FBA's Marissa Mitrovich on the growth of fiber and future of BEAD

According to research released by the Fiber Broadband Association and consulting firm RVA, roughly 88.1 million households in the US now have access to fiber, representing 56.5% of all homes. That includes 10.3 million homes passed in 2024 alone. "I think we expect to see something similar again this year," said FBA Vice President of Public Policy Marissa Mitrovich on anticipated fiber deployments for 2025. The overall growth of fiber passings has been spurred by multiple factors: a global pandemic, for starters, that emphasized the need for reliable, high-speed connectivity; a variety of public subsidies and uptick in private equity investments; and the diversity of providers entering and creating competition in the market. One issue hanging over fiber broadband players, however, is what's to come of the $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program. Mitrovich acknowledges that there is likely to be less of a fiber preference in revised BEAD rules, but says she remains optimistic based on conversations FBA has had with the Trump administration.