How the Big 3 think about their fiber growth strategy

A fiber frenzy is in the air among the big 3 U.S. mobile operators. Passings-wise, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are collectively targeting about 119 million fiber locations in the coming years, per New Street Research. It goes without saying all three companies are looking to roll out more fiber wherever they can, but they are at slightly different places in their deployment strategies. In terms of current fiber footprint scope, it’s safe to say AT&T has its competitors beat. Now that it has over 30 million fiber locations under its belt, AT&T is looking to reach over 60 million fiber passings by 2030 with the help of Lumen’s fiber-to-the-home biz, the Gigapower joint venture and “agreements with other commercial open access providers,” said CEO John Stankey. Verizon plans to reach somewhere around 35-40 million locations in the coming years. This year it's on track to pass 650,000 locations with fiber and it previously stated plans to build 1 million passings annually. When it comes to fiber, T-Mobile is “off to the races,” according to CEO Mike Sievert. The Lumos and Metronet acquisitions are officially done deals, as the company targets at least 100,000 fiber net additions this year. The carrier is targeting 12-15 million fiber locations through Lumos, Metronet and open access partnerships. Assuming T-Mobile gets around 40% broadband penetration via its fixed wireless access (FWA) customer base, that amounts to another 30 million homes passed.