European consumers continued to embrace next-generation Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband services during the second half of 2009, it has been reported.

Research conducted by IDATE indicates that the growth rate of the 100Mb services increased from 19 to 29 per cent between the second and fourth quarter of the year.

Commissioned by the FTTH Council Europe, the study indicated that there are now 3.5 million households benefitting from the high-speed web services.

Norway has the highest level of market penetration across the continent, with 64.9 per cent of homes able to access FTTH broadband.

Sweden (41.4 per cent) and the Netherlands (33.8 per cent) occupy the remaining podium spots, but the UK does not figure in the study given the current low levels of coverage in the domestic market.

Last year, leading broadband provider BT carried out FTTH tests at residential sites around the UK, before announcing plans for its own super-fast broadband service.