Built, Overbuilt, and Untouched: A Ripple Fiber Analysis of the U.S. Fiber Landscape

The U.S. fiber buildout is at an inflection point where some markets are oversaturated while others are completely untouched. The first era of the U.S. fiber buildout is ending. Not because the work is done, but because the easy markets are filling up. What comes next, who builds where, and whether those decisions are driven by data or momentum, will define the competitive landscape for the next decade. The providers who understand which side of that divide they're operating on will make fundamentally different decisions than those who don't.

Key statistics:

• Fiber-served locations jumped from 61.7M to 71.0M in roughly one year
  
• 82% of cable BSLs now face fiber competition, up from 67% twelve months ago
• Ten counties with over 20,000 housing units have exceeded 95% fiber penetration  
• Over 1.2 million homes across ten counties remain below 5% fiber penetration  

Read Ripple Fiber's full analysis of the latest FCC Broadband Data Collection here.