Introducing the first 25 companies featured in the 2024 FTTH Top 100 - Broadband Communities

Posted by Brad Randall | Jul 26, 2024 | Commercial, COMMUNITIES, COMPANY NEWS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, Fiber Broadband, Innovation, Networks, TECHNOLOGY, Top 100

Broadband Communities now presents the first 25 companies listed, in no particular order, to be featured in our Fiber-To-The-Home Top 100. The list features organizations that have either deployed networks that have innovative business plans, intended to transform local economies or improve quality of life, or those that have introduced innovative technologies with game-changing potential, even if they have not yet been commercially deployed.

Companies that have supplied critical hardware, software, or services to deployers, and companies that provided critical conditions for fiber builds, such as advocacy or demand aggregation, have also been considered.

Without further ado, here are the first 25 companies to be included in the Broadband Communities FTTH Top 100 in 2024.

1.) Ritter Communications

Investments of private capital by Ritter Communications in communities across Arkansas have rapidly increased the company’s competitiveness in the mid-South market. With their RightFiber branding, Ritter has expanded into towns around Arkansas, including communities like Rogers, Lowell, Beebe, Kensett, Judsonia, providing rural communities across the state with a competitive option to pre-existing services offered. Their fast-paced growth across the Diamond State earns them a spot on our top-100 list.

2.) Ripple Fiber

Ripple Fiber’s aggressive expansions in North Carolina and South Carolina has brought the company’s fiber internet service to thousands of residents in counties across both states. As Ripple Fiber launches to new areas, the company is also continuing construction in areas like Union County, North Carolina, where a current build, with an anticipated completion by the end of 2024, will enhance access for over 45,000 residents. The efforts have made Ripple Fiber an engine for digital transformation in the Carolinas, one that shows no signs of slowing down.

3.) Saddleback Communications

Since 1997, Saddleback Communications has been a main engine of economic growth for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, located in the Phoenix metro area. Earlier this year, the provider announced reduced and more affordable rates for their fiber connectivity, which the company has claimed provides 99.999% uptime, and managed Wi-Fi offerings that include benefits for subscribers like parental controls, automatic security updates, managed service, malware protection, and access to network monitoring apps. The company touts their dedication to the community and the provision of dedicated connections to subscribers that are not oversubscribed or shared with other users.

4.) Whidbey Telecom

Whidbey Telecom, which serves parts of Whidbey Island in Washington State, is working to train the next generation of fiber technicians thanks to a partnership with the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), and the Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center, a free, public school that serves high-school students from Snohomish and Island counties based in Everett. The partnership is offering Optical Telecom Installer Certification (OpTIC Path) courses to juniors and seniors. The news, which broke in May, came as Washington State prepares to utilize over $1.2 billion in BEAD funding and marked the first time a high school has been added to the OpTIC Path program. It’s just the latest way that Whidbey Telecom, which has built a reputation for outside the box thinking, has upheld their commitment to support the community, and the needs of the industry at large.

5.) Cox Communications

As the largest rural internet provider in the United States, Cox Communications has broken ground to be one of few providers to lock-in Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) rates to customers once enrolled in the now-defunct program. The company’s Connect2Compete Internet Plan is offered as a $9.95 per month service for households with a school-age child in the home that participate in the National School Lunch Program or accept SNAP benefits. The ConnectAssist Internet Plan is available to all customers who received ACP assistance and those who were eligible for it, according to Cox Communications’ announcement back in April. It solidifies Cox’s place among the top providers in the US and as a company with a reputation for compassion towards low-income families.

6.) Comcast/Xfinity

Comcast has launched major investments into network expansion efforts, including the investment of $265 million into network expansion efforts that will reach more than 100,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area by the year’s end. Meanwhile, the company has also supported programs like the Talent for Tomorrow: Digital Equity Challenge, in coordination with the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The grant program is designed to support local workforce programs aimed at growing college and career readiness. Comcast’s commitment to closing the digital skills gap is also highlighted by ProjectUP, a $1 billion initiative that supports over 1,200 “Lift Zones” that offer free internet, skills training, and digital education in community institutions across the nation.

7.) AT&T

AT&T’s fiber operations have been growing rapidly over the years, with 2023 marking the sixth year in a row that the provider reported 1 million net AT&T Fiber adds. The company has also made a commitment to increase their competitiveness in the marketplace, with the introduction of AT&T Internet Air for Business, part of AT&T’s pivot to fixed wireless technology. Earlier this year, AT&T also announced an additional $3 billion commitment to narrowing the digital divide. According to the company, almost 5 million Americans have benefited from AT&T’s discounted internet service and digital literacy programs since 2021, with a total commitment of $5 billion towards affordability and adoption in the same timeframe.

8.) Commscope

Commscope, which describes themselves as a company pushing the boundaries of technology to create the world’s most advanced wired and wireless networks, has made their own moves in 2024. In June, Commscope announced a software release that offered operators “a flexible path forward” for networks with the E6000 CER, which is the cable industry’s most widely-deployed converged edge router. Software Release 13 for the E6000 Converged Edge Router will help maintain Commscope’s competitiveness in the space of hybrid fiber-coax cable access network technologies, maintaining Commscope’s place as a trusted source for solutions.

9.) UTOPIA Fiber

UTOPIA Fiber’s open access marketplace in Utah includes a choice of 18 ISPs. As of May, the UTOPIA network provided fiber availability to approximately 200,000 locations and over 50 Utah communities. This year UTOPIA, which stands for the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, also announced the defeat of a “a dark money-funded misinformation campaign” that sought to prevent efforts to forge a successful partnership with Bountiful Fiber, based in Bountiful City, Utah. In 2023 alone, UTOPIA Fiber touted the placement of over 2.7 million linear feet of fiber, enough to circle Salt Lake City seven times, and connected over 40 homeowners’ associations, marking UTOPIA Fiber’s impressive and continued growth.

10.) SpotOn Networks

A partnership between SpotOn Networks and the Common Grounds Cooperative, a 47,000 square foot mixed-use development run by a nonprofit cooperative in Traverse City, Michigan, has become a case study for the industry. Common Grounds faced numerous challenges, including providing uniformly reliable connectivity across a multitude of spaces, and supporting businesses that required different connectivity needs. SpotOn Networks developed a managed Wi-Fi solution that met the needs of the Common Grounds Cooperative. As a result, the development saw enhanced connectivity, increased satisfaction, and community benefits, like increased use of common areas, according to SpotOn Networks.

11.) Gateway Fiber

After securing $175.5 million in debt financing in May, Gateway Fiber has announced they will continue aggressive expansion of their network in Missouri, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. The company’s momentum has only built since that announcement, with additional announcements that detailed Gateway’s construction efforts in Plymouth, Minnesota, a community of more than 80,000 residents roughly 10 miles west of Minneapolis. Earlier this year, the company also launched services in Champlin, Brooklyn Park, and Maple Grove, all communities in metro Minneapolis. With ample private capital to back them, Gateway’s momentum will likely only continue into 2025 and beyond.

12.) WOW! Internet

In April, WOW! Internet reported “the most robust growth of its all-fiber network in the company’s 25-year history.” The provider’s ongoing projects in Hernando County, Florida, and Michigan’s Livingston County will result in the addition of over 120,000 homes joining WOW! Internet’s footprint, according to the ISP. The company also recently completed all-fiber networks in Central Florida and Greenville County, South Carolina, providing customers with “an array of fast, value-priced and comprehensive choices,” according to Teresa Elder, WOW! Internet’s CEO. WOW Internet! Shows no signs of slowing down and recently added five new Central Florida communities to their footprint, bringing the total number of communities served in the region to nine.

13.) LiveOak Fiber

LiveOak Fiber has made significant progress over the past year with a network build in Georgia, backed by an investment of $100 million. The company’s progress in the Peach State includes a planned expansion to both Tybee Island and the Bacon Park neighborhood in Savannah. The ISP has similarly made waves in Florida and is deploying a network that will serve passings in the Crestview, Fort Walton Beach, the Destin areas, along with Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, and Santa Rosa counties. The progress highlights LiveOak’s impressive growth and their emergence as a key player in the US Southeast.

14.) Tachus Fiber

Tachus Fiber has leveraged services of DZS, a provider of cloud software technology, to expand their offerings in the Houston area, where the firm has allocated more than $100,000,000 to build a 100 percent fiber, underground, advanced XGS network that will reach more than 100,000 homes in the Southwest Houston area. Included among their partners are the Houston Astros and their Triple-A affiliate, the Space Cowboys. Tachus’ leadership has cited their network as being able to offer multi-gig speeds for both downloads and uploads, with a slate of offerings that are also tailored to business needs. Tachus Fiber is quickly changing the landscape of the Houston area, earning their spot on the FTTP Top 100 for Broadband Communities.

15.) Grain Management

Grain Management has made a series of head-turning strategic moves in 2024 that prove the company is committed to growth over the long term. Their acquisition of Anchorage-based QSH Parent Holdco, also known as Quintillion, brought Quintillion’s subsea and terrestrial high-speed, fiber-optic network into Grain Management’s network of mission-critical broadband infrastructure. Several months later, in April, Grain agreed to acquire a majority interest in 123NET, a Michigan-based ISP that operates more than 3,100 miles of fiber routes, and the ninth busiest internet exchange in North America. In July, Grain announced the completion of their acquisition of a majority investment in 123NET, a move that 123NET’s CEO said will allow his company to accelerate their efforts to enhance connectivity across Michigan.

16.) NOVOS FiBER

After a successful debut in Arlington, Texas in 2023, the Dallas-Fort Worth area ISP announced an entrance into McKinney, the seat of Collin County, Texas, and NOVOS FiBER’s second DFW metro-area market. Meanwhile, in Arlington, the company invested an additional $25 million as they continued to bring new customers onto their network. During their work, NOVOS FiBER is also investing in McKinney as a community and has offered support to school and city-organized events. The expansion to McKinney is strategic. With the new in Feburary, Andrew Snead, the CEO of NOVOS FiBER, called McKinney “an incredibly vibrant and fast-growing city” in comments included with NOVOS FiBER’s announcement.

17.) Greenlight Networks

Greenlight Networks has expanded fiber broadband services into two hamlets within New York’s Orange County in 2024. It’s a move that has been lauded by community leaders. Mechanicstown and Circleville, within the community of Wallkill in New York’s Hudson Valley region, will both benefit from the construction efforts by Greenlight. As part of their efforts, Greenlight conducted community outreach that included the hosting of a community event, at the Mechanicstown Fire District, to discuss the advantages of fiber and answer questions from area residents. Wallkill Town Supervisor George Serrano said the network expansion is a testament to Wallkill’s forward momentum as a community and will fuel economic growth in the area.

18.) Alabama Fiber Network

The Alabama Fiber Network, a coalition of electric co-ops that formerly went by the name of Fiber Utility Network Inc., has experienced a busy year in Alabama. In February, the Alabama Fiber Network was the biggest winner of grants awarded under the Alabama Anchor Institution Middle Mile (AIMM) Grant Program. In June, Gov. Kay Ivey announced $53.5 million in funding for a project that will lay over 1,000 miles of fiber across two dozen counties across the state, connecting 7,500 unserved businesses and residences within five miles of high-speed internet. In total, the Alabama Fiber Network is deploying a network that will span over 5,000 linear miles with interconnect points in all 67 counties, which promises to be a game-changer in Alabama.

19.) Calix

Calix, a cloud and appliance-based platform and managed services company, has made it easier for broadband providers to get their piece of the pie when it comes to Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds. Their portfolio of systems on their broadband platform includes the Calix Funding Consult Program, which the company says, “ensures broadband service providers can act quickly to retain their share of the upcoming $42.45 billion in federal funding.” The company’s responsiveness to the needs of broadband providers in 2024 has set it apart from competitors, with programs aimed towards helping providers build resilient networks at the lowest possible cost.

20.) Surf Internet

Following grants from the Connect Illinois program amounting to $10.5 million, Surf Internet plans to extend fiber to over 2,600 locations in rural Illinois. Their planned expansion of last-mile broadband access in unserved and underserved rural areas includes counties like Whiteside, Grundy, LaSalle, Lee, and Putnam. The company is also investing in connecting rural Illinois. They committed to invest over $6 million of their own funding to reach rural Illinois residents near Rock Falls, Sterling, Dixon, Ottawa, Morris, Coal City, Lake Wildwood, Grand Detour, Lost Nation, and Magnolia. Surf Internet’s efforts will provide much needed economic viability to rural communities across Illinois with an advanced fiber-optic network, the impacts of which cannot be understated.

21.) FiberFirst

FiberFirst, which has offered fiber internet services in the Dallas, Fort Worth, and greater Austin areas, announced at the end of 2023 that they have fully commenced their services in the Omaha market. Since then, the provider has collaborated with GOCare, a SaaS provider of digital experience software, to provide users with the GOCare Messenger, a cloud-based, fully integrated, two-way digital communications solution. At the time, GOCare said in an announcement that the news “demonstrates FiberFirst’s commitment to flexibility in customer communications, providing options beyond traditional phone calls.” The Texas-based company has also rapidly expanded their fiber footprint and offered locally based support teams to prioritize community engagement, according to a summary of the company’s operations.

22.) Fybe

Fybe, a broadband service provider and a subsidiary of Roanoke Cooperative, has making headlines in 2024. In April, the company announced it received four Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grants totaling approximately $9 million dollars. Later that month, Fybe announced that 5,000 homes and businesses in rural Gates County, North Carolina will now have access to Fybe’s fiber internet services. Most recently, the company announced it had connected its first customer in Elizabeth City, North Carolina as part of an expansion that will bring fiber internet to over 14,620 homes and businesses in the city. Fybe’s efforts have been transformational in North Carolina, and it easily earns them a spot in our FTTP Top 100 list.

23.) Antietam Broadband

Another company that has made inroads in rural America includes Antietam Broadband. The company’s Flight Fiber offering, which represents the next generation of fiber-to-the-home deployment, will be available to residents in Maryland’s Carroll County this year thanks to a $32 million investment, the firm announced in February. The company also intends to expand Flight Fiber’s network into Washington County in 2024, offering residents there access to Antietam Broadband’s unlimited data packages with enhanced security and reliability, affordability, and no contracts.

24.) Frontier

Fontier ended 2023 by announcing a partnership with the Learning Alliance Corporation as part of an effort by the company to increase veteran hires. Fontier, which has a workforce that is 10 percent veterans, also recently announced their status as “first company in North America to successfully trial record-breaking broadband speeds of 100G, 50G, 25G, and 10G Passive Optical Networks (PON) technologies simultaneously” in partnership with Nokia, according to a July announcement by the company. Additionally in July, Frontier announced that the company has expanded access to over a million locations in Connecticut alone, representing a 475% increase in locations served throughout the state, according to Frontier’s June 16 release. The company remains on the forefront of efforts to provide “Internet for All” in the United States.

25.) Bluebird Network

Bluebird Network, which operates two data centers and over 11,000 miles of fiber, earlier this year announced the completion of a fiber-optic cable that crosses underneath the Mississippi River, connecting St. Louis to Illinois. The company, also building a long-haul route connecting St. Louis and Tulsa. The fiber build is planned to span 330 miles through Missouri, and 164 miles through Oklahoma, delivering connectivity to underserved communities along the way. John Nolan, Bluebird Network’s chief development officer, previously explained the importance of the National Telecommunications Information Administration-backed network build. “These projects will extend middle-mile infrastructure to unserved and underserved areas and promote broadband resiliency by creating new and alternative connections across the Midwest,” he said.

Check back next week on Friday, August 2, for the next installment of the 2024 Broadband Communities FTTH Top 100.

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