Where is fiber broadband on the hype cycle?

There’s a huge amount of energy in the fiber broadband ecosystem right now driven largely by the Broadband Equity, Access & Deployment (BEAD) program. But as someone who’s covered telecommunications for three decades, I suspect that we’re nearing the peak of the hype cycle for broadband. Telecommunications analyst Doug Dawson recently pointed out that broadband additions are growing by about one million new customers a year—roughly equal to the number of new households expected. “This is down from the two to three million new broadband subscribers added every year since 2017,” he wrote. So, are we at the beginning of the end for broadband in the U.S.?  It's anyone's guess. But, one thing I’ve noticed over my years covering telecommunications is that the end of a hype cycle tends to come as a surprise. In this case, I wouldn’t be surprised if in a couple of years the excitement about broadband has waned.