New report highlights AT&T's dominance in Q3 fiber expansion

A new analysis from New Street Research revealed that the telecommunications industry collectively increased fiber locations by 1.8 million in the third quarter of 2023, with “most of the increase driven by AT&T.” A broadband trends report from analyst Jonathan Chaplin highlighted that over the past year, AT&T has passed 2.2 million new consumer locations with fiber, although he wrote that pace is “slightly below expectations based on management guidance.” AT&T added 1.1 million fiber subscribers during the past year. Despite its growth in fiber locations, AT&T's fiber subscriber adds were slightly below its pace in 2022 and 2019. Verizon's fiber penetration has remained relatively stable at 42 percent for the last two years, with growth slowing in the last six quarters. Verizon continues to build fiber at 400-500k locations per year, focusing on markets with DSL infrastructure that could be upgraded. As for other fiber players, Frontier Communications's fiber net adds have accelerated alongside the expansion of its fiber passings, adding approximately 0.3 million fiber subscribers over the past year. In contrast, Lumen has witnessed a deceleration in fiber net adds, despite increasing fiber locations.