Forbes: Planning For Growth: Fiber Lights The Way

June 5, 2025

ByJennifer Sanders, Forbes Councils Member for Forbes Business Council

For years, the consensus has been that fiber is the surest way to manage the need for faster connectivity and to keep pace with technological advances and consumer expectations.

Fulfilling the demand for growing populations, infrastructure and industries—especially in sectors such as AI—requires a capital balancing act across three core resources: electricity, water and connectivity.

Laying The Groundwork For Fiber: Satellites As A Bridge

There are certainly parts of the country where fiber is a tougher investment to embark upon. In these areas, incrementally extending fiber infrastructure can help prepare for commercial and residential growth that will justify these investments over time, building a preemptive investment that will facilitate future needs.Also, leveraging advancements in satellite technologies for connectivity is a highly promising network to utilize for highly rural areas and those areas with major geological barriers to underground infrastructure—think mountain ranges, dense shale.

Waiting is not an option for areas that need connectivity to function, especially in industries like agriculture, where technology is part of a competitive advantage. Similarly, for weather pattern detection, defense and rapid deployment of resources, satellite networks are a critical tool.

However, while satellites excel at reaching remote locations, fiber infrastructure remains essential for the high-speed, low-latency backbone that supports these satellite networks and provides robust connectivity.

Latency, Safety And Demand

Across sectors, "gig speed" is crucial for achieving R&D milestones, driving breakthrough innovations and capturing the market for the cutting-edge technologies many of us grew up dreaming about (Jetsons, anyone?).

The concept of latency in data transfer is the amount of time it takes for data to reach its destination. Think of low latency as a perfectly functioning Zoom call and high latency as a buffering one (while my younger employees don't remember the dial-up modem noise, it's still seared in my brain).

Because of its speed, fiber also provides the safest way to operate autonomous vehicles on roads. Without near-zero latency, the vehicle to everything (V2X) communications will fail to provide sufficient reaction time for vehicles or traffic signals to avoid a person or red light.

Public safety agencies are looking toward upgrading cameras to decrease response time and connect traffic signals to prioritize emergency vehicles. This has proven to save countless lives. These advanced cameras rely on high-capacity data transfer for video analytics and require a direct fiber connection to power the network. Similarly, 5G (and beyond) is becoming critical for these and many other network functions. This technology also requires a point of direct fiber connection to power it.

Investing In Fiber

But fiber is expensive. AT&T invested $145 billion between 2019 and 2023, and overall, providers have invested $2.2 trillion since 1996.

While the capital expenditures undertaken by major providers over the past decade can seem staggering, they have proven to be the right bet. No comparable alternative in performance and capacity for expansion has emerged. This holds true for customers across infrastructure, public services, businesses, residents and research institutions.

The pandemic highlighted how uneven the adoption of this technology is across the country—some areas remain far behind, while others struggle with affordability. But private and public investments are helping to close that first gap, giving underserved regions a chance to catch up.

In many deeply rural areas, fiber still remains cost-prohibitive, but as earlier touched upon, investing in this infrastructure can pave the way for future commercial development. Site selectors often require reliable connectivity before recommending locations for corporate or residential projects.

Part of the debate locally is the balance between hard dollars and human impact, a bit of a fiscal hawk versus bleeding heart impasse. But when we match internal efficiencies with improvements to service delivery, it doesn't have to be an either-or decision.

Middle-mile fiber routes are designed to follow major thoroughfares, connecting traffic signals, anchor institutions and core community organizations. This strategic placement creates cost efficiencies for powering these systems while enabling innovative applications in traffic management, public safety, flood monitoring and real-time transit services.

Moreover, these enhanced capabilities support the development of secure, in-house AI processes that can modernize municipal services such as permitting. Lower operational costs can then be reinvested in community and residential access, which can fortify economic access and growth for generations.

Importantly, institutions like corporate R&D facilities or university systems cannot operate on less than fiber connectivity. Our competitiveness as a nation is dependent on the ability of innovators to innovate.

Fiber And Security

Many experts believe that breaches to critical infrastructure, whether grid, water or communication networks, are this generation’s nuclear war. I have spoken with companies and cities alike that stop tens of thousands of attempted breaches per day, which, for those malicious actors, are becoming cheaper to execute and harder to trace.

If we are prioritizing security in our domestic infrastructure investments, it is important to acknowledge the risks presented by network modalities. A systematic review by Ogweno Jeremiah Okeyo highlights how satellite networks—vital for global communications, navigation and data transmission—face serious security risks due to their inherent vulnerabilities. These include threats like cyberattacks, signal jamming and unauthorized data access. As Okeyo notes, "the vast distances and reliance on complex infrastructure further complicate the implementation of robust security measures," making it essential to safeguard these systems.

Satellite systems serve as a critical strategic tool for many essential functions worldwide—from weather monitoring to providing remote defense capabilities in conflict zones, as demonstrated by recent networks in Ukraine. However, when choosing how to connect our systems, roadways, companies and communities, the deciding factors should be security and privacy risks, along with considerations of stability, speed and latency.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to future infrastructure, whether "in the ground" or "in the air," fiber is the clear winner. It offers faster speed (light versus relayed signals), lower latency (especially compared to satellite) and greater reliability (less affected by weather). In crisis situations like natural disasters, this reliability is essential for business continuity. By building your infrastructure to support fiber, you help create a strong foundation for the future.