Matthew Marino, CEO, Ezee Fiber

In an interview with Invest:, Matthew Marino, CEO of Ezee Fiber, discussed the company’s rapid expansion, the accelerating demand for fiber infrastructure, and Houston’s role as the foundation of its growth. “The growth we have experienced simply would not have been possible without Houston,” Marino said.

How has the broadband market changed over the past year, and how has that influenced Ezee Fiber’s strategy?

The two major themes in the broadband industry are the rapid expansion of fiber into markets that traditionally did not have it and the continued consolidation of the industry. We are seeing significant consolidation involving large telecommunications companies, cable operators, and smaller providers.

Ezee Fiber acquired Tachus Fiber last year in the Houston area, which illustrates that broader trend. You can also see AT&T purchasing Lumen’s mass-markets business, Cox and Charter merging, and T-Mobile becoming active through multiple joint ventures. There is a consistent wave of consolidation across the industry, and that is unlikely to change.

We have built Ezee Fiber to be well positioned for this environment. The company is prepared to continue growing organically while also taking advantage of consolidation opportunities.

Industry consolidation is often viewed only through the lens of reduced competition. In a capital-intensive industry like broadband, however, responsible consolidation can produce meaningful consumer benefits when greater scale is translated into greater investment, stronger network performance, and better value.

Building and operating fiber networks requires enormous upfront and ongoing capital—from laying fiber and maintaining the network to upgrading equipment, expanding capacity, and deploying the next generation of technology. A larger company can spread those fixed costs across a broader customer base, operate more efficiently and support a more consistent level of investment.

Our acquisition of Tachus in the Houston area demonstrates this potential. After bringing the companies together, we invested to align network performance, technology, and operating standards. As a result, customers received faster, more reliable internet and a stronger overall value proposition.

Scale also provides access to capital that many smaller ISPs may not have on their own. Without sufficient financial resources, even well-run providers can struggle to fund network upgrades, introduce new technology, or maintain the level of reliability customers expect. Becoming part of a larger, well-capitalized organization can preserve service continuity while accelerating investment and giving customers access to better products and capabilities.

Ultimately, consolidation should be judged not simply by whether a company becomes larger, but by what it does with that scale. When scale is used to invest, innovate, and improve the customer experience, consumers can be the primary beneficiaries.

Why does Houston remain such an important market for the company’s continued growth?

Houston is central to the Ezee Fiber story. When we started the company three years ago, it was a small operation with approximately 10,000 fiber passings and 800 customers. Today, in Houston alone, we have more than 500,000 passings and well over 175,000 customers. It has been a story of massive growth.

Houston is our home, and the entire management team lives here. We see tremendous opportunity in the region, not only as a place to grow a business, but also as a market that is welcoming to business. It is also a place where many customers historically have not had the option of choosing an exceptional fiber internet product.

Connectivity has become a critical part of people’s lives. Being able to deliver a differentiated product and value proposition to both residential and business customers has been tremendous for us. The growth we have experienced simply would not have been possible without Houston.

What differentiates Ezee Fiber in an increasingly competitive broadband market?

A lot of conversations about internet service focus on megabits, speed, and technical superlatives. What differentiates Ezee Fiber is the way we combine the product, the price, and the service experience.

We offer a multi-gig fiber internet product with one-, two-, five-, and eight-gig symmetrical service. Those are among the fastest speeds available, and we pair them with eero Wi-Fi 7 products. The technology itself is exceptional, and it has received significant recognition.

We combine that product with strong value. For example, we offer five-gig internet service for $99. We then pair that with exceptional customer service. Our team is based in Houston, so when customers call, they speak with a local Houstonian. We have built an organization that puts the customer first in everything we do.

The result is an award-winning product, strong service, and a compelling value proposition. That resonates with customers because people do not want to be treated like a ticket or a bill. They want to be treated like a person, and that approach has resonated especially well in Houston.

How are artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies changing customer bandwidth needs?

The need for greater bandwidth is a recurring story in this industry. Earlier in my career, when cable internet was first being launched, I had conversations with people who believed customers would never need more than 10 megabits. Today, we are offering eight-gig symmetrical service. That is nearly 80,000% greater bandwidth.

Speed, bandwidth, latency, and reliability all matter more as technology evolves. Work from home and school from home remain important, but we are entering a new era driven by artificial intelligence. I am not only referring to conversational AI platforms. We are also approaching a period in which physical AI and new forms of content creation will become more common.

Creating, uploading, editing, and sharing content require significant bandwidth capacity and ultra-low latency. Those needs go beyond established uses such as gaming, although the quality of the home connection remains extremely important for gamers.

We are already beginning to hear about customers using AI to create content. One customer used an AI platform to produce a video for his child’s birthday. The video was approximately eight gigs, and he needed to upload it repeatedly, perhaps 20 times, to refine it. With Ezee Fiber, those uploads happened almost instantly. That may seem like an edge case today, but those types of uses will become much more common.

What role does fiber infrastructure play in attracting businesses and supporting economic development?

Research shows that areas with fiber internet and strong broadband competition attract more businesses. Internet service is critical infrastructure, and companies need extremely fast, reliable connectivity for every aspect of business growth.

That is why Ezee Fiber serves many of the largest government and educational institutions in Houston. When we build out a market, we do not only serve residential neighborhoods. We also build the infrastructure needed to serve businesses and institutions throughout that market.

Providing high-quality connectivity creates an additional economic incentive for businesses to move into an area. Companies increasingly expect strong digital infrastructure wherever they locate or expand. Today, having an exceptional internet product is table stakes.

In fact, according to a report we released in August, high-speed fiber internet in the Houston area added 2,021 jobs from 2021 to 2024 and will add an additional 1,700 by 2029; increased housing values substantially, and will add an additional $2.3 billion to housing value by 2029; and the availability of high-speed fiber internet in places that had lower speed available will contribute to more than 35 new business starts in the greater Houston area.

What operating advantages does Houston provide as Ezee Fiber scales its workforce and network?

Houston is a tremendous place to do business. It is one of the largest designated market areas in the United States, and people continue moving here. The region is experiencing household formation, population growth, business expansion, and economic growth. Across those measures, Houston continues to perform strongly.

That growth creates a tremendous environment for finding talent, which is the foundation of everything we do. We employ more than 500 people in Houston. Our contact center and local service operations are based here, and we continue to view Houston as the place where we can scale our workforce as the company grows.

We also spend a significant amount of time working with municipalities because of the nature of our business. Building fiber infrastructure requires close coordination with local governments. Those municipalities can be demanding, but they are also fair and have been tremendous partners in our work.

What trends will shape the fiber industry over the next three to five years?

The industry will continue moving through a major period of expansion and consolidation. Fiber construction will accelerate across the United States as overbuilders such as Ezee Fiber, telecommunications companies, and incumbent providers continue expanding and upgrading their networks.

Consolidation will also continue. The industry is likely to see further rationalization as companies evaluate the appropriate scale and structure for their businesses.

While that path is inevitable, the winners will ultimately be the providers that focus on customer satisfaction and reliability, and that operate like the kind of company people feel is there for them locally. Scale matters, but it is not enough on its own. Customers want to know that when something goes wrong, they can reach someone who actually understands their market and will show up for them, and the companies that keep that local, customer-first mindset even as they grow will be the ones that come out ahead.

For Ezee Fiber, the priority is execution. We have an incredible business plan, and our strategy is not changing. We are optimistic about where the company is heading. We spent the past several years building the platform, and now the focus is on executing at a higher level.

That means continuing to grow organically in Houston while expanding across the six other states where we operate. It also means strengthening our newer markets by continuing to build the service organization in Houston, which remains a major part of our business.

We were recently named the best overall internet service provider in the United States by PCMag, outperforming every other fiber and cable provider. That recognition was built on the work of our Houston employees, and it is something we are tremendously proud of.