Who is the winner in the information age? People have raised this question from many different angles, but there is an undeniable fact that in the near future, economic development will increasingly depend on whether the country can establish and improve and Internet infrastructure that will stand the test of time.

Many developed and developing countries seem to be fully aware of this, but perhaps no country has been able to actively promote the ambition of fiber deployment strategy in the past seven years like China.

In 2013, 17% of consumers in China and the United States had access to fiber optic networks. By 2019, China’s penetration rate has jumped to 86% (Note: According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the proportion of fiber access users is 92%), compared to 25% in the United States.

While the United States continues to suffer from a huge digital divide, China has made incredible progress in building super-fiber networks. This infrastructure will enable the country to take advantage of some of the most influential applications brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution early.

As shown in the figure above, in 2013, the fiber penetration rates in the United States and China hovered around 17%, respectively. At that time, there were many topics about fiber expansion in the US states, but the fact is that in the past seven years, this number has only climbed to about 25%.

In contrast, in China, fiber deployment has been steadily accelerating since 2013. At present, more than 86% of broadband users are fiber access, and more than 96% of administrative villages cover fiber (Note: According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, fiber access users account for 92%; 98% of administrative villages cover fiber), showing that China ’s active promotion is indeed far-reaching.

 The reason for the huge gap

Despite ongoing discussions on the importance of fiber optics, the United States has not been able to effectively deploy fiber optic networks nationwide. Why is this? Although there are many factors that cause this, there are several particularly prominent difficulties:

First, lack of competition, large-scale construction of optical fiber networks is usually extremely costly, especially in areas with small populations, and operators are reluctant to lay heavy fiber. Second, inadequate broadband censuses have led policymakers and municipalities to reduce funding. Third, inefficient state-funded projects, although the U.S. government invests hundreds of millions of dollars each year to close the digital divide, the allocation of funds is not ideal. Fourth, lack of common sense national-level infrastructure policies, and many repeated construction. As a result, costs increase and network coverage is reduced.

Different from the United States, in fact, all the access points that constitute the “backbone” of China’s Internet are state-owned, and complete control of the infrastructure has played a key role in its convenient deployment process. In the past two decades, China has invested billions of dollars in fiber infrastructure.

 Why fiber is critical to the success of the Internet

In this era of rapid innovation in our lives, there have been some profound and disruptive innovations, and countries with strong fiber-optic network infrastructure are preparing to take full advantage of these innovative applications. At present, the United States is still the center of global Internet business growth and development, but this situation may change unless the United States takes radical measures to improve its fiber deployment strategy.

Although it is difficult to predict the future pace of innovation in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum communication, there are reasons to believe that enterprises and human resources will flock to a more comprehensive network infrastructure that can keep up with technological development trends.

The United States actually has a huge opportunity to expand its fiber optic coverage and provide good prospects for innovative applications, and these benefits are not limited to technology; fiber optic connections can also help reduce the digital divide in rural America, increase agricultural production, stimulate local and regional economy.

As we enter the next stage of the digital age, these fiber optic connections will play a key role in the most breakthrough and innovative applications of the future. If the United States wants to remain competitive, it needs to take planned steps to bridge the digital divide and bring strong Internet connectivity to all citizens.