December 17, 2024 by Joe Ross
You might be surprised by which states saw the greatest increases in fiber broadband service since the FCC began its new detailed broadband reporting in June of 2022 – I know I was. I had expected that more urban states and territories would have seen the greatest gains. Certainly, there are some dense states that have the highest fiber availability like Rhode Island (84 percent of Rhode Island locations have fiber – the highest of any state), Connecticut (77 percent), New Jersey (66 percent), and New York (65 percent). But low-density states like Nebraska (68 percent), North Dakota (67 percent), Kansas (66 percent) and South Dakota (64 percent), are in the top 10 of all states for fiber service. Many of the moderate density Midwestern states are among the next 10 ranked states. I was also surprised that Mississippi, Kentucky, and Arkansas had a higher rate of fiber service than other populous Southeastern states like North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
Overall, states with higher-than-average U.S. population density saw a net drop in their ranking of 65 total places while those below the average density saw an overall increase of 65 total places in their ranks. Of those below the nationwide average in density, only Montana, New Mexico, Idaho, and Nevada lost ground. Denser states like Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Maryland have had little fiber growth and have each dropped more than 12 places. New Hampshire, in particular, had been the 5th ranked state in fiber service availability and now stands as the 22nd. New Hampshire only added 7 thousand fiber locations of over 280 thousand serviceable locations. Those states with lower-than-average density now have fiber service at 48 percent of their locations, while those with higher density are at 52 percent. The below average density states increased their fiber penetration by 14 percent, while the above average states gained only 10 percent. Ohio’s, New Hampshire’s, and Pennsylvania’s drops were particularly surprising with all three seeing less than one percent increase in fiber penetration over the past two years.
In terms of change over the two-year period, states with very low fiber penetration had an easier pathway to substantial growth. For example, Alaska’s mid-2022 fiber service was 6.9 percent of all locations and, while fiber expanded over 160 percent, only 13.6 percent[1] of all locations are served by fiber in mid-2024. Wyoming also had tremendous growth with a starting fiber footprint of 41.7 thousand, which grew to 79.5 thousand in June of this year. However, their starting fiber service represented only 16 percent of all locations. Maine’s 113 percent growth over the two-year period started with a fiber penetration rate of under 19 percent and grew to a mid-2024 rate of 41 percent. But other states with already impressive fiber penetration in 2022 added substantially, such as Arkansas (54.5 percent growth on an initial 38 percent penetration rate), South Dakota (52.5 percent growth on an initial 42 percent penetration rate), and Hawaii (64 percent growth on an initial 42 percent penetration rate). But Connecticut’s rise was particularly impressive. With a mid-2022 fiber penetration of 53 percent (far higher than the national average of 40 percent), Connecticut’s fiber service increased 47 percent over the two-year period – resulting in the second highest fiber availability of 77 percent of all locations.
To me, this underscores the argument that there’s a business case for fiber deployments in lower density areas. Take Nebraska for example: it is the 43rd most densely populated state, yet it has the 3rd highest fiber penetration. There are several very small counties with very high fiber penetrations in Nebraska. Arthur County, Nebraska, for example, is one of the least populous counties in the United States, yet it has fiber service at 98.9 percent of its 273 serviceable locations. Its population density is less than one person per square mile. If Arthur’s providers—local telephone companies—can make a business case for fiber in Arthur County, there shouldn’t be many areas where we can’t get fiber.
If you are interested in Televate’s Broadband Reports and want to find out about broadband service in your community, visit www.televate.com/broadband-reports to find out more and request a free report. If you have a question about broadband service metrics let me know.
[1]There was a concurrent increase in 32 percent of total serviceable locations from 6/2022 to 6/2024, which reduced the fiber penetration rate increase.