Verizon reveals new roadmap for 5G home internet and fiber expansion

Verizon has just released an update to its broadband strategy, which contains new figures on the carrier’s mid- and long-term goals. Before we go in-depth, it’s worth mentioning that Verizon has nearly 12 million broadband connections as of the end of Q3 2024, up about 16 percent YOY (year over year).

The reason Verizon was so successful when it comes to broadband connections is because customer demand increased leading to an acceleration in fixed wireless and fiber rollout.

Another interesting number revealed by Verizon this week is that at the end of Q3 2024, the carrier had nearly 4.2 million fixed wireless subscribers, which represents an impressive 57 percent increase year over year.

Apparently, Verizon hit its previous goal of 4-5 million subscribers 15 months earlier than expected due to the demand from consumers and business customers. The carrier now expects 8-9 million fixed wireless subscribers, which would double its current base, by 2028 and accelerating coverage to 90 million households in the same time period.

Verizon also revealed plans to commercially launch its advanced mmWave solution for apartment and office buildings to address high population areas. The new technology that Verizon will use can take advantage of the existing infrastructure, so it will be less expensive to build and a lot faster to deploy.

As far as the fiber network is concerned, Verizon confirmed plans to continue to expand its ongoing Fios rollout within the current footprint in nine states and Washington, D.C. Verizon’s recent acquisition of Frontier will allow the carrier to expand its share of the nationwide broadband market. Basically, Frontier is expected to bring in about 9-10 million fiber passings.

Furthermore, the Big Red is targeting an expansion of Fios builds to up to 650,000 passings each year. On top of that, following the closing of the Frontier acquisition, the carrier expects the combined build to be up to 1 million or more passings annually.

In the long term, the carrier expects more than 30 million fiber passings in the combined Verizon/Frontier footprint by 2028. Over time, Verizon is expecting 35-40 million fiber passings, a significant achievement for the carrier’s fiber expansion plans.

To sum it all up, Verizon has reached fixed wireless access subscriber target more than a year ahead of scheduled, and it’s now on path to double the number to 8-9 million by 2028. Also, fiber network is expected to expand to 35-40 million passings over time.