According to Huawei-commissioned research, Gigabit Britain could add £51.4 billion (€58.90 billion) gross value to the economy in five years, and £68.8 billion in 2030.

France, Italy and Spain have the biggest increase in the number of homes passed since the last Council Panorma figures were published.

The new network will connect 200 towns and villages across the country, offering hundreds of thousands of customers access at up to 1Gpbs.

The £23.8 million Local Full Fibre Networks Programme will connect more than 1,700 public sites across the metropolis in north-west England.

Digital infrastructure provider CityFibre has revealed 36 new towns and cities to receive full-fibre as part of its £4 billion Gigabit City Investment Programme.

TIM to offer broadband and Disney+ streaming service through TIMVision from 24 March, extending their long-established relationship.

French telco Iliad has closed the deal to sell part of its fibre business to InfraVia, a French private equity firm specialising in infrastructure.

French operator Bouygues Telecom and wireless infrastructure operator Cellnex are to deploy a national fibre-optic network in France to accelerate the roll-out of 5G.

As the first European Union country to class fibre infrastructure as a separate market, Sweden's watchdog says the ruling has lessons for other member states.

Czech national infrastructure provider CETIN plans to extend fibre-optic connectivity to areas with low-density populations, with support from the European Union.

BT-owned Openreach has outlined plans to make full-fibre broadband available in 227 market towns and villages in the UK, with building to start in the next 14 months.

As part of a pilot project in Lüdinghausen, Deutsche Telekom will use Deutsche Glasfaser’s fibre network.

The operator is restructuring its deal with CityFibre to encourage accelerated build out to more places and working with Openreach in Salisbury (pictured) in the south-west of England.

Orange has agreed a €700 million loan with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States.

Dutch telco KPN plans to connect 320,000 households in Amsterdam with fibre to the home (FTTH), starting early next year.

Telecom Italia (TIM) and Open Fiber have crossed swords amid ongoing talks about them joining forces to create a single fibre network for Italy.

Mobile analytics company Opensignal says 5G adoption is moving too slowly to overtake 3G in just one year, anywhere in the world.

Ahead of next month’s General Election in the UK, the Labour Party pledges to connect every home and business with free full-fibre broadband by 2030, if it wins.

Vodafone is expanding its Gigafast Broadband roll-out after striking a new commercial deal with network infrastructure provider Openreach.

The independent company Zen Internet is to expand its broadband network to reach 80% of homes and businesses.