FTTH Top 100
Naming the final group of companies to be included in our four-part series featuring the FTTH Top 100 in 2024.
Over the past several weeks, Broadband Communities has released Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of our FTTH Top 100 list for 2024.
Now, Broadband Communities presents the final slate of companies to be featured in our Top 100 list, ranked in no particular order.
The list features organizations that have either deployed networks that have innovative business plans, intended to transform local economies or improve quality of life, or those that have introduced innovative technologies with game-changing potential, even if they have not yet been commercially deployed.
Companies that have supplied critical hardware, software, or services to deployers, and companies that provided critical conditions for fiber builds, such as advocacy or demand aggregation, have also been considered.
Here are the final 25 companies to be included in the Broadband Communities FTTH Top 100 in 2024.
76.) Clearwave Fiber
With a goal of deploying fiber internet to half a million homes and businesses by 2026, Clearwave Fiber has continued their tempo over the past year with expansions in Lake City, Florida, and Garder, Kansas. In July, Clearwave celebrated another milestone by opening a Customer Experience Center in Hinesville, Georgia, where it has invested millions of dollars and connected thousands of locations since 2015. Most recently, Clearwave celebrated the release of SmartBiz for Business, which the company has described as “a full-suite Internet solution designed specifically for small businesses.”
77.) ONUG Communications
ONUG Communications, which is nearing their 25th year as an engineering and design company, has experienced rapid growth, leading to their relocation to a larger facility in Raleigh, North Carolina. According to a summary provided by the company, ONUG has expanded their role with clients like Google Fiber, AT&T, Brightspeed, Lumen, and Verizon. The firm, which also offers services like project management, feasibility studies, and consulting services, has worked on various projects for regional telcos such as Lumos, Shentel, Ritter, Fastwyre, and Comporium, and planned projects that passed 151,000 plus homes and businesses in 2023 alone.
78.) DC BLOX
DC BLOX, an Atlanta-based company that provides fiber network solutions and connectivity to data centers, this year completed a high-capacity route that provided diversity for data traffic between Northern Virginia and Atlanta. The route’s completion has opened up connectivity options for rural areas along the route, and according to the company’s leaders, will support rapid growth in the American Southeast. The company has also promoted construction of a “dark-fiber ring” around Atlanta that will connect two “hyperscale-ready” data centers to the east and west of the city.
79.) CHR Solutions
CHR Solutions has had a busy stretch in the past couple of months. The innovative company, which provides a range of services and solutions for broadband infrastructure and network design, announced the launch of a new managed service solution in May capable of producing actionable intelligence based on real-time data. In the months since, CHR Solutions has launched Omnia360E. The platform supports lead generation, a fully automated billing process, and utilizes “evolving generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications,” according to the company’s announcement in July. The company has also continued to celebrate proven successes like the partnership between FiberFirst, an ISP, and GOCare Messenger, a cloud-based, app-less customer-engagement communications solution, made possible through CHR’s open-architecture B/OSS platform, which allows for specialized capabilities to be integrated with ease.
80.) Actifai
Actifai has developed what they call an industry-first software that personalizes the engagements broadband providers have with customers and potential customers by utilizing deep-learning AI processes to provide recommendations for every subscriber interaction through an interface. A recent partnership, entered into between Actifai and Sonar, will embed Actifai’s platform Sonar’s billing and operations platform. It will only enhance Actifai’s reach. Today, the company’s platform helps power over 20,000 weekly broadband sales, according to Actifai’s recent release celebrating the partnership.
81.) Render Networks
Render Networks, a company that specializes in streamlining large-scale network construction, offers an end-to-end geospatial construction management platform that has led to cost efficiencies of up to 30 percent, according to the company’s own information. Render’s current partners, firms like ADB Companies, a provider of turnkey infrastructure solutions, have opted to expand their relationship with Render as they continue undertaking construction projects to deploy networks. And, in June, Render announced it had entered into a partnership with Safe Software, bringing Render into Safe’s ecosystem of feature manipulation engine (FME) service providers. The partnership will allow Render to leverage FME to transform design data into a digital format without code, an advantage Render’s VP of product and partnerships previously said the company will use to standardize data flows and build more consistent interfaces.
82.) Velox
Velox, recently named one of the fastest growing companies in the Southeast by Inc. Magazine, provides specialty contracting services to telecommunications providers. In 2024, the Alabama-based company has sought to maintain their competitive edge with the launch of Velox Professional Services. The move has brought Velox’s engineering services “completely in-house,” according to a May release from the company. The construction and program management contractor hopes that the additional engineering service will only increase the company’s reputation as reliable and professional and help the firm be able to meet the increasing demand for turnkey solutions.
83.) Clearfield
Clearfield, which designs, manufactures, and distributes fiber optic management, protection, and delivery solutions, has worked diligently to position themselves to accommodate demand created by the BEAD program, which requires most equipment to be made in the United States. The company has expanded manufacturing capabilities in Minnesota to help accommodate Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements outlined in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Clearfield has also been on the forefront of innovation with solutions like the ClearPass Dust Cap, released in 2023, and the Deploy Reel TAP Box, which can speed up deployment for fiber technicians by providing reel flexibility that “enables the technician to pay out the exact amount of cable from the curb and into the home,” saving time on installation.
84.) Nokia
Nokia was the first to announce manufacturing of broadband network electronics products for the BEAD program. Most recently, Nokia also became the first technology vendor to “self-certify” their U.S. manufactured fiber products. As a result, Nokia now provides BEAD applicants with NTIA-required letters of certification, in compliance with BEAD’s Buy America guidelines, for products like Nokia FX and MF OLT modular product lines. It’s also of note that at the end of 2023, Nokia made a move that lived up to the company’s billing as a B2B technology innovation leader. In December, using solutions from InCoax Networks, Nokia introduced the industry’s first integrated fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) solution for multi-dwelling units (MDUs) outfitted with coaxial cables. The solution, named Gigabit Connect, allowed operators to combine fiber and MoCA Access to connect subscribers in MDUs. The solution connects to FTTH networks and uses an MDU’s existing coax, allowing for coexistence with legacy services, including terrestrial, satellite and cable TV.
85.) Mears Broadband
As the calendar turned to 2024, Mears Broadband became a standalone entity under the Quanta Services umbrella, as part of the company’s pivot to the increasing and evolving needs of the broadband industry. The decision allowed Mears to streamline decision making and address customer requests faster, according to Trent Edwards, President of Mears Broadband. With the change in structure, Mears, known for their turnkey fiber network construction, became Quanta’s largest telecom construction company. That’s no small feat, as Quanta is often noted as the largest specialty contractor in North America, according to a summary provided by Mears Broadband.
86.) Corning Optical Communications
In 2024, Corning Optical Communications continued to evolve on their Evolv connectivity portfolio (first launched back 2021) with the launch of Multifiber Pushlok, a “stick and click” connector. The technology “allows operators to deploy more fiber in tighter spaces,” which the company highlighted as a key consideration for increasing data usage. In August of this year, Corning also entered into an agreement with Lumen that will reserve 10 percent of Corning’s global fiber capacity “for each of the next two years to interconnect AI-enabled data centers,” according to Lumen’s announcement. At the time, Corning’s CEO said the announcement marked “the first outside-plant deployment of Corning’s new gen-AI fiber and cable system.”
87.) Seimitsu
Seimitsu, a Savannah, Georgia-based service provider, has been rolling out fiber broadband to neighborhoods around Savannah with their FTTH offering known as TrueConnX Home. The company has big plans for the future. In June, Seimitsu announced plans to pass 24,000 homes in Chatham County as it expands throughout Georgia’s Low Country. According to Ciena, Seimitsu’s residential broadband network is powered by Ciena’s XGS-PON solution, technology that allows cost effectiveness, flexibility, and is incrementally scalable. According to Seimitsu’s prior announcements, TrueConnX Home service is expected to be fully live in late summer 2024 to at least three Georgia communities.
88.) Gigapower
In February, Gigapower announced plans to expand their state-of-the-art fiber network to Albuquerque, New Mexico as part of a joint venture with AT&T and BlackRock, through a fund managed by its diversified infrastructure business. According to the Fiber Broadband Association, Gigapower has their sights set on an open access model that will pass 1.5 million homes across the country, enabling their networks to be shared by multiple service providers. Gigapower’s growth shows no signs of slowing down through the remainder of 2024.
89.) Hiawatha Broadband Communications
Hiawatha Broadband Communications, also known as HBC, has committed millions of dollars to reach thousands of residents in Farmington, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area. The project, which will provide residents and businesses with access to HBC’s multi-Gigabit network, also includes plans to bring Internet access to 20 of the city’s 29 parks, offering park goers “an enhanced experience, to include geocaching, augmented reality, access to park programs, and more,” Farmington’s mayor commented, according to HBC’s May release. The company has also opened a regional storefront in Farmington staffed with customer care, technical, and service installation team members.
90.) Omni Fiber
Backed by private capital from Oak Hill Capital, Omni Fiber has invested $250 million into fiber-network construction and is on track to reach nearly 200,000 locations by year’s end, according to our own prior reporting. In July, Omni Fiber announced the closing of $150 million in debt financing to help fund what the Ohio-based ISP called “rapid expansion” in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Only weeks ago, Omni Fiber followed up with an announcement that the ISP plans to expand into 20 new markets in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
91.) altafiber
Formerly known as Cincinnati Bell, altafiber has invested over $1.5 billion into its fiber network, as of Oct. 2023, and planned to expand their 10-Gig XGS-PON fiber network to another 65,000 locations in 2024. The company also has revealed plans to expand their multi-gigabit fiber network to approximately 400,000 locations beyond their incumbent territory. Throughout the year, altafiber has kept their momentum with fiber builds in Central Ohio communities like Sunbury, Johnstown, and Galena.
92.) Fidium Fiber
Fidium Fiber, a brand of Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc, has achieved one network expansion after another in 2024. The provider, which serves customers in California, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Vermont, has been rapidly expanding their multi-gig speed internet network. This summer, in Northern New England, Fidium has been expanding to thousands of new locations, seemingly on a weekly basis, reaching customers in iconic places like Waterbury, Vermont, and Bar Harbor, Maine.
93.) XKL
XKL, an optical network solutions provider, this spring announced the successful deployment of dense wavelength-division multiplexing solution that allowed Scatter Creek Infonet, in rural Washington state, to cut operational expenses by 40 percent. Upon releasing the news, XKL said the changes will “pave the way for reliable connectivity across surrounding rural communities” for the ISP based in Tenino, which serves rural customers south of Olympia. According to Scatter Creek’s CFO in June, the savings were accomplished by “reducing operational complexity and averting huge network expenses.”
94.) Spectrum
As a suite of advanced communications services offered by Charter Communications, Inc., Spectrum has collectively won over $700 million in broadband subsidies, which the company plans to use to expand access to 300,000 locations. Additionally, Charter’s Rural Construction Initiative, an investment of $9 billion with $2 billion in government funding support, activated 295,000 new locations in 2023 and plans to activate 450,000 new locations by year’s end. With broadband service packages for medium sized businesses, in the form of Spectrum Business, and larger businesses, in the form of Spectrum Enterprise, Spectrum remains a giant in the broadband market in 2024.
95.) Quantum Fiber
Quantum Fiber, a Lumen Technologies brand, has follow through on commitments to change the future of wireless connectivity with the launch of their Quantum Fiber Wi-Fi 7 capable device, announced at the end of 2023. The device, part of Quantum Fiber’s 360 Wi-Fi capabilities, can cover nearly 90 percent of a home, based on square footprint. It supports high-performance activities, like 8K video streaming, cloud gaming, virtual reality, and features a built-in GPS chip to enhance the device’s range performance. The commitment to innovation and expansion earns Quantum Fiber their place on this year’s FTTH Top 100 in 2024.
96.) Adtran
In 2023, Adran launched their next-generation Wi-Fi 6, 6E, and 7 service delivery gateways. The gateways were designed as “a revenue-generating vehicle for operators” with compact mesh routers that can support up to 250 devices simultaneously, according to Adtran. The company has also sought to capitalize on their 30-year history of manufacturing in the United States by making a play to lead the market with Build America, Buy America compliant products. As a result, Adtran has committed to produce BABA-compliant optical line terminals (OLTs), cabinets, ONTs and pluggable optics.
97.) TAK Communications
TAK Communications, a national provider of communications and broadband infrastructure services, got a big win when they recieved an investment from Platinum Equity, a company with “significant experience investing in technology and telecommunications businesses.” Upon naming Trent Edwards as their CEO in August, Edwards said TAK targets over $1 billion in annual broadband and networks service revenues by 2028. As of earlier this year, the Souix Falls-based provider included last-mile cable and fiber “drop” services among their offerings in more than 40 states.
98.) GeoLinks
This California-based provider attributes much of their recent successes to ClearFiber technology which, together with GeoLinks’ fixed wireless spectrum footprint, delivers internet access to rural, suburban, and urban markets in California, Arizona, and Nevada. Last year, an investment from JLC Infrastructure opened pathways for nationwide expansion at GeoLinks and the company, which has the largest gigabit capable fixed wireless spectrum footprint in the U.S., has been described as being “in a unique position” to help close the gaps of the digital divide.
Yellowhammer Networks, a network developer owned and financed by Meridiam, announced plans in March to bring fiber-to-the-home to over 53,000 homes and businesses across a 300 mile stretch of Alabama’s Black Belt region. The project, which will be completed thanks to completely private funds, is a $230 million endeavor that also plans to extend fiber to the Alabama counties of Bibb, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Perry, Sumter, and Wilcox. The open-access network will be critical for Selma’s economic development, according to the city’s mayor, who hopes the network will serve the city for generations to come.
100.) Optimum
Altice USA delivers fiber internet to 4.9 million residential and business customers across 21 states via Optimum, Altice’s fiber internet brand. As was the reason for their presence on last year’s list, Optimum continues to expand their presence, and last year was available at more than 2 million passings. In 2024, the company has continued expansions and network upgrades at a fever pitch, with ongoing network upgrades in Tyler and Clarendon, Texas, and Mount Ida, Arkansas, just to name a few.
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