> I'm puzzled as to why someone writing for ArsTechnica would need the contractor to run the fiber. Any idea?

Because sometimes you do not want to dig thru insulation and just pay someone for it.

The contractor probably only terminated the fiber. The tools to do fiber termination and splicing are much more expensive than $75

Alright, maybe. I assumed a pre-terminated, off-the-shelf cable, but you could be right.

Even now the fiber installers around here don't terminate, they just run a (potentially very long) already terminated cable and then shove it into the ground (blade into the dirt, press a bit, shove cable in).

I got a fiber Internet connection installed recently, the contractor ran a 300 foot long cable from across the street. When he finally had it all routed, tested it was good, then somehow he broke the end of the fiber when connecting to the ONT. The solution was not to splice on a new end but to instead remove and re-run the entire 300 foot cable with a new unbroken one.

I'm very glad I wasn't doing this myself.

The contractor I was talking to as he ran my line (around here, they run it through the pipes that were laid down months earlier and leave it on top of the yard for someone else to bury later) said the company didn't trust contractors to do the termination, and so just sent them out with various lengths of cable.