Fiber Broadband Association: AI Driving Big Increases in Demand
AI-driven growth in fiber capacity points to a clear need "to rapidly expand both route miles and fiber miles to meet the new needs," the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) and consultancy RVA said in a white paper Thursday. They forecast that roughly double the route miles of fiber will be needed by 2029, from 95,000 today to 187,000, and more than double the fiber miles, from 159 million last year to 373 million by 2029. "Meeting this need will be far from easy," the FBA and RVA said, adding that it will require such steps as permitting relief, as well as fiber and power providers collaborating on joint easements.
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In an FBA webinar Thursday, Lumen Director of State Government Affairs Jordan Gross said AI is driving the strongest utilization of Lumen assets in the company's history. Companies including Meta, Amazon and Microsoft are trying to ensure they have the support they need to expand their fiber networks for AI, he said.
AI "hates latency," which can be reduced with dedicated fiber connections among data centers, said John George, senior director of solutions engineering and fusion splicers at fiber-optics maker Lightera. That's driving a lot of the increase in fiber counts and fiber interconnects, he added.
Data centers increasingly are becoming decentralized, chasing energy, cooling capacity and real estate, said Gross. That requires fiber operators to look at expanding their infrastructure and building new routes so connectivity can reach those places, he noted.
Gross also said there's recognition at the federal level of the need to revamp regulations to meet industry demands. The FCC "is already taking some pretty major strides," he said, adding that the White House is moving to accelerate federal permitting of data centers via an executive order issued last week.