This report by economist Jeff Johnston of CoBank ACB was released in September 2020. With the accelerated need due to COVID to improve broadband access to under and unserved rural markets, investor interest is growing. The $80B government commitment to infrastructure spending will contribute to the market support for high valuations of fiber-based operators.  Low earth orbiting satellites are not anticipated to have a significant impact on these valuations in the near future. Overall, the abrupt shift in 2020 to working from home and remote learning has significantly increased high-speed data subscriptions, representing a new catalyst for the broadband market.
Key words: market sizing, fiber optics, research & development, smart grid, communications