Fiber may be the AI enabler but Wi‑Fi still defines the customer experience

AI was the topic thread that ran through most of the conversations and presentations at Fiber Connect in Orlando. It seems that AI has finally given purpose to years of fiber investment. Huzzah! But Craig Thomas, CEO of Broadband Forum, said the industry should approach that idea with caution because AI is not the be-all, end-all savior of the fiber industry. “I think it is part of a jigsaw,” Thomas said. “But it doesn’t stand alone. It can’t stand alone.” Anyone who's been in the industry for a while knows that it's spent years searching for a “killer app” to justify massive fiber builds. AI, with its explosive demand for compute and bandwidth, seems like the obvious answer. But Thomas said service providers should continue to focus on the customer, not just on the network infrastructure. “The subscriber experience is not fiber. The subscriber experience is Wi‑Fi," he explained. Indeed, when something breaks, customers don’t blame the fiber network—they blame Wi‑Fi, Thomas said, noting that this realization changes where operators need to focus investment and differentiation.