Flume Fiber Service Rides on Other Operators’ Coattails

Flume, a service provider operating in New York City, metro Los Angeles, and Connecticut, has a rather unique business model. It offers fiber broadband but has very little fiber infrastructure of its own. “In the metro core, there’s a lot of overbuilt fiber,” said Prashanth Vijay, Flume co-founder and CEO. In some cases, the fiber may have been installed by a utility company, cell tower company, or another entity that doesn’t offer residential broadband. Apartment buildings or other multi-dwelling units often have fiber coming to the building, enabling Flume to get a handoff in the basement. And some cities have open access networks designed with the specific purpose of making connectivity available to service providers like Flume. “We build edge networks, core routing, and switching,” explained Vijay. Flume targets areas lacking high-speed symmetrical broadband services and bundles services with managed Wi-Fi. Flume expects to expand to other markets later in 2023.