Brightspeed, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, says its fiber-to-the-premise network passed more than two million locations across its 20-state footprint, at the end of the first quarter. The company claims its high-speed internet service now is available for connections to hundreds of thousands who have historically lacked broadband connectivity.
Tom Maguire Brightspeed CEO comments, “We’re on track to exceed our original goal of 4 million locations and are now setting our sights even higher—expanding our reach to more than 5 million locations across our 20-state footprint.” The company did not say when it expects to achieve that goal.
Brightspeed was created when Apollo (NYSE: APO) managed funds acquired Lumen Technologies’ (NYSE: LUMN) incumbent local exchange carrier operations in 2021. The original plan was to invest more than $2 billion to build a fiber network that would deliver high-speed internet access to underserved communities throughout the Midwest, Southeast, and certain parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The company’s expectation at the time was that it would pass up to three million homes and businesses in five years. At current deployment run-rates, the company might reach the 5 million passings mark by 2027-2028, Inside Towers Intelligence estimates.
In addition to its own multi-billion-dollar investment in its fiber build, Brightspeed says it has been awarded local, state and federal broadband grants and funding totaling more than $240 million, including the company’s first BEAD program award from the state of Louisiana.
The company says these local, state and federal investments will help it expand its planned FTTP network build by nearly 121,000 locations in 14 states. This level of deployment puts Brightspeed FTTP build costs at around $2,000 per location passed, according to Inside Towers Intelligence estimates. Brightspeed acknowledges that it will continue to apply for state and federal grants and funds to further augment its planned build in the states that it serves, including BEAD program funding.
Brightspeed is deploying XGS-PON (10-Gigabit Symmetric Passive Optical Network) fiber optic technology to deliver multi-gig-speed symmetrical upload and download capabilities. The company says that these speeds enable multi-device households “to connect, work, study, stream, communicate and game efficiently and reliably.” Brightspeed Fiber Internet service plans also include a WiFi router.
By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor
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