Any doubts that fiber has become the main bone of competition among the big three US telcos were dispelled by the tone of their recent quarterly results briefings. Fiber was top of the bill for Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T during earnings calls, with each claiming some degree of superiority. This left EchoStar’s Dish Network, the fourth MNO, out in the cold as the one without any significant fiber infrastructure at all, having sold its modest fiber business to Mereo Network in May 2025. The big three are motivated competitively not just by each other, but also by the major cable operators like Comcast and Charter Communications, which themselves tend to have distinct geographical footprints in more urban settings, mostly and…