Bringing fiber to the home to rural areas in Denmark

In order to support development of rural areas, and avoid that these areas are being depopulated, access to fast broadband networks can contribute by facilitating tele working, distance learning, ICT for industries and farming etc. In this paper we show how broadband and Fiber To The Home (FTTH) is developing in Denmark, and that FTTH is also being deployed in rural areas. A main reason for this is that consumer-owed utility companies have decided to invest heavily in the field, to a large extent with the philosophy that, since all consumers are a part of the investment, everybody should also benefit from it. As a result of these investments, FTTH availability and penetration has increased significantly over the last years. In the end of the paper, we highlight the importance of studying the actual impact of bringing FTTH to these areas.