Fiber proves greater utility, but the broadband connectivity divide remains

As I approach another Fiber Connect, it’s another year to reflect on how it can be applied to serve multiple interests. 

Fiber Connect show organizers have set the theme “Light it Up.”

When fiber connectivity is lit in a community, I think it creates a rippling effect: consumers, businesses, and other uses that might not have been initially imagined.

A host of overbuilders, traditional telcos and increasingly cable are bringing fiber to more homes and businesses.

Cable, which has long enjoyed a strong lead in the broadband race, faces greater threats from fiber-based broadband. According to Dell’Oro Group, fiber holds a 33% market share in North America, with cable’s market share forecast to decline from 63% to 53% by 2030.

While cable is dedicated to wringing more out of its existing HFC plant, Dell’Oro’s Jeff Heynen said that cable’s fiber builds will be driven by two realities: overbuilding fiber to keep pace with new competitors or in areas where the cable plant makes a DOCSIS upgrade not economically viable.

Fiber builds are not just about keeping pace with competitors.

Take Astound's move to build a 108-mile fiber backhaul network through its partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is partially funding the project via its Bifrost submarine cable system investment. Besides bringing fiber-based connectivity to more than 270 homes in Oregon’s rural Tillamook County for the first time, Verizon Wireless can leverage it to improve wireless service, and the Tillamook People’s Utility District can improve electric reliability.

But despite all the fiber-building plans, a large portion of the country still has few, if any, broadband options. The FCC estimates that 12.7 million people still lack a connection.

The American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) 2025 Report Card added broadband as a category, giving broadband a C+ grade.

As fiber becomes available in a community, providers who position themselves as partners can help raise the country’s broadband grade above average. This will take a multi-pronged approach that provides financial returns from infrastructure that can be leveraged by various entities.