Survey finds that U.S. fiber deployment set record in 2022

The Fiber Broadband Association’s 2022 Fiber Provider Survey reports that more fiber was deployed in 2022 than ever before, as the industry advances its goal of closing the digital equity gap.

A press release said that the research, performed by RVA LLC Market Research & Consulting (RVA), shows that fiber providers passed 7.9 million additional homes in the U.S. in 2022. That is the highest annual fiber broadband technology deployment ever, despite challenges in materials supply chain and labor availability.

Per the survey, there are now a total of 68 million fiber broadband passings in the U.S., up 13% over the past 12 months, and up 27% over the past 24 months. The report’s highlights included several data points: Excluding homes with two or more fiber passings, the survey found that 63 million unique homes have now been passed. Meanwhile, fiber is shown to have passed nearly half of primary homes, and over 10% of second homes. Fiber broadband network buildouts continue to expand in Canada as well, with about 66% of homes passed as 2022 came to a close.

The research also noted that although deployment expectations from individual companies are in constant flux based on many factors, many service providers have announced network builds exceeding the fiber footprint they have built to-date with private funding.

The FBA pointed out that all of the growth precedes the expected higher levels of annual fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments anticipated for the next five years based on federal funding programs such as BEAD, RDOF, ReConnect, and other programs focused on specific markets and demographics.

“High-quality broadband has become more important to consumers every year,” said FBA CEO Gary Bolton. “Fiber broadband exceeds all other types of delivery in every single measurement of broadband quality, including speeds, uptime, latency, jitter, and power consumption. For the consumer this has real-world impacts, like more productivity, better access to health care and education, more entrepreneurism, and the option of more rural living. For society, this means more sustainability and, ultimately, digital equity.”

The FBA helps companies, organizations and communities that want to deploy networks through FTTH, FTTB and fiber. 