RVA Expects Over 100M More U.S. Residential Fiber Passings

Tulsa, Oklahoma--In RVA’s just released “2023-2024 North American Fiber Broadband Report: FTTH and 5G Review And Forecast”, detailed analysis shows the rationale for expecting over 100 Million more fiber passings in the United States over the next ten years or so. The count is in addition to the estimated 68 million homes already passed with FTTH in the US alone (63 Million unique homes excluding homes passed twice or more).

The predicted additional passings will include reaching a high percentage of primary homes, homes being passed by two or more fiber providers in certain demographics, and second homes/ short term rental homes. Fiber broadband will be deployed by many types of service providers – Telecom companies, Cable MSOs, Private competitive providers, Municipalities, Rural electric Cooperatives, and others.  

Canada and the Caribbean are also expected to have continued strong fiber deployment growth. 

For the coming five-year forecast period (2023 – 2027), RVA LLC estimates U.S. capital investment in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) will surpass $135 Billion, barring significant unforeseen economic or geopolitical disruption. The $135 billion 5-year forecast will exceed ALL investment in FTTH that has occurred to date. Despite the reductions some providers have announced from the original projections for 2023, RVA forecasts a record annual FTTH build. Based on both private and public investment, RVA expects annual construction rates to continue to increase over the period.

According to Michael Render, CEO of RVA “There are many underlying drivers for the unprecedented build cycle highlighted by the report’s new data and research. Perhaps most importantly, consumers respond to and churn towards fiber providers whenever fiber is available.”

The forecast report examines the consumer and competitive FTTH drivers, and details the history and forecast for many different classifications of FTTH providers. Possible deployment constraining factors in the forecast period are also reviewed. In addition, the report includes a forecast for the use of fiber for 5G and other purposes.