Scaling Smarter: Ripple’s Data-Driven FTTH Deployment & Growth Strategy

David Gray

September 23, 2025

Last week, I attended a presentation by the Fiber Broadband Association that offered timely insights on the evolving fiber broadband market. Greg Wilson, CEO of Ripple Fiber, discussed his company’s rapid rise as a formidable FTTH player in the U.S. Founded in 2021 with its initial fiber deployment in Charlotte, Ripple has rapidly expanded to operate in eight states, with plans to enter two more by year’s end.

Ripple Fiber

Ripple has become one of the nation’s fastest-growing FTTH providers. According to Wilson, the company’s growth stems from disciplined, data-driven models that prioritize geographies for expansion based upon optimal returns — whether through fiber construction or M&A.

Wilson, originally from South Africa, has more than 20 years’ experience building fiber networks, data centers, and other digital infrastructure. With no cable operators in South Africa, fiber competed only with DSL, giving rise to a vibrant Open Access marketplace with 13 fiber networks and more than 140 retail ISPs.

In 2015, Wilson founded Automation Exchange, a Johannesburg-based software platform specializing in OSS/BSS for fiber operators. It automated nearly every aspect of network management — planning, deployment, operations, customer support, and scaling. Over time, the platform proved adept at uncovering profitable growth opportunities often overlooked, including B2B and low-income households, and refined modeled approaches to improve capital yield.

About five years ago, the company began evaluating markets outside South Africa in which it could directly serve consumers as an ISP. Suburban Charlotte was chosen for its demographics, density, and competitive profile — as well as for a six-hour time difference that allowed Ripple to leverage expertise and back-office support from colleagues in Johannesburg for part of each workday.

Backed by additional capital and bold M&A, Ripple now projects 1.2 million new passings across 15 additional states by 2030. While the original plan was concentric growth around Charlotte, Ripple’s updated models instead identified alternative new opportunities. The company has since expanded into additional markets in North Carolina, and in South Carolina, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Michigan.

Slowing Broadband Growth

As I’ve noted previously (see Practical Advice for Small Fiber ISPs and The Impact of Slowing Household Growth on Residential Broadband Growth in 2025), U.S. broadband net additions have been slowing for four years. According to MoffettNathanson, this rate of deceleration leveled off in Q2 2025, ending a long run of quarterly YoY declines — but growth is unlikely to rebound meaningfully any time soon. With diminished household formation projected through 2035, all providers must increasingly win share from existing households rather than rely new household growth as a market expansion driver.

Fiber Growth

For several years quarterly FTTH net additions have held steady at 400K–600K, while YoY growth gradually decelerated, slipping to 9.8% in Q2. Much of this growth was fueled by sustained network expansion activity. Yet as fiber providers look for new territory, remaining markets tend to have lower housing density — raising both build costs and operating challenges while limiting subscriber upside.

Ripple’s Proprietary Platform

Wilson argues Ripple is outperforming much of the fiber industry because of its “proprietary, patent-pending machine learning platform.” The system analyzes more than 100 variables per premise in real time, enabling precise, fact-based decisions on where to build and how to allocate capital.

It weighs conventional factors like housing density, geography, income demographics, and competitive overlap, alongside infrastructure costs, ARPU projections, occupancy and seasonality, customer behavior, and demand signals. The result is a data-driven map of markets with the highest economic viability.

Ripple’s success — including organic subscriber growth, footprint expansion, as well as the recent acquisitions of HyperFiber and BridgeNET — reflects a disciplined strategy: identify the best opportunities, then execute relentlessly.

Takeaways

Ripple’s story offers a blueprint for smaller ISPs: growth is possible even in a slowing market if expansion is approached with rigor. As providers face lower-density builds, rising costs, and pressure from both fixed wireless and cable’s converged broadband + mobile bundles, the ability to identify and exploit opportunities efficiently will be critical.

The same principle applies to marketing and sales. With lean budgets and small teams, every acquisition dollar must count. By using data to segment audiences, track competition, and target high-conversion households, ISPs can stretch limited resources. Real-time analytics can show which promotions, channels, or campaigns work best, allowing quick course corrections. In a market where scale favors national players, a precise go-to-market strategy helps smaller ISPs punch above their weight.

Conclusion

Ripple Fiber illustrates a larger truth: success in broadband is no longer just about building networks well — it’s about making smarter decisions at every step, from market entry to customer acquisition. As growth slows and competition intensifies, providers that pair disciplined execution with data-driven insight will be best positioned to thrive. For small and midsize ISPs, this mindset isn’t optional; it’s the differentiator that can turn limited resources into lasting advantage.

David Gray is the founder of GrayMatter Advisory LLC, where he draws on more than 35 years of leadership experience in marketing, sales, and strategy across the cable and telecom sectors. He works with investors and operators on growth strategy, competitive positioning, and go-to-market execution.