By Amara Osei

Gigabit-capable broadband subscriptions climbed to 24 per cent of all OECD fixed lines in 2025, up from 4 per cent in 2020, according to the bloc's latest Broadband Statistics report released Tuesday. That sixfold lift in five years owes more to existing customers upgrading plans than to new households logging on.

The shift sits inside a quieter truth. OECD fixed broadband penetration grew only 2.2 per cent a year between 2020 and 2025, edging from 33 to 37 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Mature markets, in other words, even as the pipes on those markets keep getting thicker.

What's actually driving the upgrade cycle?

Artificial intelligence workloads, cloud computing and the steady march of connected devices sit at the top of the OECD's explanation. Operators and regulators, the report argues, are swapping access expansion for network performance as their central concern — a reordering that looks inevitable inside the bloc.

Fibre tells the clearest story. Fibre now accounts for 51 per cent of fixed broadband subscriptions across the OECD, up from 31 per cent in 2020. Half the bloc, give or take a percentage point, sits on a fibre plan. The remainder splits between DSL, cable and a dwindling tail of legacy tech that telcos would prefer not to discuss.

What does mobile data demand look like?

Mobile data consumption across the OECD hit 17 GB per SIM per month in 2025, up 130 per cent from 7.4 GB in 2020. Growth is uneven across the bloc.

The Slovak Republic posted the fastest rise between 2024 and 2025, at 42 per cent annually, climbing from 1.4 GB to 8.2 GB per subscription. Bulgaria at 38 per cent, Czechia at 37 per cent and Greece at 36 per cent followed close behind.

The bloc's heaviest users cluster in the Baltics and Nordics: Latvia at 66 GB, Lithuania at 54 GB and Finland at 49 GB per SIM per month.

Why does the OECD frame this as a fibre and 5G story?

The report positions fibre and 5G as the substrate for what it calls "transformative digital technologies," its understated way of pointing at AI training runs, video streaming and remote work. More affordable mobile plans and 5G expansion carry the demand side; fibre overbuilders and incumbent upgrades carry the supply side. The two are increasingly inseparable in regulator thinking, which is why policy debates tend to bundle them.

What's the catch?

The migration from copper and coax to fibre is real and accelerating, but the OECD's own numbers show the fixed-broadband growth curve flattening. Households that want connectivity largely already have it.

Operators are now fighting for the gigabit upgrade on existing lines rather than chasing fresh accounts. A digital divide also hides inside the OECD average: penetration plateaued at 37 per 100 inhabitants, masking a yawning gap between fibre-rich economies and slower members, with subsidy the usual remedy for the laggards.

What comes next?

The OECD expects demand for high-capacity networks to keep rising as AI adoption deepens and connected-device counts climb. Expect the next update, due this time next year, to show the gigabit share clearing a third of OECD fixed broadband — barring a recession, a spectrum crisis or the usual policy surprise.