It used to be said that Lightspeed, at&t's fiber-thinner upgrade, was far better than FiOS, Verizon's fiber to home upgrade, because Lightspeed would require just a third of the capital. Well, guess again. at&t just revised its capital spending upwards, so that Lightspeed will cost about half of what FiOS requires.
You might argue, and many will, that half the capex still is an advantage. If it works, yes. If it scales, yes. If it offers competitive advantages over cable, yes. But keep in mind that cable isn't standing still, in the access or services areas.
Lightspeed capex now will increase from $4.6B to $6.5 billion, at&t says. at&t also says the scope of the project is being reduced from 19 million to 18 million homes.
The 41 percent increase perhaps indicates that things are not going as planned, in the transport area as well as the software area. New copper wire might be one thing. Reconditioned wire is another.
To be sure, there are scenarios one can imagine where the fiber to node approach still makes sense. Rural markets come to mind. What a provider has to do to meet conceivable demand in such markets, and the cost to do so, arguably are distinct from what at&t or Verizon must do in their core metro markets. Still, it does remain my view that Verizon has taken the wiser course.
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