How many fiber players is too many for one market?

AT&T is planning to deploy its fiber service in Mesa, Arizona, making it the sixth operator to target the Phoenix suburb. Such overlap is becoming more commonplace across the country as incumbent operators and new entrants alike disclose their fiber plans. This trend raises an interesting question: how many fiber players are too many for one market, especially when you consider many cities will also have an incumbent cable provider? In short, the limit does not exist. According to Chip Pickering, CEO of INCOMPAS, the broadband market today broadly lacks the characteristics of healthy competition. In markets with less than three competitors, consumers are saddled with higher prices, slower speeds, and worse service overall. Thus, the more fiber providers there are in a market, the better. Even as overbuilding concerns arise around space constraints, return on investment, and other topics, Pickering predicts that markets with a large number of competitors would eventually begin regulating themselves towards some form of "equilibrium" within the space.