The present paper compares, from a techno- economic point of view, two currently available access network solutions (Digital Subscriber Line and Passive Optical Network). It also considers a plausible future evolution of the Access and Metro networks, the so-called Long-Reach Optical Access, which augments the span of the access network. All potential solutions are evaluated on the basis of Payback Period, Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return. The market is segmented in different areas depending on their respective households density, and various business models are considered, in order to assess the impact of public funding. The French market is shown to be the most demanding in Europe, due to its low broadband access tariffs; it can thus be considered as a worst case for other European countries. The paper shows that, unless the take up rate for optical access significantly increases beyond its actual value, the profitability of deploying optical access for the network operators is low. This suggests that the evolution towards optical access in Europe shall depend on the amount of available public funding for its deployment.