The race for fiber is becoming a hallmark of mobile network deployment. Whether operators plan to deploy 5G early, or milk 4G for years to come, they are moving towards new architectures which require fiber. The right balance between centralized C-RAN and edge computing will be essential, regardless of the radio standard, to maximize efficiencies while supporting services which require low latency or high data rates. Edge computing, whether based on ETSI MEC, OpenFog or other approaches, will one aspect of densification – bringing radio, processing and storage resources closer to the user via small cells and localized micro-servers. But in order to distribute cloud resources in this way, fiber will be essential, to connect the centralized and localized elements…