Last month I submitted $15 million in fiber projects, this program will cover 75% of eligible expenses. All the projects I saw (as a consultant for various clients) started having positive cash flow around year 10.
The cost of building fiber networks is really high. In low density areas it can still be $50,000-$100,000 per mile. This high cost is in part due to the existing poles. Any entity who touches a pole has to bring it up to current NESC standards. The pole conformed when it was built 20 years ago but modern clearance and strength requirements mean these broadband projects often have to replace 50% or more of the old poles in rural America.
We've seen many large investment companies build fiber networks on their own dime in cities that only have coaxial cable, they're skipping BEAD funding because those rural areas would not break even with O&M cost. Also seen small WISPs that can't afford to conform to BEAD requirements and won't participate even though they expect some other large player to come through, build fiber to their customers and damage their business.
However LEO communications will never be able to compete with an optical network, especially if you live near large population that all see the same section of sky.
No state has issued awards to ISPs yet. The NTIA has awarded "planning money" to state broadband offices to set up the program and review applications.
Only a few states have completed the application phase shown by the right most column on cost quest's dashboard linked below. Side note - cost quest is another example of government funding making a private company rich.
Considering The Guardian have discontinued their X account recently it's evident they've got a chip on their shoulder about Musk and the recent election. I'd expect anything to come out of them to be a hit piece.
Trying to avoid a controlling, manipulative human with a robust, documented history of lying and distorting the truth is having a chip on your shoulder?
Musk uses X to control the discussion and narrative, so you avoid X. It is very simple.
Well, that’ll be phase 2. Phase 1 is to grow the Department of Government Efficiency until it’s too big to fail. Phase 2 is the inevitable bailout of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Hmm - one rich person getting richer or slashing hundreds of thousands of useless government workers and many redundant agencies. That sounds like a trade worth making.
We can start to put them in order. The first one will be the cost of the presidential transition. The last transition cost $7m and had zero security incidents. We can look at its efficiency in two ways:
- this transition should cost less. Unfortunately, it’s not transparent like the last ones.
- and if they want the same excellent security as last time, they’ll hire those folks. We’ll see if the efficiency experts plan to skimp on security.
The cost of building fiber networks is really high. In low density areas it can still be $50,000-$100,000 per mile. This high cost is in part due to the existing poles. Any entity who touches a pole has to bring it up to current NESC standards. The pole conformed when it was built 20 years ago but modern clearance and strength requirements mean these broadband projects often have to replace 50% or more of the old poles in rural America.
We've seen many large investment companies build fiber networks on their own dime in cities that only have coaxial cable, they're skipping BEAD funding because those rural areas would not break even with O&M cost. Also seen small WISPs that can't afford to conform to BEAD requirements and won't participate even though they expect some other large player to come through, build fiber to their customers and damage their business.
However LEO communications will never be able to compete with an optical network, especially if you live near large population that all see the same section of sky.
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