Fiber Broadband Association

As states gear up to allocate Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) money, the challenges of permitting are top-of-mind for all parties involved in the process. To ensure that local governments and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can reduce broadband network construction challenges, The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, in partnership with the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy, the American Association for Public Broadband, Fiber Broadband Association, Brightspeed, and GFiber, held a summit earlier to discuss the issues and recommend solutions

The carbon footprint of fiber broadband networks is lower than hybrid fiber coax networks on every sustainability metric, from embodied carbon to carbon in the operational phases, including customer premise equipment. The Fiber Broadband Association’s Sustainability Working Group compared the carbon footprint of fiber to the home (FTTH) networks with Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) data over cable system interface specification (DOCSIS) 4.0 networks.

USTelecom and more than 30 other broadband industry groups sent a letter to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo covering several ideas for how the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) can remedy the issues posed by the rates being approved for the low-cost service option requirement in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD)Pprogram.

Next-generation gigabit fiber speeds are running up against the limits of trailing-edge home Wi-Fi gear and other in-home factors, much to the chagrin of service providers and their customers, according to the latest research insights from Ookla.

Private capital is opening fiber availability outside of traditional telecom models, with the Gigapower joint venture between AT&T and infrastructure investor Blackrock a prime example. Gigapower is focusing on an open access model that will initially pass 1.5 million homes nationwide and enable the network to be used and shared by multiple fiber-to-the-home service providers.

The Fiber Broadband Associations Technology Committee published a new white paper on "The Benefits of Retiring Copper Today." Many telecommunications providers still face unnecessary complexity and expense by continuing to operate legacy copper last-mile broadband infrastructure, especially if they already migrated to fiber in the core and access network.

With net broadband subscribers down year after year due to fixed wireless and new fiber projects, cable providers now face substantial competition and need to reevaluate their upgrade strategies. The capital expense expenditures to support DOCSIS 3.1 and 4.0 rollouts are difficult to justify if there’s insufficient growth and a slim return on investment anticipated. However, cable providers are faced with diverting choices to upgrade their existing plant.

As energy companies around the country deploy fiber to improve grid reliability, they open the door to enabling broadband connectivity to previously unserved rural communities. Alabama Power has invested over $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades to add over 1,600 miles of fiber within its service areas since 2017.

One hundred fifty billion dollars in new funding is expected to add an additional 59.3 million US homes to be reached by fiber over the next five years, according to the latest research from RVA Market Research & Consulting, with a total of over 137 million US homes passed by fiber by 2028.  At the end of 2023, 78 million US homes were passed by fiber with a total of 5.1 million route miles of fiber construction completed.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is winding down and will end in April when the rest of its funding is expected to run out, unless Congress enacts legislation to refund it.