All the Things I Forgot to Think About

When Building a Broadband Network

Quentin Flippin, PEDoug Payauys Sean Middleton, PE Kevin Kloehn

Electric | Fiber | Gas

17,500 electric meters

1,900 miles of line

450 miles of fiber

Established middle-mile fiber operator

500+ fiber customers

www.Consolidated.coop

FIBER BENEFITS: SUBSTATION MONITORING

• HD video recording

• Remote review of problems

• Outage due to squirrel

• Outage restoral in minutes

FIBER BENEFITS: SCADA• Near-real-time substation monitoring

• Automated switching

• Conservation voltage reduction

• More and more downlinedevice connectivityand control

BROADBAND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND STAFFING

• Co-op/Employee mindset:• Maintenance mode?

• Expansion mode?

• How to operate in a competitive industry?

• Training:• Spend time on employee education

• Lingo: Gigabits vs Gigabytes

• Hire some industry veterans

• Encourage and reward/promote internal fiber champions

BROADBAND BUSINESS PLANNING & FEASIBILITY

• We can’t know everything – we hire good consultants/partners

• Feasibility – Be granular by substation (or feeder area)• Customer density

• Current competition, offerings, and technology type

• Expected take-rate

• Financial Health:• Ability and comfort level to take on debt

• Control deployment speed to stay within financial limits

• Secure lending and continually look for grant opportunities

DEMAND AGGREGATION

•

Customer Interest

MANAGING BUILD EXECUTION

1. Electric members and community want broadband now!

2. What’s the competitive environment in each area?

3. Pole make-ready, vegetation, easements, permits?

4. Group deployment areas –improved logistics for labor and materials management

Area Interest & Profitability

Competition & Take-Rate

Logistics / Group Construction

Electric Plant Readiness

MISCELLANEOUS LESSONS LEARNED

• Backbone/middle-mile fiber:• Supports electric plant well

• Supports community – schools, medical, cell towers, etc.

• Relatively simple to build

• Build with FTTX in mind

• Fiber mapping and records – extremely important!

• Advise against “trial fiber build” without a plan

• Should have got in the business sooner!

11,000 meters

3,000 miles of line

2,300 square mile territory

Wireless and FTTP ISP in 10 counties

www.e-co-op.com

STATUS PRIOR TO IMPLEMENTING SYSTEM

• Existing ISP business with satellite and dial-up

• Legacy 900 mhz SCADA connections

• Utilized expensive leased lines to towers and substations

• Used analog cellular “dial-up” to bring in AMR data

IDENTIFY GOALS

• Internal Pursuits

• Broadband expansion and areas• Targeted or System-wide?

• Self-directed or Crowd-funded? (ROI & Take rate)

• Subsidiary operations (state law)

THINGS TO PONDER

• Rural Broadband vs. Electrification (Mission)

• Wireless vs. Fiber (Cost vs. Speed)

• Network architecture• IP Space

• Backbone (FTTN vs. Wireless)

• Installation challenges

• Voice? Video? Data only? (CLEC)

WIRELESS CONSIDERATIONS

• Substation primary focus

• Rent vs. Build

• Microwave backhaul vs. FTTN

• Tower sizing and siting

• New tower build regulations

• Internal staff vs. Contractors

• Voice

WISP COVERAGE

BACKBONE LAYOUT AND PRIVATE CONNECTIVITY

• Local encrypted tunnels

• NERC Compliance

• Once on private side of WAN can incorporate multiple communication streams

• Uses:• ROIP, SCADA, AMI, DA, webcams, Wi-FI

FIBER TO THE PREMISES

• Compliment to existing WISP business, or core business?

• Overbuild IOU areas?

• Rural distribution

• Fiber Backhauls

• RUS and bidding

• Aerial vs. Buried (ADSS vs. Strand/Lash)

• Contractors – plow rate vs. boring

LESSONS LEARNED

• CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!• Staffing vs. Outside help

• Lightning• Grounding – Grounding – Grounding

• CPE installs and expectations

RIDING THE TIGER

• When and How do you stop?• Strategy

• Exit or forward

BENEFITS

• Robust, fast, secure internal WAN

• Ability to leverage same investment for multiple uses

• Responsiveness to underserved Internet areas

• Economic Development

• Others?

300+ Employees

Founded in 2002

Employee Owned (ESOP)

Soup-to-nuts Broadband solutions

Engineering, Consulting, OSP, Data Network, more

www.VantagePnt.com

1,000+ Broadband Projects (Fiber, Fixed Wireless, etc.)

150+ Feasibility Studies

50+ active FTTH projects at any time

Over $1.6 Billion in Broadband Grants, Loans & Auctions

www.VantagePnt.com

UNDERSIZED FIBER

• Transport networks built with no consideration for possible FTTx

• FTTx not designed for subscriber growth

• Fiber lean distributed split designs• Can’t offload power users or commercial clients to

dedicated fiber

The cost of incremental fiber is relatively low compared to the labor to install.

LACK OF PLANNING FOR EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

• Fiber is a 20-30 year asset, electronics 7-10 year• Avoid building a network that only fits today’s technology

• Consider Next Generation Electronics• Next Gen PON is more expensive today but will drop in price

• Consider more than cost

• Continuously evaluate emerging tech throughout your deployment

BACKLOG OF CUSTOMER CUTOVERS

• Customer cutovers can be time intensive and tax existing staff

• Successful marketing and promotions can create surges in demand

• Delay affects revenue and can aggravate Co-op members

• Have a plan to assist with backlogs• Partner with cutover contractors when needed

• They are your Co-op’s “face”, they must be clean cut and professional

Questions & Discussion

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CABLE/CONSTRUCTION TYPES

• ADSS – All Dielectric Self-Support• Can build in power space, but more expensive

• Cable is engineered/built per spec; hardware can be specific

• Built to support single cable – not great for distribution networks

• Easier for line crews to maintain – no special tools required

• Strong/resilient

• Strand/Lash• Comm zone only

• Cable is readily available from many manufacturers

• Lash backbone and drop cables to single strand

• Less costly construction crews; faster to deploy

All the Things I Forgot to Think About

When Building a Broadband Network

MONDAY AT 11:15