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Fiber Contractors Media | News Media Fiber Press Release

Washington, D.C. (December 17, 2019) — Today, the Fiber Broadband Association and RVA, LLC released a new study showing record growth in the North American fiber broadband industry. Michael Render, President of RVA, LLC, and a researcher for the Association shared that fiber deployment reached record highs in 2019.

Key findings include:

In 2002, only 50,000 U.S. homes had access to all-fiber connectivity; today, it’s nearly one thousand times that. In the United States, fiber broadband now passes 46.5 million unique homes — about 37% of total homes — and connects 20.5 million. This is a 16% increase in homes passed by fiber since 2018.

Over the past year, fiber broadband networks became available to 6.5 million additional unique homes — a record level of additions. Smaller providers accounted for 25% of these new home connections.

All-fiber deployments to customer end-points are at record levels, with over 400,000 fiber routes deployed in the last year. This increase was driven by new deployments to homes, upgrades by cable operators, and the beginning of deployments to small cell sites. Canada reached a new milestone in 2019: fiber now passes half of all Canadian homes. The study also examined the role of 5G in these trends. Total fiber deployment is at record levels — and small cell deployment is still just in its infancy.

“2019 was a banner year for fiber broadband,” said Lisa R. Youngers, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association. “Fiber networks now support everything from 5G to Smart Cities to the Internet of Things. I’m thrilled that our Association can demonstrate the progress that we have made. In 2020, we will continue the work to connect the unconnected and accelerate our fiber future.

The full report is available to members of the Fiber Broadband Association on its website.

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Fiber Contractors Media | News Media Fiber Press Release

Washington, D.C. (December 11, 2019) — The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) today announced that Katie Espeseth will serve as Chair of the Board for a one-year term beginning January 1, 2020. Espeseth has over 30 years of marketing and telecommunications experience and currently serves as Vice President of New Products at EPB.

Mark Boxer, Technical Applications Engineering Manager of OFS was elected to the Board for the first time and Kevin Morgan, Chief Marketing Officer of Clearfield and Joanne Hovis, President of CTC Technology & Energy, were both re-elected to the Board. The 2020 Management Committee was also elected: Katie Espeseth of EPB will serve as Chair; Gary Bolton of ADTRAN as Vice-Chair; Gregg Logan of Telapex, Inc. as Secretary; and Kevin Morgan of Clearfield as Treasurer.

“Congratulations to our new Chair Katie Espeseth and to our new and returning Board members,” said Lisa R. Youngers, President and CEO of FBA. “I am thankful for their commitment to propelling deployment of all-fiber networks to better connect the world. I look forward to working closely with Katie and the Board to advance the Fiber Broadband Association’s mission in the years to come.”

The full 2020 Board of Directors includes:

Chair: Katie Espeseth, Vice President of New Products, EPB

Vice-Chair: Gary Bolton, Vice President of Global Marketing, ADTRAN

Secretary: Gregg Logan, Vice President of Engineering, Telapex, Inc. (corporate parent of the C Spire companies)

Treasurer: Kevin Morgan, Chief Marketing Officer, Clearfield

Mark Boxer, Technical Manager – Solutions and Applications Engineering, OFS Teles Fremin, Director, LUS Fiber

Michael Hill, CEO, On Trac, Inc.

Joanne Hovis, President, CTC Technology & Energy

Joe Jensen, Americas Market Development Manager, Corning Incorporated

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Fiber Contractors Media | News Media Fiber Press Release

Washington, DC (October 21, 2019) — Today, the Fiber Broadband Association and RVA, LLC introduced a Broadband Experience Index to give consumers a more comprehensive and reliable methodology for comparing broadband services in real-world applications rather than only measuring broadband based on speeds.

The Index assesses the factors that consumers find critical in their broadband experience, including reliability, bandwidth, latency and downstream and upstream speed. It then ranks the various broadband network technologies by aggregating these factors into a straightforward metric that consumers can use to compare services.

As part of the work in developing the Index, over 2,000 U.S. consumers were surveyed on their methods of final Internet delivery to the home. Those surveyed represented consumers who receive their Internet connection via fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) via fiber optic cable; cable via coaxial cable; DSL or fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) via copper wire; wireless via radio waves; and satellite via signals from geostationary satellites.

Based on its analytical methodology, the Index determined that fiber is providing the “best in class” consumer broadband experience. “We all know that a consumer’s broadband experience is about more than just download speed, especially with all the video and high-speed apps consumers are using. That’s why the Fiber Broadband Association teamed with RVA, LLC to develop the Broadband Experience Index. And, it is no surprise that consumers prefer fiber,” said Lisa R. Youngers, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association. “Fiber provides the fastest, most reliable connection to the Internet. Consumers depend on their Internet connection for video streaming, staying connected to their favorite devices, video chatting with loved ones, and connecting to the cloud. Only fiber can consistently meet the demands of consumers in the 21st century.”

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