More and more commercial and multi-tenant buildings in the U.S. are being wired with optical fiber. Back in 2004, fiber’s penetration rate in such buildings stood at 10.9 percent. As of year-end 2014, that had nearly quadrupled, rising to 42.5 percent, according to the latest market research from Vertical Systems Group.
“Fiber is used to deliver the majority of Carrier Ethernet service connections,” Vertical points out in a news release.” Similarly, greater use of fiber in U.S. commercial and multi-tenant buildings is expanding “access to high-speed IP/MPLS VPN services, Cloud and Internet connectivity, and for mobile backhaul applications.”
Percentage of Fiber-Connected Buildings is Key
Conducting a worldwide survey of Carrier Ethernet service providers, Vertical found that fiber footprint is considered the top competitive advantage overall. Moreover, “fiber expansion was the primary growth challenge for 2015.
“Accessibility to fiber-based business services in the U.S. nearly quadrupled between 2004 and 2014, with hundreds of thousands of sites newly fiber-connected during this time period,” Rosemary Cochran, a Vertical Systems Group principal, was quoted in a press release.
“As a result of this growth, our fiber penetration benchmark now exceeds 40% for the first time. Looking forward, the high stakes endgame for network operators is to deepen and broaden their service infrastructures around fiber – the future of wireline.”
Image courtesy of flickr user Shawn Hoke.
