Frontier Communications (NASDAQ: FYBR) says that its fiber to the premises (FTTP) expansion efforts have enabled the service provider to pass 5 million homes and business with fiber broadband. The milestone marks the halfway point toward Frontier’s goal of passing 10 million premises by 2025.
The company launched the FTTP initiative in 2020 and set the 10 million premises passed goal in 2021 (see “Frontier Communications accelerates fiber network expansion”). As the company already had approximately 3.2 million homes passed in May 2021, installers may need to pick up the pace for Frontier to reach its 2025 target. Along these lines, the company says it has raised its target passings for 2022 from 1 million to a range of 1.1 to 1.2 new fiber locations.
Nevertheless, the company was in the mood to celebrate. “We are halfway to our initial goal of 10 million fiber locations passed, which means more of our schools, neighbors and business owners now have access to high-speed fiber internet,” said Veronica Bloodworth, Frontier’s chief network officer. “We are delivering our fiber-first strategy at a record pace knowing the critical role that we play in connecting communities. It’s impressive to see our teams and external partners come together to accelerate our fiber build despite the challenging environment.”
The push followed the successful exit from bankruptcy proceedings, engendered in part because of a lack of fiber investment, according to some Frontier executives (see “Frontier Communications sets FTTP course after leaving Chapter 11”) The company now appears to have learned its lesson and is now touting itself as the second-largest fiber builder in the U.S. “Simply stated: Fiber does what cable can’t,” added John Harrobin, Frontier’s consumer executive vice president. “Fiber is superior to cable by leaps and bounds and will be the internet standard for decades to come. This is a truth supported by troves of objective data and why we are positioning Frontier as the number one ‘un-cable’ option in the market.”
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Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave
Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.
Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.
He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.
You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.