In case you haven't noticed, cable operators just can't get their hands on enough fiber strands these days.

Even though most cable engineers keep insisting that the industry's hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) pipes still have long, productive lives ahead of them, operators are scrambling to install more fiber in their networks for a whole host of well-documented reasons.

Whether they're planning to go all-fiber like Altice USA , Fiber Deep like Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Cox Communications Inc. and Liberty Global Inc. (Nasdaq: LBTY) or just split more fiber-optical nodes like many others, cablecos are investing in fiber to offer more bandwidth to subscribers, remove amplifiers and other active electronic devices from their networks, leverage advanced PON technology, support new wireless services like 5G, deliver such advanced video services as 4K/UHD TV, and/or cut operational costs, among other things.