Fiber Broadband Association

Ten counties across Northwest Colorado joined together for Project Thor, an open access middle mile network dedicated to transport and built for resilience using a series of concentric loops covering nearly 18,000 square miles, with other providers leveraging Thor for delivering last-mile internet access to a quarter-million people in the region. Using a combination of dark fiber and agreement with existing carriers, Thor has dropped bandwidth costs from $1.10 to under 25 cents a megabit.

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) announced the first of its Broadband Community Profiles designed to uncover the economic and societal impact that fiber broadband is having on rural communities across North America.

The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has been funding infrastructure since its original inception in 1935 as the Rural Electrification Service. The agency is currently accepting ReConnect loan and grant applications for broadband projects with the latest round making available $750 million available in grant monies, $250 million available in a combination of loans and grants and another $200 million in loans available at a fixed 2% interest rate. Meanwhile, the agency has recently funded more miles of fiber than power line using electric funding.

Federal and state agencies are gearing up to distribute billions of dollars in broadband grant monies under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is the lead organization tasked with distributing funds, while the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will handle the new low-income subsidy. Both agencies are expected to provide support and advice.

This research, performed by RVA LLC Market Research & Consulting (RVA), shows that fiber broadband now passes over 60.5 million homes in the US alone—a 12 percent growth in 2021. The increase in deployments can be attributed to the fact that fiber continues to score higher than any other broadband technology—such as cable, satellite or wireless—in terms of capacity, reliability, latency and customer satisfaction. The study also revealed that 43 percent of US households and 60 percent of Canadian households now have access to fiber.

This research, conducted by RVA LLC Market Research & Consulting (RVA), concludes that when compared to other broadband technology—including cable, DSL/FTTN, satellite, mobile wireless and fixed wireless—fiber has stronger reliability, the highest satisfaction rates, and lowest cost per Mbps. This annual research provides a snapshot of the current broadband market. It includes the latest broadband technology deployment numbers, satisfaction rates, and market growth rates.