Celebrating 20 Years of LFT Fiber
A Legacy of Connectivity and Innovation in Lafayette
Twenty years ago the citizens of Lafayette, LA, were faced with a decision. They could continue to depend on incumbent service providers to invest in providing reliable and competitively priced Internet, or they could vote to invest in their own fiber-to-the-home network. They met the moment by choice and not by chance. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of creating the state’s first and only municipally owned fiber-to-the-home Internet provider, LUS Fiber, now known as LFT Fiber.
As we look back over the last 20 years, that fiber infrastructure has created a competitive Internet ecosystem with three fiber providers to select from, a robust education and med tech vertical, and has been a key decision factor in national companies relocating to the region. According to the Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA), “This fully fiber system delivers up to 10 Gbps symmetrical bandwidth to customers and has been crucial in facilitating the new work-from-home model. Broadband availability, reliability, and speed should be considered when analyzing potential sites and the area where employees will live.” (1)
Since our innovative beginnings, LFT Fiber has continued to innovate, meeting the demands of its residential and business customers. We offer streaming services for video entertainment, hosted voice services, and now 20 Gbps symmetrical bandwidth, as well as point-to-point and direct fiber connections for enterprise businesses. However, technology is not the only area for innovation—we have also innovated the way we communicate with customers, from text advisories and alerts to actual two-way text communication. New digital experiences allow customers to perform self-help options, innovating our technical operation experiences, and most recently, launching affordable Internet to qualifying households to ensure access is available and affordable to everyone. Connectivity has shown to be a game changer in educational outcomes and medical and wellness outcomes, and according to a 2022 study by the National Library of Medicine, “The results indicate that access to the Internet significantly improves the average health condition and alleviates health inequality. Specifically, it is found that Internet access significantly facilitates healthcare access and mitigates the negative impact of income inequality on healthcare access.” (2)
These breakthroughs over the last decade were amplified, of course, during the pandemic. And that has led to breakthrough policies, most notably at the federal level with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which allocated $65 billion to provide connectivity to homes previously not served throughout America. And state and local policies have followed, mostly in the allocation processes, but this has spurred policy changes that impact communities, both urban and rural.
As it stands today, looking forward, we can expect to see more consolidation in the industry as companies vie for vital customers and new entrants to the ecosystem continue to chip away at legacy providers. There will, of course, be pros and cons for consumers depending on the outcome; however, today, more homes are connected to the Internet throughout the country than ever before. And that drives all aspects of the economy as well as competition. As reported in the 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, “In 2000, only 1% of U.S. adults had broadband access at home, compared to 80% today. America’s economy requires reliable broadband access, with research showing that the nation would have lost $1.3 trillion in economic growth between 2010 and 2020 if broadband speeds and adoption had remained at 2010 levels.” (3)
So, as we look to the second half of 2025 and the full year 2026, no matter what the consolidation landscape looks like in the broadband industry, we can be assured that the growth of connected homes will continue to eclipse the year(s) before, and that is good for business, consumers, and the overall economy. LFT Fiber will lead the way in municipally owned fiber-to-the-home providers in Louisiana and across the South by staying true to our mission—delivering the fastest, most reliable Internet at the most affordable prices to both our residential and business customers.
References:
- Technology and culture lead the way in Lafayette. (2025). Lafayette Economic Development Authority (LEDA). https://lafayette.org/lafayette/technology
- Yu J, Meng S. Impacts of the Internet on Health Inequality and Healthcare Access: A Cross-Country Study. Front Public Health. 2022 Jun 9;10:935608. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.935608. PMID: 35757602; PMCID: PMC9218541. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9218541/
- US Broadband Infrastructure Report Card (2025). American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). https://infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/broadband-infrastructure/
Michael D. Soileau,
Chief Executive Officer,
LFT Fiber
Michael D. Soileau became CEO of LFT Fiber in May 2024, bringing more than two decades of telecom leadership from Comcast NBCUniversal, where he led broadband and cable operations. He also served as CEO of O3, focused on digital customer experience. Soileau holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from Louisiana State University–Shreveport. He now leads Louisiana’s only community-owned fiber provider, expanding affordable, future-ready broadband to rural and underserved areas—fueling local innovation, education, telehealth, and economic opportunity..
Learn more at
lftfiber.com
Images, Shutterstock
