the end of Q1 2025, service providers in Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Philippines, and Thailand, have either deployed or planning to deploy their FTTR solutions for business customers. This technology is ideal for industries like hotels, providing guests with a seamless experience and ensuring consistent, reliable connectivity in each room. FTTR-B in hotels can also attract corporate clients for conferences and events, supporting a larger number of simultaneous users and applications like live streaming and virtual meetings. FTTR-B can also address the connectivity needs of educational institutions. Schools, colleges, and learning centers are stepping up from conventional ways of learning to new digital learning experiences which results in multiple smart devices operating simultaneously across the campus. FTTR-B could empower the students and staff with high-speed connectivity and a seamless learning experience.

Future Outlook and Opportunities

The growing momentum around FTTR technology is likely to continue with more operators rolling out and testing their fibre-to-the-room offerings for both commercial and residential users. This presents an opportunity for OEMs, as the architecture involves more CPE to be installed at the premises. FTTR technology will also fuel growth in the IoT ecosystem, smart connected home devices, ultra-high-definition (8K) streaming, gaming, and more. The popularity of FTTR-B among business owners and administrators worldwide provides opportunities for service providers and operators to further monetise their existing fibre network infrastructure.

For an in-depth analysis and insights on the future of FTTR and the broader fixed broadband and FWA markets, don't miss our latest quarterly report, “Fixed broadband and FWA, Q4 2024: developments and outlook". This comprehensive report delves into the latest trends, market dynamics, and future projections, offering valuable information for industry stakeholders. Additionally, our spotlight on FTTR, "FTTR: Taking Fixed Broadband Connectivity to the Next Level," provides a detailed look at this groundbreaking technology and its potential implications on the broader ecosystem.