Michael Render from RVA, LLC gave a morning keynote at Killer App Expo on the needs for government investments in fiber to the home.

Giving a historical perspective for this type of investment, he reminded us that past investments in the country's infrastructure have had a huge impact on our country. Historical examples include the impact of the Erie Canal, Railways, Telegraph, Telephone, and Interstate Highway System.

Fiber to the home may be next great driver of change.

What about wireless? Should wireless be considered an application rather than infrastructure? It has challenges, including upstream limitations.

Fiber now passes 8 million homes in the us, and over 1 million are connected. Currently, only 1.2% of households are connected through fiber to the home. While still only a small fraction of homes are fiber connected, FTTH (fiber to the home) is nearly doubling annually in the United States.

Michael Render

Cost of deployment in decreasing, and is now approaching $1000 per home. Interestingly, a pool of home buyers put the value of a fiber connected home at $2300, so well over the cost of deployment, easily justifying the costs for new developments.

Rural subsidies are funding some of the fastest growth in fiber to the home, where there is now 2.7% FTTH penetration in areas with rural telcos. Communities are seeing a return on their investment by attracting new businesses partly based on the fiber deployment.