Fiber is the Foundation for the Next Wave of Connectivity, Say Advocates

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2025 — Two experts on fiber addressed the importance of connectivity and how fiber will be the foundation of future technologies.

“You can see, of course, fiber always wins,” said Michael Redner, founder of RVA, a North American market research authority on fiber to the home and the AI-data center connections

“Cable is usually second. Then you have other methods, but the download speeds continue to be out. Fiber outpaces everything else. Upload speed far outpaces everybody else. Net promoter scores — the satisfaction people feel — outpaces, and even the perception of what is best.”

According to RVA, 58 percent of consumers now believe fiber is the best internet delivery method.

Gary Bolton, CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, agreed in the conversation during Wednesday’s “Fiber for Breakfast.”

“People on fiber were using AI — 75 percent of those subscribers using AI daily. But as the quality of your connection diminished… satellite was less than 10 percent. It really kind of emphasized why fiber is so critical to enabling AI.”

Bolton cited industry research forecasting rapid upgrades in fiber performance.

“25 [Gigabit per second (Gbps) symmetric PON will be in volume deployment in 2026,” he said, referring to passive optical networks. “That will be fairly short-lived, because 50 Gbps PON is quickly coming behind that.”

Render predicted that in-home connections will evolve alongside these improvements.

“I think it’s inevitable that fiber to the room and fiber to the desktop occurs,” he said. “Wi-Fi will always have a place, but we really need to start thinking about new homes being built with fiber and really starting to offer the option of easily retrofitting your home with fiber to the room.”

“There’s definitely a correlation between the speeds that people are actually getting.”

Render emphasized that telehealth use has expanded rapidly and become essential for many remote communities, though rural residents with the greatest need still face access barriers. Bolton recounted his own difficulties with unreliable broadband during virtual medical visits, underscoring how connection quality directly affects telehealth performance. Render agreed, adding that limited fiber availability in rural regions remains a significant part of the problem.

“The internet created unimaginable impacts to human life in almost all areas,” he said. “Fiber has played a pivotal role, creating the foundation for the backbone itself and even creating the foundation for nearly every type of distribution.”