26 Oct 1Gbps Broadband Penetration in the USA
The insatiable demand for high speed Internet access, driven primarily by video, has triggered the deployment of 1Gbps and beyond in cities throughout the United States.
1Gbps or 1,000Mbps is about 60 times the US average advertised broadband speed. It may sound like ultra-fast access speeds of 1Gbps and beyond are not required for home use, but trends have consistently demonstrated that such speeds will eventually become a requirement for the average user and will even one day become obsolete.
By the late 1980s, users were content working with access speeds of about 1Kbps but only two decades later, average access speeds had increased 1000 times to about 1Mbps. By the same token, it is more than likely that residential 1Gbps will be widely available by the 2020 time-frame.
Residential 1Gbps Internet access deployment was pioneered by Google Fiber in Kansas City in 2012. Since then over 50 service providers are operating 1Gbps services in the USA, providing a penetration of over 20 Million residences.
1Gbps is offered predominantly over fiber optics with a few providers, such as RCN, offering the same speeds over co-axial cable.
The table below shows 1Gbps penetration for US states, D.C and Puerto Rico. Leading service providers include Level 3, Integra Telecom, Verizon and TDM Telecom.
Residential 1Gbps penetration for the 50 US States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
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Founder and Technical Director at FiberGuide, Lecturer, Scientist and Engineer. Passionate about optical networking and information and communication technologies.
Dr. Jabulani Dhliwayo is a distinguished technical leader, educator, and optical networking expert with over two decades of experience spanning cutting-edge research and development, product management, and professional mentorship. As the Technical Director at FiberGuide, LLC, he designs and delivers advanced training and certification programs—including the industry-recognized CONA and CONE tracks—to engineers at global telecom operators, hyperscale data centers, and government agencies.
Dr. Dhliwayo’s extensive career includes key leadership roles at Corning Incorporated, where he served as a Senior Research Scientist, Product Line Manager, and Market Development Manager. During his tenure at Corning, he led cross-functional R&D projects in fiber optics and photonic modules, accelerated manufacturing test system throughputs by 6×, and pioneered critical infrastructure wins across international markets. Earlier in his career, he supported complex fiber optic test and measurement systems as an Application Engineer for Ando Corporation (now Yokogawa Corporation of America).
A recognized authority in DWDM, OTN transport, coherent optics, ROADMs, and fiber characterization, Dr. Dhliwayo is also an accomplished technical writer who has contributed extensively to industry literature and global standards development. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics specializing in Stimulated Brillouin Scattering from the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK), an M.S. in Applied Physics from Laurentian University (Canada), and a B.S. in Physics from the University of Sierra Leone.
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