Is Verizon’s fiber strategy a sure-fire path to growth? Analysts have doubts

In case you had any doubts about Verizon’s fiber ambitions, the company revealed just how far it thinks it can go by acquiring Frontier’s footprint. Once (and if) the acquisition closes, Verizon expects to reach more than 30 million fiber passings by 2028. In the longer-term, it’s targeting 35-40 million locations passed, a goal easier said than done, analysts noted. According to New Street Research, Verizon’s fiber target is “exactly what we thought they could do between the existing Verizon markets and what they acquire with Frontier.” The firm estimates Verizon can reach around 38 million locations. But to do that, Verizon needs to crank up its deployment pace. The company said it expects the combined build with Frontier to generate “1 million or more passings annually.” At that speed, “it would take them 10 years to get to our target of [38 million],” said New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin