May 2026 Vol. 81 No. 5
Features
Study forecasts five-year fiber boom
(UI) - RVA LLC projects the annual deployment of fiber to the home (FTTH) in the United States will be at record levels during the next five years, with a forecast of nearly $200 billion spent. While the demand for fiber and fiber deployment is at record levels, there are some challenges and potential constraints, including permitting, available workforce and materials.
This projection is based on RVA’s just-released five-year forecast, “North American Fiber Broadband Report: FTTH Review and Forecast 2026 – 2030.”
The report also details how and why the diversity of providers is increasing. Fiber deployment is now expected from many types of service providers – telecom companies, cable MSOs, private competitive providers, municipalities, rural electric cooperatives and others. Although Tier-1 telephone companies remain the largest segment in the five-year deployment cycle, their share of FTTH homes-passed annually is forecast to continue to fall, from a high of 93 percent in 2006 to 46 percent by 2030.
Canada and the Caribbean are also expected to see continued growth, though not at the same rate.
The RVA 2026 Forecast Report is based on extensive annual research and quantitative analysis, including original surveys and interviews with hundreds of network operators, vendors and industry experts, as well as reviews of public and FCC data, and surveys of over 3,000 online consumers of all types of broadband. RVA is a research partner with the Fiber Broadband Association. The firm has produced statistics and annual North American FTTH Broadband reports since 2002.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Michael Render, (918) 592-3100, Mrender@RVALLC.com
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