I have discovered that the Federal School Lunch E-Rate program has built out an entirely parallel fiber optic infrastructure in the USA, bypassing telco fiber in many urban areas such as Los Angeles/Southern California. There are now companies that exist solely to construct E-Rate fiber. Sunesys is one such company. E-Rate builds out fiber to schools and libraries, and the telcos apparently have lobbied to ensure that a lateral to a library, for example, does not become a local fiber hub, but the backbone fiber can be used by anyone, with laterals built to order. I do not work for any of these E-Rate companies, but have discovered their potential use for connecting my network locations together.
On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 9:26 AM, Jared Mauch <ja...@puck.nether.net> wrote: > > On Mar 22, 2012, at 11:05 AM, chris wrote: > > > I'm all for VZ being able to reclaim it as long as they open their fiber > > which I don't see happening unless its by force via government. At the > end > > of the day there needs to be the ability to allow competitors in so of > > course they shouldnt be allowed to rip out the regulated part and replace > > it with a unregulated one. > > I think this partly captures the incentive case here, but there is also a > larger one at play. Over the years the copper infrastructure was installed > and extended through various incentive programs. You can see the > modern-day reflection of that in the RUS (used to manage rural > electrification act, part of USDA) and NTIA (Department of Commerce). > > The barriers to entry are significant for a new player in the marketplace. > The cost is putting the cabling in the ground vs the cost of the cable > itself. One can easily pick up hardware for $250 to light a single strand > of 9/125 SM fiber @ 10km for a 1Gb/s ethernet link. That's low enough you > could likely get a consumer to buy the hardware. The real cost is the > installation per strand foot/mile. > > In the past this has been subsidized for copper plant. There is no reason > in my mind that the fiber plant should be treated differently from this > standpoint. I can find fiber optic cabling for $0.25/ft. The problem here > is a multi-dimensional one that I've seen play out in a few markets: > > Verizon selling assets to Fairpoint (NH, ME, VT). These are high cost > areas due to low-density population. For the sale to go through, Fairpoint > had to agree to build into these higher cost areas. The result was > bankruptcy for Fairpoint. > > Verizon sold assets in Michigan (and other states) to Frontier. I've not > tracked this one as closely, but I suspect the economics of this are fairly > complex. > > I've also spoken to some small ISPs and their general cost of building > fiber to the home tends to be $2500/subscriber in upfront capital. This > covers just the installation cost. Due to years of subsidy and regulation, > people are unwilling to pay this amount to install a telecommunications > service whereas a new home requiring a connection to the water, sewers, > natural gas or electric grid may pay $10k or more to connect. Many people > wouldn't think of buying a home without electric service, but without > modern telecommunication service? I've seen this play out after the fact > with friends asking how to get service. Satellite, Fixed wireless or just > cellular data quickly become their fallbacks. The demand is there, the > challenge becomes recovering the build cost. > > It is my firm belief that without a regulatory regime it will not be > feasible to connect many communities robustly to modern communications > infrastructure. This could clearly change if the carriers involved see fit > to replace this infrastructure, but with their current debt loads, I think > it will be challenging to say the least. > > Taking a look at Verizon - Their most recent quarterly balance sheet shows: > > http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=VZ > > Assets: 230.461 Billion USD > Liabilities: 194.491 Billion USD. > > This is not a lot of money, considering they have growing liabilities on a > quarterly basis as part of their debt load (Long-term debt of $50 Billion). > > A large fiber build would easily cost a few billion dollars and have lots > of regulatory barriers. In my county it costs $200 to go over or under any > public road (just for the permit). This starts to add up quickly. > > I do think we need a new last-mile regime in many areas, be it more "fair" > access similar to pole attach fees or the removal of local barriers to > build this infrastructure. > > Some school and other governments here in Michigan would love to > sell/lease their excess fiber capacity to the private sector, but are > worried about turning a profit when it was built with taxpayer funds and > problems associated with that. I'd like to see these barriers removed. If > it's there, lets make it of value. If the school system turns a profit on > their enterprise, that's fine, it can lower the tax burden elsewhere. > > Me? I'd be willing to pay $2500 to have Fiber built to my home. I might > even pay more. At this point, my research continues on building the fiber > and arranging my own easements for where to place it. I suspect you just > need a few geeks that are willing to part with some extra $ for fiber > bragging rights and one can build it. > > - Jared >