Verizon to buy 37 million miles of fiber over the next three years

Verizon announced a deal with Corning Inc., a fiber manufacturer, to purchase more than 37 million miles of fiber optic cable over the next three years for more than $1 billion. The company says the deal will improve current wireless coverage, speed up the deployment of the next generation 5G network, and “deliver high-speed broadband to homes and business of all sizes.”

It’s unclear whether Verizon will use the fiber cable to improve its wireless infrastructure only, or whether it will also build fiber-to-the-home. Verizon announced last year that it would bring FiOS service to Boston – a six-year, $300 million deployment. But, so far, no additional cities have been announced, despite significant demand. Mayors and other elected officials along the East Coast have called for more high-speed Internet, and FiOS build-out was a major demand by Verizon workers during their successful strike last year.

Since the 5G network will rely on dense deployment of fiber-connected small-cells, the economics of fiber deployment have changes and expanding FiOS to customers’ homes makes sense.

Links:

Verizon agrees to $1.05 billion three-year minimum purchase agreement with Corning for next-generation optical solutions (Verizon, Apr. 18, 2017)

Verizon buying 37 million miles of fiber to boost its wireless network (Ars Technica, Apr. 18, 2017)

Verizon plans to build FiOS in Boston (Speed Matters, June 13, 2016)