A competitive service provider that installs its own physical infrastructure, such as fiber-optic cables, in a territory where a legacy telecom or cable company already operates. They bypass the incumbent operator's lines entirely to offer competing broadband or television services. This requires significant capital expenditure but grants total control over the network architecture.
An aggressive fiber overbuilder just trenched the entire subdivision, forcing the local cableco to drop their rates.
Related terms
CLEC
A competitive local exchange carrier is a telecom provider competing with the established regional telephone company.
ILEC
The established regional telephone company that owned the original copper wire monopoly before market deregulation.
Cableco
A telecommunications company that primarily operates a coaxial cable network for television and broadband services.