Multi-gig competition to heat up as fiber takes center stage

Analyst firm GlobalData tipped cable to lose ground to fiber over the coming years as competition among broadband providers peddling multi-gigabit services intensifies. Tammy Parker, principal analyst at GlobalData, said the multi-gigabit marketplace is already heating up despite the fact that very few households actually require such speeds. Parker pointed to Comcast’s decision to up the symmetrical speeds available on its top-tier Gigabit Pro plan from 2 Gbps to 3 Gbps as evidence of this trend and the cable industry’s efforts to fend off competition from fiber-based services. “Numerous U.S. broadband service providers are charting paths to offer multigigabit services in the coming years. Providers whose service maxes out at 1 Gbps, and even Google Fiber with its existing 2 Gbps service, have been put on notice that they will need to amp up their speed game,” Parker said. GlobalData predicted the number of fixed broadband lines (including fiber, cable and fixed wireless) in the US will grow to 112.3 million by the end of 2026, up from 103.1 million in 2021. Within this timeframe, fiber lines are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.8 percent to 28.2 million lines. Cable’s market share, meanwhile, is expected to dip from 68 percent in 2021 to 67.1 percent as it loses ground to the other fixed technologies.