Fiber Forward by Fiber Broadband Association

Letter from the President & CEO Dear FBA Members, I am pleased to report that the Fiber Broadband Association is exiting 2021 stronger than ever. Earlier this year, we updated the Association’s vision and mission to focus on ensuring digital equity and enabling every community to leverage the economic and societal benefits that only fiber can deliver. This is a mission that every member of the FBA team strongly believes in and we are passionate about driving Fiber Forward. Our industry is at the beginning of a special moment in history where we have the opportunity and CapEx backing to realize our vision to create a world where communications are limitless, advancing quality of life and digital equity for generations to come. Fiber Forward is a movement that I believe will be as transformative as the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 or the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Both of these visionary efforts initially appeared insurmountable but when relentlessly pursued with passion, they united a nation and delivered tremendous economic growth and prosperity to all members of our society. During our annual conference in Nashville this past July, I felt something special. At first I thought it was the excitement and enthusiasm of our attendees emerging from their pandemic-driven shelter-in-place hibernation to finally being able to greet their industry friends and colleagues in person. It soon became clear that the excitement and energy in our industry goes well beyond rays of hope of getting this pandemic behind us. This energy feels much more like the late 1990’s when Tim Berners-Lee’s web browser enabled us all to participate on the worldwide web, instantly connecting us to one another and to

the world’s information. The possibilities were limitless but our bandwidth was limited. Today we have the opportunity to fully realize those limitless possibilities by connecting everyone, everywhere with fiber broadband. Federal, State and Local government broadband subsidies are set to grow at 5 to 6 times their historical runrates. Experienced network operators and community leaders are coming together with flexible public-private partnership models. Utilities and rural electric co-ops are stepping up to deliver fiber broadband to the communities they serve. Traditional network operators have announced plans to deliver FTTH to over 47 million more households. This is an extremely exciting time for our industry and I feel that the Fiber Broadband Association is at the epicenter of this movement. In an effort to capture this special moment, we thought it would be appropriate to issue this magazine, Fiber Forward – 2021, A Year In Review. In this special edition, we include insight from leaders within the Association who reflect on historic fiber moments from 2021 and those yet to come, summaries of over 30 of our 2021 Fiber for Breakfast sessions—as these first-hand accounts help capture some of the key themes for the year—and scenes and stories from our record-breaking annual conference in Nashville. 2021 has been an amazing year for our industry and the Fiber Broadband Association. More importantly, we have planted the seeds with our advocacy, workforce development, research and on a number of critical fronts that will help accelerate our mission and realize our vision in the coming years and we work to drive Fiber Forward. Sincerely,

Gary Bolton President & CEO

FIBER F ORWA RD

2021 A YE AR IN RE VIE W FBA PRESIDENT & CEO Gary Bolton PUBLISHER Connect2 Communications EDITOR Mary Cullen CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Edna Preuss, FBA LATAM Chapter Director of Industry Affairs & Member Services Debbie Kish, FBA VP of Research & Marketing Trish Ehlers, FBA Senior Director of Membership, Industry Affairs & Operations ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR Lucy Green DESIGNER Elena Davis, galanova fiberbroadband.org JOIN FIBER BROADBAND ASSOCIATION TODAY MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR FIBER CONNECT 2022! June 12 - 15, 2022 Nashville, TN

Table of Contents 4

Letter from the President & CEO

The Year Fiber Went Further: An interview with FBA Board Chairwoman Katie Espeseth

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FBA Membership Update: The Future is Bright FBA Fiber Fun Facts

Limitless Possibilities: An Interview with FBA CEO Gary Bolton

Committee Chair Roundtable

Update on FBA Workforce Development: Building the Fiber Workforce of Tomorrow, Today

22 32 34 37 38 49 50 52

Fiber for Breakfast Part 1: Community Impact Evolution of Fiber to the Home Infographic Fiber Connect 2021 Photo Album Regulatory: FBA Priorities that Drive Fiber Further Fiber for Breakfast Part 2: Technologies FBA LATAM Corner A Year in FBA Research Fiber for Breakfast Part 3: Digital Divide

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The Year Fiber Went Further

An Interview with FBA Board Chairwoman Katie Espeseth, by Mary Cullen, Editor The year 2021 brought with it sweeping changes for broadband policy in the United States, starting with RDOF and culminating with the historic broadband investment in the 2021 Infrastructure Bill.

Broadband and fiber broadband were a key focus for the administration, regulators and the industry in 2021. How was FBA able to help shape these conversations and advance the industry? The Fiber Broadband Association is the only association in the Americas today that represents the full ecosystem of the fiber industry, so the timing was perfect for us to rise to the occasion. If you look at language resonating across the States that has come out of Washington, you’ll often see references to either written word or conversations with individuals with the Fiber Broadband Association. For example, FBA helped shape comments from the acting FCC Chairwoman and the Department of Treasury’s guidance about how to prioritize spending on the $10 billion Coronavirus capital projects fund. We’ve been working very effectively in Washington, building bipartisan support for the $65 billion Broadband Infrastructure Bill. And it’s not just in Washington. We’ve been very effective in the States, as well, like in California where they just allocated $6 billion in state funding for broadband investment. Not only have we proven to be influential and able to shape conversations at

a national level, but that extends to States and from there down local communities, as well.

2021 is proving to be a banner year for the FBA. Membership is growing, the conference was a huge success, new programs have been announced—what do you think made this year such a momentous one for FBA and its members? Being in the middle of a life-changing pandemic, the need for high-speed broadband has been significantly highlighted and prioritized as many continue to work from home, learn from home, secure medical care from home and so on. Certainly, circumstances may have elevated the need for high-speed broadband delivered by fiber infrastructure to be more top of mind, but I also don’t want to say that this is something that happened overnight. The Fiber Broadband Association celebrated our 20th anniversary this year. This is a culmination of 20 years of work of our membership to always keep fiber technology top of mind and to be able to explain the story that fiber offers limitless possibilities and capabilities. And so, it’s probably the intersection of circumstance along with a lot of hard work. We really do believe that this year has proven that fiber is a lasting infrastructure for our country and something that is needed to propel us forward and keep us competitive, but more importantly, to propel all of our communities forward.

This year, the FBA announced a new Fiber Optic Technician Training and Certification Program (OpTIC). Why is it important that FBA takes on this issue for the industry? There is a generational amount of funding available to build fiber optic networks. Without the trained individuals to do the work, that funding will just go to waste. Workforce development is not unique to the technology industry. Those pains are being felt across several different types of organizations. But we feel it is our responsibility as part of the Fiber Broadband Association’s education and advocacy to drive fiber deployment forward, so we ought to be part of the solution. If companies are having difficulty finding trained personnel, then we ought to help alleviate that problem so that it doesn’t become a barrier to building out fiber networks.

The coronavirus pandemic taught us many things— one being the need for fast and reliable broadband. The FBA’s main message has been “if it’s not fiber, it’s Katie Espeseth Chairwoman of the Board

not broadband.” What do you want people to understand about this message that they might have not yet considered? If they hadn’t considered it before this past year, I’m sure they’re considering it now. For years we’ve seen lower speeds or heard voices that said, “people don’t need access to high speed, they certainly don’t need symmetrical upload speeds,” and that “latency is not a big deal.” But through the last year, high-speed Internet became a necessity. Fiber is truly the only technology that can deliver on all points: low latency, high security, extremely high reliability, high bandwidth. That’s the infrastructure part of fiber. We think of infrastructure as roads and interstate highways built to last up to 50 years. I think this is the first time we’ve thought about communications needing to be built to last that amount of time, too. That has gone a long way to reinforce our message that if you’re going to do this and build it to last, then it needs to be fiber.

A lot of people talk about the high cost for the US to bridge the Digital Divide. What is the cost to American’s living in underserved communities if we don’t bridge it? We’re looking at catastrophic consequences. That may seem dramatic, but really, access to high-speed broadband is essential for being able to work, go to school, apply for a job and so much more. It’s not about watching Netflix anymore. It’s about those day-to-day essential activities. If you don’t have it, you will be left behind. It’s just like the cities and towns where the interstate highways pass them by. If you don’t have access to Internet, you’re falling further and further behind—not only in the country, but in the world. Lacking access to fiber broadband eliminates the economic and societal benefits that come along with access to this type of technology. I think it’s tragic that residing in a rural zip code or your economic status defines your future. That’s why the digital divide is a real thing and why we are all working together to bridge that gap because access to fiber is not a luxury anymore—it’s a necessity.

The highly anticipated Infrastructure Bill is expected to be signed into law in Q4, solidifying to the nation that we are entering into a period of historic broadband infrastructure

Katie Espeseth, Chairwoman of the Board, speaks to attendees at Fiber Connect 2021. Source: FBA

investment in the United States. There are several federal and state broadband development programs already in place (RDOF, ReConnect, etc). What is it about the Infrastructure Bill that makes it so significant? Apart from the sheer amount of money for broadband that is in the Infrastructure Bill ($65 billion), it has the ability to really change lives for generations to come. Beyond that, it’s the fact that this is the Infrastructure Bill—something that connotes a longlasting solution to an immediate problem, a bridge to the future meant to last through the future. The broadband inclusions in the Infrastructure Bill will push us to build something that will deliver the types of economic and societal benefits that I mentioned earlier. It’s not a bandage until the next best thing comes out—it is future-proof infrastructure for the country.

What are some of FBA’s greatest accomplishments in 2021? The Fiber Broadband Association this year provided a tremendous amount of useful information and guidance, not only for members, but for our elected officials and for the folks who are shaping policy for years to come. Our committees and staff have published disciplined and rigorous white papers that inform the industry. While we’ve always played a role in Washington, we have stepped up that role this year to become that authoritative voice for fiber technology.

The Future is Bright for FBA Membership

By Trish Ehlers, Vice President, Membership, Industry Affairs & Operations, Fiber Broadband Association 2021 was a year of tremendous growth for the entire fiber industry, as well as for the Fiber Broadband Association’s membership. While some of this growth can be attributed to a post-COVID rebound, there is something exceptional going on within FBA.

category in 2022 and beyond due to the increased visibility and input from this member segment. Beyond membership growth, the FBA added a total of 37 individual Public Official and Women in Fiber members this year.

To paraphrase a well-known quote by iconic basketball coach Phil Jackson, the strength of the organization is each individual member, and the strength of each member is the organization.

The net result? A whopping 38% overall growth in Fiber Broadband Association membership in 2021, and a 21% growth rate in company memberships. Membership growth expectations for the next several years remain equally optimistic given the continued growth of the fiber industry, distribution of federal and state funding, and improvement and expansion of valuable services provided by FBA.

Under the leadership of President & CEO Gary Bolton, the FBA has become one of the most respected voices in the fiber broadband landscape, a position bolstered by the strength of our member companies within the industry. In turn, the high quality of education, advocacy, and networking provided by FBA only serves to strengthen our members. The FBA is unique in that 51% of our membership is made up of network operators, and in 2021 this category of membership increased over 17%. Also noteworthy, vendor membership increased over 15% this year. Our Premier Member numbers grew by almost 11% in 2021, with significant growth expected in this

Robert Gilbert, President and COO of one of FBA’s new Premier Member companies, DxTEL, said it best when asked why their organization made the decision to become part of FBA. “As we’ve helped cooperative, independent and municipal providers launch and market fiber services, we’ve become increasingly sure that fiber is the future. Joining FBA allows us to connect with providers and other vendors who share our commitment to connectivity built on the best technology available.”

“As we’ve helped cooperative, independent and municipal providers launch and market fiber services, we’ve become increasingly sure that fiber is the future. Joining FBA allows us to connect with providers and other vendors who share our commitment to connectivity built on the best technology available.”

FBA Fun Facts FBA advocacy positively influenced over $100B in Fiber funding Fiber Connect 2021 was the top fiber conference in the world

FBA had 38% Membership Growth in 2021 Fiber For Breakfast Attendance grew nearly 100% year-over-year & Webinar Attendance grew 70% year-over-year 10

Limitless Possibilities

An interview with FBA President & CEO Gary Bolton, by Mary Cullen, Editor During the pandemic, the market made a material shift. Broadband is no longer for entertainment—it’s critical for every aspect of our personal and professional lives. As a result, we’re seeing broadband deployment become a top priority for lawmakers and community leaders.

Broadband planning and fiber investment set records in 2021. Looking at 2022, how does the Fiber Broadband Association plan to further its mission of taking fiber further? Moving into 2022, we will continue to see the market trend upward, for instance, I expect a surge in fiber Capex from smaller providers. The uptick in community-based broadband deployment we saw in 2021 has motivated larger operators to make big investments. As a result, Tier 1 providers are announcing increased fiber deployments and Tier 2 providers are coming out of restructuring with a preference towards fiber. Such shifts will continue to challenge the cable industry to innovate and upgrade networks to fiber in the coming years. We will also see escalated adoption of municipal broadband and rural electric co-op efforts to bring fiber into more communities. With the passage and signing of the Infrastructure Bill expected in Q4, the Fiber Broadband Association will assist communities who are applying for broadband infrastructure funding. Our role is to ensure they are well organized and educated on the process, in order to guarantee they can successfully obtain available capital and validate that they can quickly move from planning to provisioning fiber services.

Why is fiber the broadband technology of the future?

Fiber delivers jobs, conomic development, online education,

remote healthcare, and provides a path for future services, in addition to things like smart grid modernization. An ideal example of this is Chattanooga, where fiber deployment had a $6.9 billion positive impact on the local economy. Fiber empowers our communities and provides the perfect medium for limitless communications. The Fiber Broadband Association and Lightwave recently completed a study on 10 Gig PON and found that 86% of respondents will already have 10 Gig PON deployment started or completed in the next two years. That means that by the time funding from the Infrastructure Bill is being disbursed, we’ll already have 10 Gig PON and be moving towards 25 Gig PON and 50 Gig PON. As a result, it’s critical that communities don’t shortchange themselves by getting on the wrong path. They need to have access to the physical media that allows them to add essential services in the future. Fiber optics provides a noise-free environment, enabling the highest capacity, lowest latency, highly secure, low- maintenance and it sets the standard for performance on every dimension.

What applications and services are driving the need for fiber broadband? To date, the focus has been on speeds and we’re seeing applications of 100 Mbps and Gigabit speeds. But as we achieve higher speeds, the performance focus shifts to latency. Think about artificial intelligence and virtual reality. The FCC defines low latency as sub 100 milliseconds. However, in the case of VR goggles, if there is latency that is greater than three milliseconds, a user is likely to develop a nauseous feeling similar to carsickness. Your brain knows the difference. Therefore, as we move toward more sophisticated applications, whether it’s autonomous vehicles or VR—uses where latency becomes mission critical—we begin to see the positive impact that fiber optics delivers. Fiber optics has the potential to deliver unlimited opportunities, fostering new innovations. We’re not even at the beginning of what is possible if people get connected and have limitless capacity.

What does fiber broadband allow a person to do that they cannot do with other forms of access? One of the few positive outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic is remote healthcare. Consider the benefit this provides to patients deemed to be high-risk or with limited mobility. The ability to engage via phone, tablet or computer and have a virtual face-to-face appointment with their doctor or get their Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association, welcomes attendees to Fiber Connect 2021 in Nashville.” Source: FBA

prescriptions renewed delivers a better quality of life. For example, the University of Alabama Birmingham hospital went from only four telehealth sessions a day before the pandemic to now 1,100 sessions each day. Broadband connectivity provides more than remote access to doctors or medical facilities, it’s also the use of health monitoring equipment that allows patients with dementia, heart disease or diabetes to live their lives more freely with remote monitoring devices. Likewise, access to a fast, reliable fiber broadband network gives way to remote learning and work-from-home options. It creates flexibility. I think we’ll even start seeing more government services move to hybrid or remote models. As we find more applications that allow for a more immersive experience, we are going to need limitless capacity and low latency. Those are things that only fiber can deliver.

What challenges do you anticipate the industry facing in 2022, and how is the Fiber Broadband Association actively working to overcome them? We are seeing a historic level of CapEx investment in fiber. Not just in North America, but across the world we’re at the beginning of unprecedented fiber investment cycle. But for every community to be able to see fiber deployed, we’ll need boots on the ground. The Fiber Broadband Association has

FBA President and CEO Gary Bolton talks with Chris Cook, CEO Lokx at Fiber Connect 2021. Source: FBA

taken on the mission of workforce development by creating what we’re calling OpTICs, a Fiber Optic Technician Program. It’s focused on making sure that we have high quality workers ready to deploy the fiber networks of tomorrow. We’re training community college students, veterans moving into the private sector and even operators. The Fiber Broadband Association has the full ecosystem of expertise, and so we are uniquely qualified to be able to deliver that. Most fiber optic courses in

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the market deliver breath but lack depth. That’s why the OpTIC program has a narrow focus with a strong level of depth in our training. We believe that the people who come to 144 hours of our classroom and laboratory training, as well as 2,000 hours of apprenticeship will be rockstars in the field. Employers can be assured that fiber technicians with an FBA certification are the best in the industry as we build a high-quality workforce capable of deploying tomorrow’s fiber networks.

the expertise from experienced providers. And we need to help connect those that are trying to build these networks with the funding available.

What is the Fiber Broadband Association’s primary mission going into 2022? For 2022, we’re focusing on execution. What we have seen is that the whole industry now is converging on “if it’s not fiber, it’s not broadband.” Seeing where the world is going regarding innovation and what we need to be able to address—like delivering jobs, economic development, smart grid modernization—fiber is the way forward. We have private investment and federal, state and local government subsidies for fiber deployments that’s going to be available from the Infrastructure Bill and other federal and state allocations, and as a result, we will see a number of new emerging providers, from communities, rural electric co-ops and more. We need to be able to equip them to be able to stand on those networks. We need to facilitate public-private partnerships so that they can leverage

FBA President & CEO Gary Bolton catches up with FBA Board member Mark Boxer and FiberStory President Larry Johnson at Fiber Connect 2021. Source: FBA

Committee Chair Roundtable by Mary Cullen, Editor

The Fiber Broadband Association is supported and informed by eight member-led committees: Women in Fiber, Public Policy, Public Officials, Deployment Specialists, Technology, Power Utilities, Conference and Marketing. Below, the leaders of those committees share achievements from this year and goals for the future.

What was your committee’s greatest achievement in 2021 and how does that further FBA’s mission of moving fiber forward? The Women in Fiber Committee is proud of the women who have been recognized by their peers and supervisors for their remarkable achievements in the fiber broadband sector. These women have made a lasting impact on their coworkers, customers and communities where they serve. The Women in Fiber Spotlight awards provided an important forum to recognize the leadership skills, contributions and of these women. The Committee believes its greatest achievement in 2021 has been its focus on highlighting the great careers and strengths of these women in our industry. We also celebrate that we were able to join together as a Committee for the Women in Fiber Luncheon at Fiber Connect 2021, and look forward to another successful gathering next year.

Women in Fiber Steering Committee Alexa Edens, Alyson Moore, Holly Ruser, Jessica Zufolo and Tanya Kanczuzewski

forecasted bandwidth demand growth using 3 different models and all three show symmetrical Gigabit broadband will be required to support households in the near future. Committee members and FBA staff presented the findings of these white papers during the FBA’s Fiber for Breakfast seminars, in industry forums, and these papers were also referenced in several of the FBA’s filings to the FCC.

John George Chair of the Technology Committee

In 2021, the Public Policy committee was able to capitalize on the preparations and foresight of FBA’s 2020 investments in expanded advocacy on the Hill and with the Administration. As the whole nation woke up to the need for expanded investment and access to all-fiber broadband networks, FBA was prepared with the research, advocates, and resources necessary to support Senate passage of a landmark infrastructure funding package as well as various Executive branch programs that specifically prioritize funding for symmetric and all-fiber networks.

Having a “live and in-person” event in 2021 was a great achievement in itself. We were extremely fortunate in that we were able to work with the Gaylord Texan and Gaylord Opryland to move our location from Dallas to Nashville and acquire later dates in the summer. The change in venue and dates was one of the main reasons for our success which led to the largest attendance in our history. Another reason was our strong line-up of speakers that led our pre-conference workshops, breakout sessions, and main stage general session panels. The goal and vision of the Association’s leadership is to make sure that all our events and initiatives have us pulling the rope in the same direction so it’s in Fiber Connect’s DNA to promote fiber broadband and to move the industry in the right direction.

Joseph Jones Chair of the Conference Committee

Ben Moncrief Chair of the Public Policy Committee

Bob Knight and Kimberly McKinley Co-Chairs of the Public Officials Committee

The Technology Committee authored 3 white papers that explain how Fiber Broadband can close the broadband digital divide, Fiber Broadband advantages compared to fixed wireless, and why Fiber Broadband is far superior to Low Earth Orbit Satellites. The TC also

Brendan O’Boyle Chair of the Deployment Specialists Committee

At the state level, the Public Policy committee and its members were able to engage with various members, communities and state policymakers to expand the reach of fiber-optic services as states and local authorities prepare to invest Recovery Act funds in broadband infrastructure.

In less than a year, the Public Officials Committee has grown its membership to more than 150 cities, towns, and counties across 33 states. Discussion has yielded the development of network for public officials who are working to design, build, or operate fiber networks in their communities. As a direct result of the committee, several members were asked to participate in a meeting organized by the National League of Cities and ILSR with the White House to help get language changed in the Treasury Rules concerning ARPA funds for broadband deployment. The language was changed, meaning the group was successful in helping to ensure that municipal interests were prioritized.

The Women in Fiber Committee brings together women leaders from across the industry. Source: FBA

DSC is making sure the network is being installed safely by observing proper installation practices whether it be aerial fiber construction in the supply space on a utility pole or by properly locating underground utilities before horizontal directional drilling, plowing, or trenching operations that could lead to unnecessary harm or fatality when not properly observed.

I can’t say that there was one particular milestone that exemplifies our greatest achievement, but the initiatives we have taken on highlight some of the most critical pain points for all network deployers, operator and contractor alike- preaching the need to provide train and develop the next generation of fiber splicers and network linemen so the FTTx network deployment acceleration doesn’t slow down due to the lack of an adequate available workforce. Additionally, and equally important to the

and industry influencers. We hope to attract more members to our committee next year so that we can begin to break into subcommittees that focus on planning and executing webinars and events that support the growth needs of FBA’s women leaders.

Women in Fiber Steering Committee Alexa Edens, Alyson Moore, Holly Ruser, Jessica Zufolo and Tanya Kanczuzewski

We will be begin producing an update at the end of this year and annually describing new fiber optic technologies and innovations that are continually improving the business case for fiber broadband. The TC is also planning to provide guidance on reducing in home latency so subscribers can enjoy the low latency performance enabled by fiber broadband.

John George Chair of the Technology Committee

The Fiber Broadband Association publishes regular reports that delve into industry topics such as workforce development and market trends. Source: FBA

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the landscape is permanently changed. There is now bipartisan agreement in Washington and statehouses across the country that “if it’s not fiber, it’s not broadband.” Our committee will continue to cultivate member advocates – especially as the number of all-fiber ISPs continues to grow – to provide grassroots examples of the economic growth potential an investment in fiber infrastructure can deliver for communities of all sizes. Fiber Connect 2021 in Nashville brought out our highest attendance in our conference’s history. Source: FBA

The year has been one of transition. The Marketing Committee spent a lot of time focused on what our mission should be to support FBA’s members and found a new vision of bringing value to our members.

Kimberly Biddy Chair of the Marketing Committee

What plans does your committee have in store next year to continue that mission? Our goal is to continue growing our committee by reaching more women in the broadband infrastructure sector at all professional levels to become active in building a community of women leaders

Ben Moncrief Chair of the Public Policy Committee

Our role is to facilitate conversations and relationships among public officials who hadn’t had a network of fiber-industry peers before the committee’s formation. We’ll continue to grow the conversation and would like to have greater impact, not only on Capitol Hill, but in all 50 state legislatures in the months ahead. We believe we enhance FBA’s message that if it’s not fiber, it’s not broadband.

Bob Knight and Kimberly McKinley Co-Chairs of the Public Officials Committee

We started in 2021 and need to continue to build bridges between the FBA and adjacent associations interested in the same goals like the Power and Communications Contractors Association (PCCA) and the Common Ground Alliance (CGA)

as well as the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) when it comes to issues of proper training and safety. To help reinforce the workforce with new talent the DSC will be reviewing, approving, and improving the content that will be offered in the FBA’s OpTIC Fiber Optic Installer Accreditation Program that will help develop the next generation of network technicians. Who better than those that focus on deploying networks through material creation and physical implementation to determine the quality of instruction and collateral that will be used in that ambitious endeavor? I am truly excited for what we can bring to the table as a group to make this program a success and one with proper endorsement from those who would hire the eventual candidates that it generates.

Brendan O’Boyle Chair of the Deployment Specialists Committee

We definitely feel the challenge of making 2022 even more successful than 2021. Our committee will continue to focus on making sure our education content comes from industry experts and is current and applicable for what is needed today. Also, as we build our program for 2022 it’s important for us to continue to create ways to improve the overall attendee experience. We want Fiber Connect to be the “have to attend” conference in the industry year after year and that is at the forefront of the Committee’s mind.

Joseph Jones Chair of the Conference Committee

The Marketing Committee will continue its mission of bringing value to our members through member research, guest speaker engagements and providing new tools and best practices to our members. We will also focus on the platforms of how to best make those available to our members.

Kimberly Biddy Chair of the Marketing Committee

First off, we’d like to see the option for municipal broadband restored in all 50 states. Every community is different, so we feel that states should follow FBA’s lead and be model agnostic. Committee members share a common concern that with the tsunami of federal and state funds, a host of new entrants are following the money. While the attention is good, it takes a long time to understand the complexities of the fiber-broadband industry. We want to see projects driven forward successfully and to minimize the potential for high-profile boondoggles.

Bob Knight and Kimberly McKinley Co-Chairs of the Public Officials Committee

Ben Moncrief, C Spire, and Shirley Bloomfield, NTCA - The Rural Broadband Association, explore fiber industry trends at Fiber Connect 2021. Source: FBA

As we enter a new year with new opportunities for broadband funding, what does your committee see as primary policy and regulation goals for the future? Redefining minimum broadband speeds as no less than 100/100Mbps. In other words, no federal or state support program should fund networks delivering less than 100/100Mbps speeds.

Ben Moncrief Chair of the Public Policy Committee

What hurdles must we still overcome as an industry in regard to fiber policy and regulation? Obviously, incumbent cable and copper operators are well entrenched in Washington and state capitols. Our challenge will be to both (1) continue to deliver substantive economic and technological data in support of policies that promote fiber deployment and (2) develop the key relationships necessary to maintain FBA’s position as the “go-to” authority on all-fiber infrastructure access and deployment in North America.

Ben Moncrief Chair of the Public Policy Committee

The biggest hurdle is that there are a multitude of voices advocating for a multitude of models. As an industry, we think it’s important to pause and ask ourselves: how do we work together to disrupt the failed policies that have gotten us into this national broadband mess? If we can truly work collaboratively, we have a shot at being taken seriously by lawmakers.

Bob Knight and Kimberly McKinley Co-Chairs of the Public Officials Committee

Building the Fiber Workforce of Tomorrow, Today

New technologies are increasingly in need of fiber-backed networks. How is fiber shaping our future?

by Mary Cullen, Editor

“The country has awakened to the need for fiber like never before, and we’re seeing entities of all sizes and types deploying fiber. As such, we’re constantly hearing from our members about the need for qualified fiber workers.”

Fiber is not just shaping our future – it is essential to our future as it enables vastly improved productivity and well-being, through in-person like experiences in Telemedicine, Remote Learning, Business, and entertainment.

John George Chair of the Technology Committee

How is the Fiber Broadband Association working to combat deployment challenges across the US, from labor shortages to lack of access? For those that don’t understand how the FBA improves the position of unconnected and under-connected communities, I encourage them to join a committee at the FBA to take part in this positive promotional and political action machine. The FBA listens to its members and encourages them to raise their voices and fully contribute their perspective and talent to produce a position statement for the organization. The Fiber Broadband Association lobbies in Washington DC for Fiber Broadband Network funding by way of highlighting key issues like the disparity in network performance between Low Earth Orbit Satellite service vs. Fiber to the Home broadband service. Additionally, the FBA is in the process of developing a curriculum, content, and an action plan for rolling out the Optical Technician Installer Certification, or OpTIC, training accreditation program that should help resolve one of the pain points impacting fiber network deployment today- inexperienced, undertrained, or simply non-existent Fiber Splicing Technicians. A surface investigation of social media will help highlight that proper training and understanding of required network performance was not relayed to a great amount of the fiber technician workforce and to those that do understand it and take pride in the work it’s frustrating because, as a society, we don’t abide bad mechanics, plumbers, electricians or really any technical tradesperson but there is a substantial amount of poor performance in the Fiber Technician position. The FBA is working tirelessly to fix the shortage in competent fiber technicians.

Brendan O’Boyle Chair of the Deployment Specialists Committee

This year’s Fiber Connect conference topped attendance records. What does that record attendance mean for the fiber industry and what opportunities come out of this increased interest? The record attendance was great proof that the fiber broadband industry is paramount right now in our country. From current

That’s Mark Boxer, Board Member and Education and Technology Committee Liaison.

The Fiber Broadband Association is focusing in on workforce development efforts through the new OpTICs program. Source: Adobe Stock

and future funding availability to state laws changing in favor of municipals and cooperatives and continued improvement in the development of equipment and techniques, the opportunities are endless for all involved! I truly believe that this is the decade of fiber broadband and the Fiber Broadband Association and Fiber Connect will play a key part in its success.

Joseph Jones Chair of the Conference Committee

As the global pandemic drove remote working, learning, telehealth and more, the demand on service providers and communities to build better broadband networks also increased. Today’s applications rely on high speeds and reliable networks—the kind of networks that fiber is best equipped to provide. The federal government, including states and municipalities, have put policy in place that amounts to a historical investment in broadband. Government investments like the ReConnect program, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and the Connect America Fund (CAF) have been ongoing—and most recently, the Infrastructure Bill allocates $65 billion to broadband investment, in addition to over $40 billion is state and local ARPA broadband funding and $10 billion with the Coronavirus Capital Project funding. While these investments will have a major impact on bridging the digital divide, skilled labor shortages create a tall hurdle for deploying fiber across the United States. “When we surveyed the industry, we found an unmet need for a program that’s more deeply focused on developing hands-on fiber technician skills than what’s currently available,” Boxer said. To combat this lack of qualified fiber workers, the Fiber Broadband Association this year announced a new Optical Telecom Installation Certification (OpTIC) Program. The curriculum includes a combination of knowledge and skills-based training, currently defined as 144 hours split evenly on classroom instruction and hands-on skills practice.

Fiber broadband continues to be at the forefront of minds as we seek to bring strong, reliable internet to every American. Source: FBA

“The knowledge section addresses the basics behind fiber, cable and the various components to connect them together in an FTTH network, as well as the basics around testing, troubleshooting, splicing and other fiber installation aspects, along with a very strong focus on safety,” Boxer explained. “Skills include cable and closure preparation of various types, splicing, testing, troubleshooting and in-home equipment installation.” There are many training programs available at community colleges and vocational schools across the country, but the OpTIC program is the first of its kind to home in on the specific knowledge and

skills it takes to be a fiber optic technician or journeyman working in the field. “Our goal is for the quality of graduates to enable this certification to become a trusted credential that fiber plant managers can use to make hiring decisions,” he said. Boxer said the program is intended to be delivered through a partnership between FBA, local community colleges, technical programs, veteran’s groups, and local service providers and contractors. “Partnership between these groups is critical to the delivery of the program,” he insisted. FBA’s OpTIC Program has a registered apprenticeship with the U.S. Department of Labor and is also working with Wilson Community College and GreenLight Community Broadband in North Carolina as its first pilot, launching next year. “We’ve been working on the program for approximately nine months, first with a small group and now a broader swath of FBA members are involved,” he said. “Our ultimate customers for the program are service providers and contractors, so we’re constantly polling them to make sure we’re moving in the right direction.” There is a lot of excitement around the program, and multiple colleges and states have already reached out to FBA about expanding it beyond the pilot, Boxer said. A broader launch will be planned after the conclusion of the pilot program, set to begin early 2022.

Michael Nelson, US Department of Labor, and Gary Bolton, FBA President & CEO, participate in a signing ceremony to celebrate the approval and recognition of the FBA Optical Telecom Installation Certification (OpTIC) Program by the US Department of Labor at Fiber Connect 2021. Source: FBA

FIBER FOR BREAKFAST by Mary Cullen, Editor

Over the past year, the Fiber Broadband Association’s Fiber for Breakfast series and podcast has held conversations with industry leaders, innovative operators, policymakers, investors and other influencers. We’re sharing some of these valuable conversations to recap on the industry’s major moves and milestones during the last 12 months.

Community Impact:

Case studies from around the country where fiber is changing lives.

Lighting Up Utah with Open Access At UTOPIA Fiber, the motto is “the more the merrier.” “We put in a fiber system and allow all these different companies to come in and use it,” Roger Timmerman, UTOIPA Fiber CEO, said. “This makes the network work in big cities, it works in small cities and it’s a really exciting model for bringing competition to rural areas that used to typically have no good options or none at all.” One of the major benefits of the open access model is the expansion of competition. Timmerman said while UTOPIA hasn’t seen too many monopoly providers in their state—besides some cases in rural areas where there’s one provider—but as more companies are beginning to create their own networks, they’re interested in joining communal solutions. This helps drive prices down and gives customers options when it comes to things like speed and capacity. “This was an effort by communities and people coming together to identify a need,” Timmerman said. “On their own, they wouldn’t have been able to pull this together. But through

partnerships we’re able to get a good economy of scale. We serve those communities, we don’t have shareholders and we reinvest in the communities.”

Taking Precision Agriculture Further with Fiber “A lot of money is flowing to broadband and will continue to do so. However, it is a haphazard and scattered approach, in many cases, without a focus on the economies of the very communities it is connecting,” said Former Administrator of USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and current Managing Member with Rural America Strategies Chad Rupe. Likewise, he shared that current broadband allocations are “a bridge halfway” to aiding family farms and the growing need for precision agriculture. At present, corporate ag is leading in most precision agriculture applications, he explained. “However, many of the family farmers who live in rural America are not able to leverage their farms to adopt experimental

technologies. They lack the financial capacity of Big Ag and universities, and quite frankly, they also lack the connectivity,” Rupe stressed, noting that the benefits are huge when adding precision agriculture. Looking at federal funding, Rupe said a majority of the funds that go toward the construction of a location are one-time only, so if providers can take advantage of gaining more technology to meet the needs of the farmer while building out locations, the provider can drive up rates, increase the monthly charge for a better service and reach not just the farmhouse, but the whole farm. Farmers in rural areas do not have integrated systems and have not gained the full benefits of ever-increasing technology advances, he continued. Additionally, those farmers are rarely connected at the farmhouse with the FCC standard of 25/3. “However, they are likely provided electricity by the rural electric cooperative, telephone cooperative,” Rupe said. “If they had connectivity for irrigation, they could engage in many more activities to support their operations.” Rupe concluded by stressing that these buildouts do not have to stay on the farm. Rather, fiber broadband can be used to support grain silos, livestock feedlots, the rain and trucking industry to get produce to market, the traceability of food through blockchain and more. “If we are to solve the digital divide in rural America, this is a path to do it right, and it is something that should warrant the attention of Congress and state governments,” Rupe said.

Addressing the Broadband Gap in Tribal Lands

to COVID-19. The education need, laptops, being able to do work at home—you name it, it was a complete disaster,” Gonzalez said. To address the broadband gap in Indian Country, funding has been set aside by the Treasury Department, totaling $10 billion. Part of that allocation is the American Rescue Plan Act that allocates $10 million to territories and tribal governments in states to work towards closing the digital divide. However, Gonzalez said funding these projects is only part of the equation. “The problem is, how do you put broadband in? How do you build the network? How do you contract? What partners do you need? Those are all of the questions that tribes are faced with, and there’s a disconnect,” he admitted. Tribes across Indian Country are in need of partnerships with local providers to achieve broadband expansion in their territories. The United States has 574 federally recognized tribes, comprised of 2.1 million people. But no two tribes are the same, Gonzalez explained, which means that fiber deployment needs to happen on a tribe-by-tribe basis. “The American Rescue Plan Act is just one example where there are dollars attached to connecting rural areas,” Gonzalez said, before adding that the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy and many others are all working together to fix the tribal connectivity gap. Gonzalez recognizes that the industry has difficulties in understanding how to engage with tribes. He encourages service providers to reach out to him to understand how to play a role in helping bridge the digital divide in Indian country. He stated, “This is only the beginning, related to the technology and where we’re headed in the future and tribes are going to catch up.”

“I believe there is a pendulum shift in the world of fiber— the world of connecting. In rural areas, especially, there are unserved communities that don’t have a way to connect.” Less than 68% of tribal people across the United States have access to the internet, said Bobby Gonzalez, Chairman of the Caddo Nation—a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma. “Coordination between the broadband industry and tribal governments could be huge,” he said. “Tribal enterprises aim to eliminate the connectivity gap that exists because there is a need in Indian Country across the United States to ‘plug in.’”

UTOPIA Fiber brings fiber broadband to rural communities in Utah. Source: Utopia Fiber

A stable internet connection enables farmers to utilize precision agriculture. Source: Adobe Stock

Gonzalez explained that when COVID-19 hit many tribal communities suffered due to a lack of Internet connectivity. “We didn’t have telehealth. People didn’t have access to the internet. People didn’t have access to what’s going on related

Upper Moenkapi, a self-governing village on the Hopi reservation in Arizona. Source: Adobe Stock

“That was going to be a significant investment, and an investment neither us nor AT&T wanted to incur,” Shema said.

Shema explained that for this installation with TRAXyL, they used a new deployment method with resin

As a result, they had to find a new way to get fiber across the bridge.

“I think the real use is going to be across parking lots and low traffic areas, but it really worked for us as we traversed this bridge,” he noted.

“Lo and behold, we found this technology called TRAXyL,” Shema said, explaining that the product is similar to old painting fiber technology, but improved for the modern age. In its earlier days, painting fiber had a bad reputation for not maintaining connection when the paint was covered in snow.

Quenching the Thirst of a Parched County in a Broadband Desert To outsiders, Evans County, Georgia, is best known for its annual rattlesnake festival, Vidalia onions and everyone’s favorite holiday dessert--it’s the fruitcake capital of the world! But to those that live there, they’re most familiar with the struggles of living in a broadband desert. “Internet connectivity was a problem long before COVID,” PAC Fiber Director of Operations Noah Covington said. He noted how primary and secondary schoolers have long struggled to complete online homework, and college students have had to contemplate coming home for weekends at the risk of not being able to login to check online classes and assignments. That problem only expanded at the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic and learn-from-home mandates. Many communities still struggle to access high enough broadband speeds to complete tasks like homework or remote learning. Source: Adobe Stock

Frustrations stemming from the lack of broadband in Evans County didn’t stop at students. Vidalia onions, one of Evans County’s claims to fame, requires precision agriculture which relies heavily on pre-set functions and programs--all set and monitored through an internet connection. The lack of internet service in the area forced farmers to go into town to use their cell phones or access a wireless connection so that they could manage and monitor their precision agriculture. PAC Fiber made it their mission to reach Evans County with the broadband services needed to connect farms, families and students. They applied to the ReConnect Program and were awarded a 50/50 grant through phase one and began expansion into Evans County, working to fulfill their commitment to closing the digital divide. ReConnect phase two brought additional funding and PAC Fiber now has a coverage area that includes 2,500 unserved homes, or 6,000 people. PAC Fiber investments into Evans County alone now total $13 million dollars in combined grants and company matches. The ReConnect program allows for a five-year deployment timeline. Covington said PAC Fiber expects their Evans County coverage (50% of households) to be complete in four.

“If you could, you’d see about three inches of snow on the ground right now—and we’re in the midst of our second snow—and the fiber is still lit and running,” he said.

Shema said he considers this deployment a major win, as it follows Com Net’s mission of finding a solution that best serves the customer and is most economically responsible. “We looked around, and it took some time,” he said. “But, we found this technology and we’re really excited about it.”

How One Rural Electric Coop is Furthering Fiber through Education Before venturing into the fiber business in 2017, SEMO Electric discovered a passion for education. The coop began hosting a regular event for its consumers, who they refer to as partners. The event became Camp SEMO, a two-day all-inclusive experience inside the utility services world. After successful years with Camp SEMO, SEMO Electric set sail on another new front: fiber. Sean Vanslyke, CEO and Head Coach of SEMO Electric Cooperative and GoSEMO Fiber, said that he and the SEMO Electric team would drive out to co-ops to learn about fiber and on the way home they would discuss as a group what they learned and develop a presentation to share with their colleagues upon return to SEMO Electric. “Then as we moved forward, we started getting calls from other cooperatives asking if we could come and see them,” Vanslyke

said. “And once that started, we took the Camp SEMO philosophy and turned it into Fiber Fly-in.” At Fiber Fly-in, attendees experience fiber—many for the first time, Vanslyke said. SEMO Electric teaches about splicing and shows attendees what fiber actually looks like. They also visit a local station and rotate through different learning activities like how to connect the ONT on the outside of the box to the router on the inside of the home. At another learning station, attendees go into the boardroom and are walked through the finances of getting into the fiber business. The goal of Fiber Fly-ins is to instill a better understanding of fiber for those co-ops that are looking to enter in the business but aren’t sure where to start, he explained. The atmosphere of the event is geared towards encouraging collaboration and communication between attending cooperatives, giving them all an opportunity to learn from one another.

“You feel like a hero,” Covington said. “You go into these communities with your PACFiber shirt on and they treat you like a hero.”

Overcoming Challenges with Innovative Technologies Not all fiber deployment projects are as easy as laying down a line. In fact, many projects take time and consideration to determine the best path to deployment. Rob Shema, CEO of Com Net, Inc. and Independents Fiber Network shared one of his biggest deployment challenges and the innovative technology that made deploying fiber in the most economical way a possibility. Shema recalled a project where there was an AT&T tower on the other side of a bridge span, with a fiber conduit running under the riverbed. At one point, the conduit needed to be replaced.

The GoSEMO Fiber team is dedicated to educating others about the benefits of fiber broadband. Source: SEMO Electric Cooperative and GoSEMO Fiber

One Small Step for Fiber, One Giant Leap for California In 2016, California established a broadband goal of delivering 10/1 Mbps Internet access to 98% of its population. Since then, the state has undergone a dramatic rethinking of its policy to include municipal open access fiber networks through bond financing, a broadband plan focused on scalable infrastructure and several multi-billion-dollar proposals focused on fiber at its core. “California’s broadband plan and broadband infrastructure policy today is terrible,” Ernesto Falcon, Senior Legislative Counsel with Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), warned, explaining that until recently, the state’s laws noted a 6/1 mbps connection as adequate. “Thirty years ago, when EFF was founded, our founding members were a lot of the people who built the original, early technology of the Internet and believe that as the technology advances, our rights should stay the same,” Falcon explained. Unfortunately, Falcon noted that is not the case for all Internet users. As a result in 2019, EFF called for change. “We said the United States, as well as the states’ local governments and local policy, need to have a fiber for all plan,” he continued. “They need to focus on delivering high capacity, 21st century access to all people, and we need it desperately.” EFF has focused a lot of work in Sacramento in recent years and assisted in its passing of net neutrality, according to Falcon. After completing that project, he and his team turned to the broader state of California to explain to state regulators and other entities what is at stake if fiber is not widely adopted. “California was funding slow networks on an incremental basis on the idea that, ‘something is better than nothing,’ and ‘slight upgrades are better than nothing.’ When usage and demand rose over the pandemic, suddenly millions of Californians were reliant on connections that simply could not deliver the access they needed,” he explained. Falcon stressed that there is a digital divide that exists, but connectivity issues do not stop in rural communities. “There’s also this reality that if your community has just basic Internet access, but it’s not being upgraded with fiber today, you are also part of the wrong side of the digital divide, even if you have access,” he said. “Because if the usage has grown to where it is now—and it’s probably going to stay at this level— and you’re unable to even participate fully, then you really don’t have useful access. Forget about the 2015 definition anymore because it’s kind of useless as a metric.” Falcon and EFF set about writing legislation to update the California restructure plan in the midst of the COVID-19 Ernesto Falcon, Senior Legislative Counsel with Electric Frontier Foundation Source: Electric Frontier Foundation

pandemic with one goal in mind: every state dollar earmarked for building a new network will be a fiber network. “No more dollars spent on slow, incrementally upgrading legacy networks,” he stressed.

Falcon said the debate for this legislative change was based on three issues: • Determining what is truly “unserved.” Falcon and his team argued that if you lack a 25/25 mbps connection, you are eligible for a fiber network. • What is “future-proof infrastructure?” EFF determined that a future-proof infrastructure should have sufficient capacity to deliver 100/100 mbps and a latency averaging at or less than 20 milliseconds to allow for real-time interactive applications. • The ability to utilize “open access projects.” Falcon said if the government was to build and take on 100% of the cost of constructing, these networks must be open and sharable.

Near the end of 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order, putting to rest the debate over download speeds by increasing state standards from 25 mbps to 100 mbps. Following the Governor’s executive order came a call for a new California Broadband Plan, for which Falcon said EFF continues to articulate priorities. “We want to get fiber to every single person, without exception,” he said. “Often people will talk about this in the sense of, ‘these people are too expensive to serve,’ or ‘these people can’t be connected.’ I think it’s just a failure of imagination as well as a failure of policy and regulation to really emphasize 21st century access and a transition process for all networks to eventually get to that point.”

Bringing Rural Broadband to Nevada City

Nevada City, CA., might not be large, but its history is rich.

“Everybody wants it,” he said. “We’re going to attract more business here. We do have a vibrant tech industry, and beyond that, we’re touristy—which is good. But I think it will change the economy in a way that hasn’t happened since the Gold Rush.”

Knock, Knock: It’s Fiber, and You Should Answer Big River Communications is knocking on doors across the greater St. Louis area to further the adoption of future proof networks. Circle Fiber, a division of Big River Communications, is deploying FTTP to approximately 250,000 locations across St. Louis, Poplar Bluff and Sikeston, Missouri. Poplar Bluff is the county seat, making it the regional center for healthcare, education, retail, industrial and government.

Spiral Fiber is building networks in Nevada City, CA, that are 50 to 100 years futureproof. Source: Spiral Fiber

Nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains, this small community came to be during the Gold Rush. It was one of the first communities in the world to have electricity and long-distance phone service—thanks to the gold mines—and is now embarking on another connectivity journey: fiber-based Internet. “What we’re doing here is building networks that are 50 to 100 years futureproof,” John Paul, chief business development officer and co-founder at Spiral Fiber, Inc., said. “It’s imperative to do fiber.” They started by educating the public—and themselves—on how fiber works. From there, they gained support from residents and government officials to develop a fiber plan that made the most sense for the surrounding communities. With the greenlight, Paul said he looked to investors to help fund his vision and partners to help build it—including looking at other middle mile projects in California. Once people started to understand the possibilities fiber could offer, they quickly came on board.

“Turning it into a Gigabit city will just make it better so that they can attract even more companies into their territory,” Big River President Kevin Cantwell said. “If there is anything positive that has happened as a result of COVID, it is the drive for a faster adoption of technology. That fast adoption forced users to realize they need a platform to drive this new way of doing business.” Cantwell said when Big River is deploying fiber in a new community, field technicians go door to door offering to run that fiber line to that home for $25.

Challenges in Weathering the Storm The number of major storm events nearly doubled in the last 20 years compared to the 20 years prior. “From our perspective, it’s not a matter of if, it’s now a matter of when it’s time to have to deal with these situations,” Jay Cadman, Senior Vice President of Enterprise with IQGeo, said. Data shows the frequency and severity of severe storms is getting worse, according to research by IQGeo.

into a non-business as usual situation like a storm, getting this information becomes increasingly hard.” Kuty gave the following example: A company likely has a set number of analysts that support field techs at any given time. However, when a storm hits those analysts are going to be pulled in many different directions and getting through and getting information in a timely manner is not nearly as simple as it is outside of a weather event. Additionally, there needs to be a plan for capturing status, fixes and follow-up actions.

Cadman said the main things that improve effectiveness in these severe weather situations are mobility and integration.

“I think it’s really important to effectively capture what you’re doing for temporary fixes and also to create the mechanism to make sure that someone has gone back and fixed the problem, within a timely manner,” Kuty said, admitting this was an area he frequently ran into problems in the past as both a technician and in the field.

“Having real-time problem and severity level information is important all of the time,” Todd Kuty, IQGeo Director of Customer Integration, said of the importance of implementing high problem visibility and security levels. “But, when you get

“Everyone has a storm plan,” Cadman concluded. “But the little things make the difference in terms of how we believe in our customers and manage storms, and that has a knock-on effect. It’s ongoing.”

“Major disasters cost over $20 billion, in terms of damage,” Cadman noted.

“We stress heavily in these communities that when we have construction crews on your street, we’re going to knock on your door and say, ‘For $25 we’ll run fiber to the side of your house,’” he said, adding that he knows that customer might not end up buying service from Big River even after that installation. His priority is expressing the importance of fiber. “By getting into these communities and educating these people by telling them what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and what the benefits are, it helps our adoption rate and it helps us do what we need to do,” he said. “And, obviously, the cities are very excited for us to deliver this next generation network that not even some ‘NFL cities’ have yet.”

“It’s important to organize a community around this, so they understand why fiber is different,” he said. “The same goes for vendors. Traditional marketing is okay—but I really think it does take a team of people to do this.” It couldn’t come at a better time, too. Because of the pandemic, people are forced to work and learn from home. And because of its close proximity to San Francisco’s Silicon Valley, many are relocating to the idyllic town—which means a need for the Internet. He said existing customers are abuzz about the project’s expansion, and he hopes the excitement draws more economic opportunities for Nevada City and the surrounding area.

Major disasters cost over $20 billion, in terms of damage. Source: Adobe Stock

Having fiber broadband deployed in your neighborhood can mean big changes in your quality of life. Source: Big River Communication

Reflecting on Chattanooga’s Journey to Becoming a 10G City

Bringing Fiber Optic Speeds to Small Town America

EPB provides electric power and telecommunications services to Hamilton County, TN, including the city of Chattanooga. Thanks to EPB’s efforts to expand and implement high-speed broadband and smart grid infrastructures, Chattanooga was an early adopter as one of the first Gigabit cities and is now a 10G city.

“We are 100% fiber optic. Nothing else anywhere in our system. You absolutely cannot beat the speed, throughput and reliability of fiber optic networks.”

Significant positive effects were also reported in business, household and community categories like healthcare, telecommuting and education. The smart grid itself—which allows for more reliable connections to electricity even through natural disasters and severe weather events while also reducing carbon emissions— was valued at $750 million, or about 20% of the total value of the project.

Dr. Bento Lobo is a professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, specializing in finance. He and EPB Vice President Jim Ingraham teamed up to provide the Chattanooga community context as to how this change in infrastructure positively impacted the local economy. “This infrastructure is responsible for about $2.7 billion of value,” Lobo explained. Lobo and his team determined that EPB’s project brought significant monetary value to the community through economic development Source: Ten Years of Fiber Optic and in the form of business investments, startup Smart Grid Infrastructure in Hamilton funding, real estate developments and more. County, Tennessee

“Economic development is a big deal in terms of how this kind of infrastructure can impact a community,” Lobo said. “Fiber optic infrastructure impacted local economic development to the extent of $1.41 billion in business investments, new startups, real estate development and taxes.” The study also identifies additional realized benefits like the addition of more than 9,500 local jobs and a value-to-cost ratio of 4.42x— both benefits exceeding projected net benefits and at a quicker pace.

Connecting Consumers: Partnering Paves the Way In a first-of-its-kind endeavor for electric cooperatives in Arizona, MEC is building a fiber-optic network to enhance electric operations and provide fast, reliable broadband service for MEC members. “Our members and electeds insisted MEC take on this challenge,” said MEC CEO Tyler Carlson. “MEC was formed by our early members when investor-owned utilities would not provide electricity to this area. Similarly, our members have a drastic need for reliable internet not provided by others. 75 years later, the cooperative model comes full circle, and here we are bringing a fiber network to serve our members’ needs.”

The fiber-optic network enhances MEC’s electrical facilities, including substations, MEC equipment, meters, improve communications with our transmission provider (AZ G&T) and renewable energy facilities. By interconnecting our equipment and facilities, the fiber-optic network will allow MEC to receive near real-time data for enhanced operation capabilities.

“Our commissioners saw the need for adequate bandwidth and access to the Internet as being critical for our continued growth and sustainability as a city,” Dave Williams, Technology Services Director for Ponca City, said. “They believe our residents deserve the same levels of Internet access that’s available to anyone living in large cities.” Williams said it is at this point that most people ask him, “If you already offer free Wi-Fi, why contemplate the expense and trouble of a fiber-to-the-home project?”

When Ponca City first opened its broadband service to residents in 2019, they served 1,900 homes and businesses. In 2021, phases two and three were completed, which brought the total served to 8,000 homes and businesses. Williams projects after the final two phases are complete in December 2022, Ponca City Fiber will be in front of 15,100 total customers. Customer reactions to the Ponca City’s service have been phenomenal, he said, adding that he hears many residents say they have never seen Internet this fast.

Fiber for Breakfast Summaries continue on page 38

He said the answer is simple: “Our free Wi-Fi system works for what it was intended for, but it doesn’t meet the current needs of residents accessing the Internet. When Ponca City began looking at FTTH, it already had around 140 miles of fiber in the air. Originally, Williams said, the plan was to utilize as much existing infrastructure as possible.

“It absolutely could not fail,” he said. “The money it would take to do it was substantial, and several careers and reputations were on the line because of it.” He noted that Ponca was already in a good position to take on this project, due to Ponca’s ownership of utility poles, an existing background in fiber optics and built-in shared services between the city’s other utility operations.

Construction for this five-year project began December 2020, to date there is over 110 miles of fiber installed.

However, as time passed, Ponca City set its eyes on providing 100% fiber optic Internet.

He said this approach also allowed for a revenue stream to be in place before paying for the larger construction debt to install on the other side of town.

But as Williams conducted more research for the project, he realized that there was no room for cutting corners.

MEC is the first electric co-op to receive unanimous broadband financing approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission and the first electric co-op- to secure $110 million in private financing through CoBank. These rare milestones demonstrate why MEC’s fiber network is “first of its kind” for Arizona electric coops.

TWN CEO Colin Wood stated “We are thrilled to work alongside MEC to bring fast, reliable fiber internet to the region. We hope this partnership provides a positive change to the communities we serve, as well as enriches the lifestyles of cooperative members.”

Historically known as the home of both Cookshack Smokers and Head Country BBQ, Ponca City, Oklahoma, leaders wanted to attract more business to the area. In 1995, Ponca City began hanging fiber for its own needs. That network expanded to local businesses by 2005, and the city grew its broadband offering further in 2007 when it began offering free city-wide Wi-Fi.

take-rate was lower than planned, the overall volume should more than make up for that.”

MEC is bringing fast, reliable broadband to Arizona by deploying fiber. Source: Mohave Electric Cooperative

While any fiber deployment project is costly, Williams offered the following tips for success in building out similar projects: start with the less affluent part of town and save money on install. “We started on the West side of town, where housing is much denser and utility easements offer easier access for installation,” he said. “With 65% of the population living there, even if our actual

FIBER CONNECT 2021 PHOTO GALLERY

Senator Marsha Blackburn (TN) kicks of Fiber Connect 2021 with a welcome address in the grand ballroom.

Windstream Communications’ CEO Tony Thomas delivers a keynote to attendees.

(From left to right) Tommy Battle, Mayor of Huntsville, Ala.; Wes Kelley, Huntsville Utilities; Lauren Johannesmeyer, Google Fiber; and Jeff Reiman, The Broadband Group accept awards for their work deploying city-wide fiber across the city of Huntsville, Ala.

FBA Vice Chairman of the Board Kevin Morgan welcomes and entertains attendees on the second day of keynotes.

David Pistacchio, Operating Partner at DigitalBridge, delivers a keynote address at Fiber Connect 2021.

(From left to right) Calix’s Matt Collins, ADTRAN’s Robert Conger and Plume’s Tyson Marian discuss the issues and opportunities facing the fiber industry in a Wednesday morning keynote. C Spire CEO Hugh Mena addresses a full house during his morning keynote.

FBA Board of Directors Chair Katie Espeseth (left) and FBA President & CEO Gary Bolton (right) congratulate C Spire SVP Strategic Relations Ben Moncrief (middle) for winning the 2021 Chairman’s Award. Dr. Yaa Kumah-Crystal, Clinical Director HealthIT at Vanderbilt University Medical Center delivers a keynote address on connectivity and the future of healthcare.

Jennifer Fritzsche, Greenhill & Co, presents the keynote at the Women in Fiber luncheon.

Attendees gather at the Pivot booth in the Expo Hall.

Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (RI), RCRC’s Barbara Hayes and UTOPIA Fiber’s Kimberly McKinley participate in a Public Officials Forum keynote moderated by Bob Knight, Co-Chair of the 2021 Broadband Communities Summit.

FBA Priorities that Drive Fiber Further by Mary Cullen, Editor

It was a landmark year for broadband expansion in the U.S. As an established voice in the fiber industry, the Fiber Broadband Association had a seat at the table for conversations that went on to shape our nation’s broadband future. In a keynote panel moderated by Joanne Hovis, FBA Board Member and President of CTC Technology & Energy, panelists Chad Rupe, former Market President of Citizen Bank & Trust; Stephen Goodman, Counsel for Butzel Long; and Butch Brock, VP of Market Aquisition for ITC Broadband Holdings discuss fiber broadband public private partnerships.

(From left to right) Ting Internet’s Monica Webb, OEC Fiber’s Kayla Brandt and RVA’s Mike Render discuss customer experience, trust, pricing and marketing during a breakout session.

A representative from No Lash Line Systems™ demonstrates fiber deployment solutions in the Expo Hall.

This year, FBA regularly met with key Senators designated to draft the broadband provisions and provided expert knowledge about the importance of building future-proof, sustainable, carrier grade networks that will last for decades. “Policy makers rely on FBA and other industry groups to provide expert advice on broadband network technology, expected future services and applications, and predicted demand to determine long-term network requirements for broadband service,” Steve Perry, FBA legislative lobbyist and Principal at Perry-Bayliss, said.

Lit Communities’ Brian Snider and Kinetic Wholesale by Windstream’s Marc Dyman share their vision on how communities can combine public and private resources to bridge the digital divide.

Perry’s colleague Kim Bayliss of Perry-Bayliss and fellow legislative lobbyist for FBA agreed, adding that the data that FBA and its fellow industry groups provide to members of Congress and policy officials in the states has been essential to the formation of the broadband infrastructure program and various other regulatory policies. In addition to expert insight, FBA also provides economic analysis about fiber and other communications networks, including costs and benefits, to help inform policy makers.

He added that designation of broadband as infrastructure also opens doors for various federal stimulus laws, as well as the creation of the overall broadband infrastructure program. Turning its eyes on 2022, the FBA expects to see a slowing of fiber-related legislation as the Biden Administration focuses on implementing the broadband provisions passed in 2021, Bayliss explained. “Proper implementation of the broadband policy should remain one of our top priorities,” she added. “Since NTIA and the states share implementation responsibilities, this needs to be FBA’s top priority in 2022.” In addition, Bayliss and Perry note there will continue to be opportunities for the FBA to be heard with respect to other policy changes that could be helpful to making fiber networks ubiquitous, like changing rights-of-way policies, removing federal regulatory barriers and reforming the permitting process. The broadband landscape is permanently changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As means to continue its mission of driving fiber forward, the FBA will continue to uphold that “if it’s not fiber, it’s not broadband.”

“By providing insights into what is happening in the marketplace today, FBA was able to reinforce the importance of future-proof fiber networks,” Tom Cohen of Kelley Dry and Warren, FBA regulatory counsel, said. “Because FBA was able to show that consumer demand for faster speeds was compelling network operators to build more high-speed networks, it led to the inclusion of legislative provisions that create a fiber preference in federal funding programs.” Cohen said this could not have happened without conveying the real-world experiences of FBA members, as well as the effective advocacy of FBA’s Policy Committee. Increased reliance on the Internet during the pandemic and the shortcomings many Americans experienced in their service reinforced the need for federal funding for broadband. The FBA recognizes the infrastructure bill, and the inclusion of broadband, as one of the most impactful policy moves in the industry this year. “The fact that broadband deployment was considered an essential part of infrastructure—which was previously reserved for physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and transit—was crucial to the inclusion of broadband deployment,” Perry said.

Fiber broadband continues to be at the forefront of minds as we seek to bring strong, reliable internet to every American. Source: Adobe Stock

FIBER FOR BREAKFAST by Mary Cullen, Editor

Continued from page 30

Technologies:

How fiber stacks up to other media and what makes fiber the technology of the future.

Gone are the Days of the Traditional Service Bundle Data from Parks Associates shows consumer interest in phone, TV, Internet and cell bundles continues to decline. Consumers in recent years have shifted focus to standalone broadband options, neglecting historical ISP bundles. But, as Parks Associates Vice President of Research Dr. Jennifer Kent put it, those bundles serve as critical business functions for service providers. Today’s biggest change is the decline in traditional pay TV service, she said, as consumers are increasingly opting for OTT or online streaming video services. “As of Q1 this year, 82% of broadband households have at least one OTT video service of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, ESPN+, HBO GO—the list goes on and on—while only 58% retain a traditional pay TV service,” Kent cited from Parks Associates’ report.

She went on to explain that those numbers were flipped as of 2017, wherein more consumers paid for a cable TV subscription than for streaming services. Kent said consumer behavior has directly impacted this shift in traditional home service bundles. She noted that Q1 2021 showed 40% of broadband households receive standalone Internet. According to Parks Associates data, that stat has increased by 6% since 2017. This year, Kent explained, only 14% of broadband households reported having a traditional pay TV service bundle and only 12% report having triple play wherein they receive TV, phone and Internet bundled in their service.

How the U.S. Network Survived COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic caused a network-wide disaster unlike anything we’ve seen before. Thanks to the technological developments and adoptions of the last decade, the Internet managed to withstand the hit and our networks are growing stronger every day. That’s according to Dr. Douglas Sicker, Executive Director at the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG) and author of the 2020 Pandemic Network Performance report. “When COVID hit, we had this major shift of where people were working and where they were going to school—they all shifted to at home,” Sicker explained. “And as you know, this caused a major shift in traffic to the Internet.” BITAG’s study found—in some ways surprisingly, he noted— how the Internet managed to hold up against the strain. “What we saw very clearly was an opportunity to look at how the Internet evolved and the consequences of that evolution. We’ve seen things like the adoption of higher speed broadband technology and of CDNs, different Internet connections and so on all having an impact on making the Internet as resilient as it is,” Sicker said. “If these things didn’t happen, there’s no way

the Internet would have been able to handle the dramatic shift that resulted due to COVID.” He noted how the changing and adoption of technology as it happened over the last 10 years has had a direct impact on the Internet being as resilient as it was and continues to be. Sicker explained that the pandemic also allowed for service providers to think about how they view disaster planning across the network. Through the study, one of the first things that Sicker noted BITAG saw was the uptick of user devices. Not surprisingly, Sicker said, we had an influx of people buying newer, better devices to set up their home offices and at-home learning spaces. A lot of those devices had higher bandwidth demands. “One of the things that is still happening and creating problems is people using older home Wi-Fi network technology, which creates performance problems,” he added. With consumers buying these new products to enhance their setup, there was a big impact on the home network and the quality, and even placement of home Wi-Fi routers. Sicker explained that when those issues were adjusted or resolved, the networks started operating much better for consumer experience.

Fiber: Fit for Rural America Millions of people within the U.S.—a majority of whom live in rural areas—do not have access to quality Internet service. However, small local companies including utilities and telecoms are stepping up to provide high-speed broadband services. While many rural areas have increasingly relied on fixed wireless solutions, topology and geographic characteristics of Midwestern and Heartland cities make them better candidates for fiber networks.

“Are we always going to be playing catch up, or do we need to figure out a way to get in fiber?” he said. “Because in four to five years we’re not going to be dealing with Gigabit speeds, we’re going to need to offer 10 Gigabits for each customer, and fiber is the way to do that.”

John Greene, CEO of New Lisbon Telephone Company (NTLC) said it’s possible to provide Gigabit service over fixed wireless, but only in a lab or pristine environment. “The issue has to do with range and line of sight,” he said. “If you’re in the desert or you have large open expanses, you have line-of-sight and can see your customers and their houses, you won’t have to worry.” But that instance is more rare than not, and even a single line of trees can disrupt fixed wireless signals. While fiber networks can be expensive to initially install, they often offer better overall service and longevity, and are considered future-proof, Greene added.

Installing fiber networks will offer better overall service and longevity for decades to come. Source: Adobe Stock

Investing in Fiber and Next Generation PON Technologies 2021 brought the most investment for fiber than we have ever seen in the U.S. With so much opportunity comes great decisions for service providers seeking to upgrade their networks to stand the test of time. Today’s most common state-of-the-art technologies to deploy PON networks are GPON (2.5G down, 1.25G up) and XGS-PON (10G symmetric). ADTRAN CTO for the Americas Ryan McCowan noted if you’re starting off with a brand new network it makes the most sense to start off with XGS-PON or with Combo PON, as there are some instances where it makes sense to have both GPON and XGS-PON even when it is a new network.

“We see GPON running out of capacity in the next three to four years if you’re just using residential. If you’re trying to do any other kind of business services, it’s much sooner than that,” McCowan closed. “The bottom line is, no matter what technology you choose, there’s going to be a lot of bandwidth that you can deliver over this large fiber investment that you have to make sure that you can continue to grow and meet competitor and subscriber needs for the foreseeable future and beyond.”

Keeping Your Fiber Network on Course Fiber deployment continues to rise as the pandemic spurred new ways to work, learn, access healthcare and more. Whether a network is old or new, IQGeo Vice President Wade Anderson and Solutions Engineer Kyle Arnell say operators should not discount the value of a detailed and consistent system of record. Arnell said no organization is immune to network growing pains, and even the most successful ones still need some kind of record keeping process in place. “The larger an apparatus becomes, the more moving parts it requires to continue,” he said. “If you want your business to grow and continue to be efficient, you can’t rely on the information living inside of local technicians’ or engineers’ heads,” he said.

Source: ADTRAN

“XGS-PON is really starting to dominate the global PON market,” McCowan said. Most of the 10G ports shipped out in 2021 were part of Combo PON networks, and research from Omdia shows that demand is likely to continue through at least 2025. McCowan noted how adoption of these networks now opens doors for tomorrow’s networks and 25-50G PON wavelength plans. But in order to be prepared for the networks of the future, we must adopt networks that best meet today’s demands.

Anderson noted a big part of combatting this is keeping a detailed and well-maintained system of records, something that he said can be implemented regardless of what stage providers are in with deploying their network. “Imagine a world where you didn’t have your accounting books in a software record,” he said. “Analogous to QuickBooks for your accounting records is a system of record for your fiber records.”

Telco Cyber Security: Locating Vulnerabilities and Planning Protections The 1H 2021 Global Threat Landscape Report states that the Telco/Carrier sector experienced 160 cyberattacks in the first half of 2021, topping government, MSSP, automotive and more. “Every business segment, regardless of size, is under attack. But the Telco/Service Provider segment was the most attacked segment in the first half of 2021,” Christopher Cook, CEO of Lokx said, adding that T-Mobile and AT&T are the two most recent attacks, each having 50 million records breached. Ransomware is the most common form of cybercrime. Cook equates it to robbery: the kidnapping of your data and holding it ransom until you pay up—and some still don’t release it after payment. “It’s the gift that keeps on giving,” Chris Silvers, CEO of GC Silvers Consulting said, adding that cyber criminals can recycle their ransomware victims. “If you think that the attacker just got on your network and just sent you a ransom note, you’re fooling yourself,” Silvers said. “The average time the criminal is on your network before contact is six months.” Other common causes of a cyber breach include business email compromise (most commonly a fraudulent wire transfer), vulnerability management (not just patch management), social engineering or phishing attacks and wireless access breaches. “Wireless clients are vulnerable,” he said, adding that a common

Anderson said that coalescing your disconnected applications or records into a centralized fiber record system brings key benefits like capacity visibility and rapid outage response.

Source: ADTRAN

Plan for the Future with Fiber When we look toward the future, one thing is certain: connectivity will be king. “The pandemic has really accelerated our movement toward a virtual world by three to four years,” said John George, Senior Director of Solutions and Professional Services at OFS and Chair of FBA’s Technology Committee. “And that has a really important impact on the bandwidth required that we believe needs fiber to be viable—not just today, but in the future.” In the past decade, upload and download speeds in the home have greatly increased. In 2000, most homes required a 1/0.2 Mbps connection. Now, most homes require 100/50 Mbps to power everything from laptops and streaming TV to cloudbased video games. And that demand has been punctuated by the pandemic. Last year, upstream traffic doubled and downstream traffic was up by 23%. By 2030, George said homes will need upward of 2 Gigabit upload and download speeds—especially as we adopt more virtual and augmented reality technology into our day-to-day lives.

George said now is the time for providers to expand their networks and to ensure they’re futureproof. The pandemic has pulled Pandora out of its box. The days of customers settling for lower speeds and capacity are gone.

To get started, Arnell and Anderson recommend the following steps: Identify the data points that are most important to your current and future operations. Standardize around those key data points. Monitor your efforts and adjust course where necessary. Maintain your network documentation in the same way you do your physical assets

“As 2022 rolls around, it’ll be largely up to you and the defenses that you have in place to protect your business,” Cook said. “You won’t be able to fall back on cyber insurance like some businesses were able to do.”

Fiber networks being built today should be able to handle higher speeds in the next decade, meaning increased speeds will not bottleneck in those networks.

“Most fiber record systems will have an ability to take an OTDR trace, plug that into the system and estimate with a high degree of accuracy where that fiber break has likely occurred, allowing your team to roll trucks to the appropriate place and fix the outage in the fastest way possible,” Anderson explained.

• • • •

breach is client-side laptop login theft using WPA-enterprise. The insurance industry used to be cavalier in offering cyber insurance to best protect your business, but Silvers and Cook said those offerings will soon be few and far between as claims are approaching $2 million.

Now, most homes require 100/50 Mbps to power everything from laptops and streaming TV to cloud-based video games. Wireless clients are the most vulnerable for cyber breaches. Source: Adobe Stock

Upgrading Legacy Cable Networks: Making the Case for Fiber Among the many lifestyle changes that came about as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to working and learning from anywhere will continue to have long lasting impacts on our networks. Rather than planning for years down the road, service providers are having to contend with increased network needs at what feels like hyper speed. “Fiber has been a mainstay in the cable industry for at least 20 years,” Jack Burton, Principal at Broadband Success Partners, said, noting that the hybrid-fiber coaxial has long been a major component in many cable networks. But to now keep up with consumer network demands, those operators are needing to reevaluate what technology is best suited for their network needs.

repair costs total over $378k annually, compared to $38k annually for fiber network repairs. Burton and Strauss agree, the overall winner for upgrading those old legacy HFC networks is fiber.

Hacking The Divide: The Importance of Cybersecurity in Rural Networks The COVID-19 pandemic forced many to begin working and learning from home, changing the landscape of how businesses and education systems had to protect their networks. Under disaggregated systems, vulnerabilities for cyberattacks appear. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Terry Young, Director of Service Provider and 5G Marketing at A10 Networks, explained there has been an increase in malicious activity. Cyber criminals, she said, have taken advantage of what is in the news and used them as weapons. “What that means for your subscribers and for you to be aware of is that the public awareness of cybersecurity and the risk is much higher than it was a year-and-a-half ago,” she said.

Source: Broadband Success Partners

Gabriel Gumbs, cybersecurity expert and host of the Privacy Please podcast, agreed, adding that population shifts out of big cities and into more rural settings will also have an impact on rural service providers, as they will have to contend with “big city expectations.”

Burton and fellow Principal at Broadband Success Partners David Strauss explained that cable operators have a few options for updating those legacy HFC networks. But when looking at alternative solutions with Fiber to the Home, Burton said provider preference is with PON networks.

The number of vulnerable devices to cyberattacks is growing every day as consumers adopt more IoT devices into their homes. And IoT devices, as Gumbs points out, often do not have the same level of security as more desktop devices and so forth, so they make very good targets for cyber criminals.

“The first factor to consider is market conditions—the density of the market that you’re in—and what are the demographics,” Strauss said.

Every area of the network where security is low presents an opportunity for a cyber-attack.

Also, bandwidth changes cause outages and so do changes to gateway-based architecture, he added, “Fiber to the home wins because you build it as an overbuild or overlay to your coax. It wouldn’t cause any of those disruptions.”

“Just from the telecom industry, that’s 39 million data assets,” Gumbs said. “Those by and large represent actual people in terms of credit card information, passwords and so forth.”

For operating costs, FTTH is the clear winner when it comes to cost savings. Fiber networks do not have operational costs for preventative maintenance, and power costs are also not relevant as they are in HFC networks, Burton noted. When it comes to repair costs, Burton and Strauss shared findings from Broadband Success Partners that indicate HFC network

Source: FBA

An In-Depth Look at the Relationship Between Fiber and Fixed Wireless Fiber loves wireless, and wireless loves fiber. “‘When is wireless going to take over fiber?’ People have been asking me that for 30 years,” Mark Boxer, Technology Manager for Solutions and Applications Engineering at OFS, joked. “And the answer is that they really aren’t competitive technologies—they’re complimentary.” But each has their lanes, Boxer explained. There are areas where fiber works better or where wireless works better, and there are areas where they work better together. Over the last 10 years, for example, the area where wireless has worked best has been from your phone to the actual antenna. From that structure outwards, it has been traditionally fiber-wired.

Wireless has the capability to deliver high speeds, but as frequencies or speed increases, the distance that technology is capable of reaching without compromising speed gets shorter. With that in mind, delivering high-speed via wireless means the need for more cell sites closer to the customer—a solution that isn’t always possible in more rural, spread-out communities. “While fiber’s initial costs can be higher, it’s less expensive in the longterm, especially as speeds increase and as more cells need to be added,” Boxer explained. “Fiber’s longevity and scalability ultimately mean it is a lower cost solution as a residential bandwidth solution.”

“There’s significant new funding coming into the space that can really drive broadband forward,” Notter concluded. “I’m a big fan of this rural broadband theme and I like what’s going on. There’s a big need. There’s a lot of government dollars coming in and it’s a big picture that we like.”

“Spectrum demand is already high, but there are a lot of technologies still on the horizon and years down the road that will continue to drive that demand higher and higher,” Boxer explained.

At this stage of the pandemic, it’s a tale as old as time: consumer shifts to work- and learn-from-home led to increased bandwidth usage, pushing the drive for higher speeds and more reliable networks. However, the conversation does not stop there.

“We have the access network increasing with 10G speeds,” Cheevers said. “But the Wi-Fi network has always been problematic in delivering those high speeds on fiber to every device in the home.” Fiber broadband will provide the backhaul capacity needed to support nationwide 5G service rollouts. Source: Adobe Stock

Wi-Fi 6, 6E, 7 and 8 work to bring more capacity and lower latency while matching higher speeds in the home network.

Wall Street Insights on Broadband Investment Trends Today and in the Future After 25 years of equity experience in the communications equipment sector, Jefferies Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst George Notter is no stranger to the ins and outs of broadband investment. “The view is that everyone has broadband and it’s good, but the reality is that’s not true,” Notter said. “Everyone knows someone who lives in a more rural community that doesn’t have access to broadband.” In December 2020, the FCC published its census broadband connection data identifying 105 million homes in the U.S. that are served with broadband Internet. “However, the FCC’s definition of broadband is very generous,” Notter cautioned. He said he believes there are at least 23 million American homes that are flat unserved--not receiving any connection. “My estimates indicate that number goes up to at least 30 to 35

million homes with adding in those that are underserved.”

“These gateways over the next three years will allow for the symmetric specs and performance of the access network to be delivered to the client devices,” he explained. The reality is, Cheevers detailed, there are a lot of new services coming into the network from 5G in the home with backhaul and fiber, to working from home solutions that bring new requirements for bulletproof video conferencing and new applications like telemedicine that are more critical now than ever. “We are going to have a lot more lower latency interactions with visual smart assistants. We’re going to talk to things, they’re going to send video images back to us. We’re going to ask to speak to our doctor who is going to pop on our TV and on our phones,” he listed. “That’s what’s ahead of us, so the latency becomes important.” Latency also matters when considering more immersive services like AR and VR, “which will bring us to 500 megabitstype services and requirements that bursts to 10 gigabits to get those 15 millisecond sensitive frames into play as we twist our head and move around.” And as demand goes up, so come new technologies.

From an investor’s perspective, Notter said there is always concern with a lax in demand. One day, or for a long stretch of days, a product or service is hot on the investor market only for demand to fall and for that market to falter.

“What’s going to happen is that 6 GHz is going to go from a 2-gigabit service for most of the home to 4 to 10 gigabit service with Wi-Fi 7,” Cheevers said. “Wi-Fi 7 is going to open up an even wider spectrum from 160 megahertz today to 320 megahertz in 2023 and beyond.”

“That’s a view I don’t subscribe to for broadband,” Notter explained. “Demand for broadband will be lasting. COVID really shined a light on how necessary broadband is for rural development and the demand for broadband will likely continue to accelerate.” On the other side of a high demand is concerns about supply. “In an ordinary environment I’d say I’m not too concerned about [supply constraints], but this is not an ordinary environment at all and there are supply issues everywhere,” Notter admitted.

Notter explained. “Demand for broadband will be lasting. COVID really shined a light on how necessary broadband is for rural development and the demand for broadband will likely continue to accelerate.”

Preparing for Tomorrow’s Networks Today

CommScope CTO of Home Network Solutions Charles Cheevers noted that we already recognize video, IoT, smart assistants and other digital home services as the primary aggregators that service providers are delivering to the home.

So when choosing between the two technologies, Boxer said it’s important to acknowledge the current and projected future demands for speed.

Boxer explained. “Fiber’s longevity and scalability ultimately mean it is a lower cost solution as a residential bandwidth solution.”

The ongoing and future planned funding for rural broadband development helps aid in fostering a competitive market.

So what?

Source: Commscope

“Everyone is probably trying to build 10 gigabit capacity to the home, and we’ve never had the ability to carry that properly with the right latency, jitter and determinism of performance on wireless networks in the home over Wi-Fi,” Cheevers answered. “But now, we have a Wi-Fi set-up and that’s going to be the backbone of what we build future services on.”

What’s Next for the Future of PON? GPON has been widely deployed for years, but Broadband Forum research shows the likelihood of heavy growth in usage over the next several years.

are starting to see widespread deployment of XGS-PON, which allows for four times the capacity and close to 10 Gigabits, once you take the overhead off, as opposed to 2.5 Gigs on GPON.”

Ken Ko, Managing Director of the Broadband Forum, shared research that shows GPON and XGS-PON capacity is running out sooner than we’d think. GPON capacity could start running into its reserves as early as 2023 and 10 Gigabit XGS-PON as early as 2028, affecting performance for users.

Ko said that is a vast improvement, but we must also consider that service rates are going to be steadily increasing over the years. Additionally, XGS-PON comes with its own capacity issues.

“Heavy growth is consistent in what I’ve actually seen and what I’ve seen documented from mulatiple sources in years past—not even to mention last year’s pandemic and the huge bump in growth of usage that we saw last year,” Ko noted. While neither the projected heavy nor moderate growth rates hit the basic capacity of GPON, Ko said each growth projection exceeds GPON’s capacity minus the headroom needed in reserve. “GPON, depending on your network design and the services that you’re offering, may or may not have several years of life left to it going forward in the decade,” he continued. “However, we

“Once you get to those higher levels of service and the amount of headroom you have to leave for them, you may or may not get to the end of the decade before you reach exhaustion with XGS-PON,” he said. Ko noted that operators only supplying consumer services will likely reach the end of the decade without exhausting the network but acknowledged that most operators are looking at converging those consumer services with business services, which then throws another level of requirement as well as convergence opportunities.

By doing this on-site remote model, Carroll explained, Uniti can get the emergency management up running so that they can speed up the recovery in that area. It also allows that trailer to be used as a command headquarters. However, in order for this system to work most efficiently, Carroll added, providers must keep all data updated and current. “If your data is out of date, the organization can no longer trust the information and then you start scrambling and it becomes incredibly inefficient and costly,” he said. But if you are a provider that wants to be best prepared for managing your network, Carroll stressed the importance of adopting a well-executed mobile plan.

“We really have to start considering new PON technologies in the not very distant future,” he stated.

“I think that would be a fantastic goal and a vision for everybody to strive for,” he concluded.

Taking Your Fiber Network Planning Mobile

10G PON is Leading Deployment Across North America

In 2020, COVID-19 introduced a new workforce model nearly overnight as businesses scrambled to implement work-fromhome. After a year-and-a-half of remote life, companies are beginning to capitalize on that same model. The remote work model is for more than office workers and desk jobs. In fact, Enghouse Networks’ Director of Solutions Engineering Tom Carroll said a remote model, or going “mobile,” is the next step for fiber network operators who are seeking to improve productivity, response rates and more. Carrol said it’s about more than just using an application on your smart phone in the field where you can experience any kind of weather elements over a span of hours while trying to complete a series of tasks. “GIS/GPS-enabled devices allow the field team to be part of the solution to improve accuracy and efficiency,” Carroll said. “A lot of places are very remote, and a GPS device can help identify and find the problem.” As a use case study, Carroll shared stories from Uniti Fiber, based along the Gulf Coast, which has seen its fair share of named storms in recent years.

“Yes, everybody has a disaster recovery plan here, but it’s another thing to have a disaster recovery plan where you have a remote location take over operators, versus taking the mobile trailer with your operations inside of it to the disaster recovery site,” he said.

A survey by the Fiber Broadband Association, Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report highlights that service providers of all sizes, rural or urban mix and geographies will be deploying 10G services over the next two years.

Source: Broadband Technology Report

“Perhaps not surprisingly, XGS-PON is the most popular technology option among the respondents who do plan to build out some 10G infrastructure, or to add to the 10G infrastructure they already have,” Hardy said, before adding that 12% percent of respondents noted intent to use 10 Gig EPON and 4% plan to use NG-PON2. “Being able to support symmetrical 10G is probably still a couple of years away,” Hardy said. “And so people who feel like they need the full 10G capabilities, both upstream and downstream, are probably looking a little bit more closely at the 10G PON options out there and seeing that as a certainly more future-proof path towards keeping ahead of their subscriber requirements as well as their own operational needs.” While 10G continues to grow in popularity, Hardy noted there is already technology for 25G and 50G, and plans for 100G PON are on the horizon. “There certainly appears to be quite the runway for future capacity expansion in the PON community,” Hardy concluded.

Eighty-six percent of respondents will either start deployment, add more 10G subs or finish their 10G deployment in the next two years, and 26% of operators already have over half of their network deployed with 10G. “As far as what’s driving their interest in 10G?,” Stephen Hardy, Editorial Director and Associate Publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report asked. “Not surprisingly, the ability to provide higher speed services was the most popular option selected among our respondents, followed by competitive differentiation.” Hardy noted the ability to potentially address new customer segments was also a strong driver, followed by the delivery of new services, support for 5G rollout and the ability to serve more subscribers.

10G PON is Leading Deployment Across North America Source: Adobe Stock

The Importance of Planning for 10G PON with Future-Proofed Networks

Work-and learn-from-home mandates, countless video conferences, the ongoing swing towards video streaming services—this will be a long chapter in our history books. Our changes in behavior, many due to the COVID-19 pandemic, directly impacted our broadband network needs. While at times frustrating, the lessons learned will have a long-lasting impact on how our broadband networks are built with the future in mind. Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative (FTC) in rural northeast Alabama was ahead of the network demand game in 2018 when it began to shift its customers off Active Ethernet and onto GPON. A catalyst of that change came in the form of a new development that brought tons of families into a very rural area. “It was an area that we would have previously expected to serve maybe two homes in,” Charles Austin, Manager of Network Engineering and Operations at FTC, said.

the ONT is managed by the same group who manage the carrier network--the same people who manage that ONT. So, it flattened the organization quite a bit and reduced the need for specialized-and expensive--knowledge.” After that school district, FTC bit the bullet and began its shift over to XGS-PON. Kevin Kuo, Director of Product and Solution Marketing at Calix, said FTC made the right choice in its XGS-PON solution. “XGS-PON is an up-and-coming 10G PON solution, and it conveniently coexists with GPON,” making the transition easy for providers. While the improvements may look and sound expensive to carriers looking to make the switch, Austin said the upgrade has well paid off over time. He reported that FTC has also seen significant decreases in truck roll numbers thanks to the change. Austin stressed the importance of making that shift now, rather than waiting and having to scramble when customers start demanding 5G connections.

Considering its high cost and infrastructure needs, Active Ethernet was not a plausible solution. GPON allowed FTC to connect a neighborhood of families over a single fiber link. And for a while, GPON served FTC’s customers well. Until 2020.

FBA LATAM Corner

By Edna Preuss, Director, Industry Affairs & Member Services, FBA LATAM Chapter The Fiber Broadband Association’s LATAM Chapter works hard to represent the industry in Latin America and advocate for the implementation of fiber technology across the region. Since creation in 2011, when fiber optic services were at the initial embryonic stages in the region, the organization has provided knowledge, resources and training to many operators that now have their network steadily transitioning from copper or HFC fixed line infrastructure to fiber. Nonetheless, the growth doesn’t come without its challenges. The pandemic intensified the importance of access to highquality connectivity to sustain economies, labor productivity, education, health and interpersonal relationships. Keeping these challenges in mind and aligning them with the reality of the deficits of a growing but economically fluctuating and diverse region, the LATAM Chapter, led by its President Nelson Saito and very engaged Board of Directors, has put together many efforts to stay relevant during a social distant period.

of the entire telecommunications ecosystem and national fiber programs, and current acquisition strategies underway in the telecommunications sector will lead to massive growth of fiber networks in Latin America, surpassing old DSL networks. Certainly, there are many efforts to be implemented to keep momentum going and the industry growing. In recent work by the Regulatory committee under the leadership of Eduardo Jedruch, a few points were identified as important ways to generate a positive impact to support connectivity infrastructure. They include providing transport and interconnection networks, promoting sharing of telecom infrastructure among service providers, and encouraging public-private projects to offer coverage and reach the most neglected and vulnerable sectors.

The annual conference, historically held in a different country of Latin America every year, was held virtually in 2020 and 2021. The first edition of the Fiber Connect LATAM 2021 (June 25-26) had record-breaking registrations. The event focused on “Fiber Promoting the Connection and Transformation of Society” and brought together industry-leading experts. Marketing Director Liza Poe, the members of the Marketing Committee, and the Board of Directors worked incessantly to create strong content and an engaging virtual experience.

According to the Pew Research Center, one in five employees worked from home prior to 2020. In a matter of days, that number jumped to 71%. Eighty-one percent of those employed adults working from home say they use video conferencing services to stay connected with their teams. The number for students learning from home is likely even higher. Higher bandwidth was no longer a luxury but a necessity. Suddenly, GPON was not sufficient to carry customers’ bandwidth needs. FTC needed a new solution, and it came as a result of a local school district’s needs. Charles Austin, Manager of Network Engineering and Operations, said FTC needed a plan to cover a network of schools in its region, and XGS-PON was the answer. Utilizing a single fiber already existing as part of the former GPON network, FTC was able to deploy service to this network of schools with no new construction or slicing needed. After that school district, FTC bit the bullet and began its shift over to XGS-PON. “It’s much more efficient from the fiber standpoint,” Austin said. “And from the operational standpoint, a single fiber running to

Fiber for Breakfast Summaries continue on page 52

Recognizing the change in interaction and the need to continue training, the Chapter is renovating its Training and Certification Program. A strong team effort is coming together guided by Technology Director Nicanor Ruiz and Operations Director Felipe Antunes to create eight different courses: Fiber Fundamentals, Project Designer, Field & Operations Expert, Premises Installer, Architectures, Business Expert, and Passive Optical LAN Designer. The program is at its final stages of completion and will be made available to the public shortly.

The mission of the LATAM Chapter is to promote the development of fiber optic network infrastructure as a universal platform for ultra-broadband access. As an organization advocating for the deployment of Fiber technology in Latin America, we work diligently and appeal to regulatory and government agencies, service providers, technology providers, investment and funding companies, asking them to join our organization’s initiatives and support the development of regional economies.

Continuing to assess the market and provide a benchmark to the region, the organization conducted its annual market study and confirmed the continuous growth of fiber deployment – Latin America surpassed 80 million homes passed by fiber. The region has intensified efforts to reach remote and isolated areas with full-fiber connectivity, many of them with strong performance from local and municipal providers. The number of subscribers also continues to grow. These advancements point to great growth in the market generated by the engagement

The mission of the LATAM Chapter is to promote the development of fiber optic network infrastructure as a universal platform for ultra-broadband access.

Source: Pew Research Center

A Year in FBA Research

By Debbie Kish, FBA Vice President of Research and Workforce Development Research is the cornerstone of the Fiber Broadband Association, and 2021 was an exciting year with an expanding collection of white papers, surveys and research. A combination of joint efforts between the FBA’s Fiber Council Global Alliance and Technology Committee added new depth to the knowledge base of the Fiber Broadband Association.

Fiber Bridges the Gap Narrowing the Digital Divide

The Rural Digital Divide white paper illustrated the importance of bringing high-speed Internet to rural areas to support access to telehealth, at home learning and work, as well as the economic benefits of agriculture, transcontinental transportation, forestry, mining, energy production and manufacturing. This white paper examined how fiber is instrumental in eliminating the digital divide and will provide the necessary speed requirements for the average household today and in the future.

When the Market Speaks, Policy Makers Listen

Roads and bridges were built as critical infrastructure to allow people to travel and contribute to a healthy economy and an overall productive society. Today, we can do practically anything from home with the help of the Internet—the modern critical infrastructure. However, not everyone has access to this resource and for some that do, there simply isn’t enough bandwidth to conduct Source: FBA everyday life. Great strides and advancements have been made in providing increased speeds to users, but some have reached their limits while others have ongoing high maintenance costs. Alternative solutions such as satellites are still challenged and not foundational for future services (e.g. 5G, 6G etc.). This research explains that the market has chosen fiber and wireless for critical infrastructure and mobility.

Access vs. All-Fiber Networks for Broadband Access, we recognize that fixed wireless provides a path to Fiber-to-theHome (FTTH) when speed and initial cost of deployment are a consideration. In these cases, fiber is deployed as close to the subscriber as possible and fixed wireless is used in the last few hundred meters. Interestingly, the favorable attributes of fiber (high performance, low latency, lower total cost of ownership (TCO) over time, and overall consumer satisfaction) puts fiber at the top of the list in high-speed broadband preference.

More to Broadband than Fixed Wireless

To ensure we had a full spectrum of comparisons to alternative technology and due to the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) award of almost $900 million to Starlink, we commissioned a study by Cartesian and published an FTTH vs. Emerging Low Earth Orbiting Satellites (LEOS) Broadband Networks Capability Assessment. The results were nothing short of eye opening. It revealed that if Starlink commits its capacity to only the 642,925 locations in 35 states for which it received a tentative award to serve, 56% - 57% of locations will experience service degradation during peak times and not meet the RDOF public interest requirements. Further, Cartesian estimates that 25–29% of locations will receive an average of less than 10 Mbps of bandwidth during peak times.

The Future of Work

The pandemic highlighted a need for high-speed reliable broadband service to all, as every person and every business was affected. The Fiber Broadband Association and the Fiber to the Home Council Global Alliance (FCGA) conducted a Future of Work survey and published the findings in “The Future of Work: Analyzing Global Broadband Trends.” Information from resources such as the Economic Policy Institute provided information on productivity to support the survey findings and show how relocation and wages have been affected. As businesses have crammed 8-10 years of digital transformation into 8 months, there has never been a more important time for fiber to be the broadband media that delivers speed, allowing productivity, satisfaction and the lowest TCO for providers.

Technology Comparisons and Assessments

Fiber gives us critical infrastructure, wireless gives us mobility and satellites are good for niche applications. The FBA’s Technology Committee provided cost comparisons and assessments to provide eye-opening details around the long-term benefits of fiber and its complementary nature to wireless technologies, like 5G and 6G. For example, in the comparison Fixed Wireless

Source: FBA

FIBER FOR BREAKFAST by Mary Cullen, Editor

Continued from page 48

The Digital Divide:

Finding ways to address the gap with future-proof fiber.

Fiber: The Only Choice for Bridging the Digital Divide The rural digital divide has existed long before the COVID-19, but the pandemic highlighted the challenges of living in a digital economy without proper access to high-speed broadband services. When the world shut down, it was clear to anyone that lived in an underserved, rural community that “best effort” broadband was anything but good enough. The Fiber Broadband Association technology committee released “The Rural Digital Divide: Fiber Broadband Can Eliminate The North American Rural Digital Divide” in June. In this whitepaper, tech committee members John George, Barry Walton and Michael Render looked at the digital divide across Canada and the United States and found that 44% of Canadians and at least 20% of Americans living in rural communities are on the wrong side of that divide. “When you look at high speed broadband, in terms of how critical it is to rural areas, the reasons have all been amplified as a result of the pandemic,” Barry Walton, Telecom Solution Architect at Corning, said. “Our daily lives have really changed after living through the pandemic, and we’ve come to depend on broadband.” Fellow white paper author George, who is a Senior Director of Solutions and Professional Services at OFS and chair of FBA’s tech committee, said “even after more workers and students return to their offices and schools, the desire for increased bandwidth will continue to rise.” “We have gigabit symmetrical speeds that we anticipate will be

Making Fiber Possible throughout Labor Shortages, Increased Demand With high demand for broadband expansion and increased network speeds, the telecom industry is facing tough decisions on how to meet consumer needs while juggling the labor burden. “One of the huge challenges for us has been how do we get everyone the best available Internet at reasonable prices in a small community and still stay viable?” Cruzio Internet Director of Technology and Infrastructure Chris Frost questioned. “Finding a modular way to do it has been key to keeping lead time down and to keeping training costs from getting a new hire to a fullyfunctional tech down.” Cruzio and Midco utilize Clearfield’s cassette technology to simplify fiber deployment. Frost said simplicity is key in achieving Cruzio’s fiber deployment goals.

Source: FBA

required for new applications under development, including virtual reality, augmented reality and rich, visual content through potentially wearable devices that rely on cloud processing, requiring very high-speed symmetrical connections with very low latency to operate properly,” George explained. “This will give a much richer experience for education, work and home entertainment that isn’t available today.” George noted how he and his colleagues looked at these anticipated technologies and the required bandwidth needs. “Over the next decade, we’re seeing the peak bandwidth needs for a household of four growing from about 130 Mbps down and 73 Mbps up today to over 2 Gbps symmetrical in the next 10 years,” George stated, citing findings from the white paper.

“None of our field techs that are doing installs are splice trades, which means that we can use our apprenticeship program and bring folks in at a low wage,” he said. “We can train them not just to do the things that we do, but to do them the way that we want them done in our company.” Frost said this shift has been huge for the provider because it eliminates the need to retrain new techs, but also, the modularity means that the techs are always working with the same basic building blocks, regardless of whether it’s a fiber-to-the-home build or fiber for a MDU. General Manager for Regional Engineering Jeremy Billings said Midco aims to limit the number of tools and devices that techs have to carry, and Clearfield’s pre-connectorized drop

Clearfield uses cassette technology to simplify fiber deployments across the U.S. Source: Clearfield

fibers make that possible. He said by making the whole system Plug-and-Play, field techs with experience in coax are easily transitioned to Fiber-to-the-Home builds. “We’re trying to make deployments as quick and efficient as possible,” Billings concluded, expressing Midco’s gratitude for a modular solution that alleviates the stress of labor shortages in a time of increased demand. “We take techs, train them, quickly get them on the field doing installs and get them going from there.”

The writers also compared bandwidth demand growth from 2016 to present day, noting averages more than tripled from 54.97 Mbps down and 18.88 Mbps up to current averages of 179.06 Mbps down and 64.89 Mbps up. Considering new applications that will continue to drive demand, a 35% per year speed increase would result in demands of 1,500 Mbps down and 599 Mbps up in year 2030. “So, what do we do about this?” Mike Render, white paper coauthor and CEO of market research firm, RVA, asked. “I’m going to say up front that the answer is fiber.”

Source: FBA

“Over the next decade, we’re seeing the peak bandwidth needs for a household of four growing from about 130 Mbps down and 73 Mbps up today to over 2 Gbps symmetrical in the next 10 years,” George stated, citing findings from the white paper.

The need for train technical workers will only increase as fiber broadband deployments increase. Source: Adobe Stock

The Impact of Streaming on Rural Broadband Providers

Consumers Value More Than Just Speed

Broadband networks generally perform well until they exceed 85% network capacity. Beyond this point all traffic, regardless of source, can be negatively impacted. Broadband service providers are forced to make investments to accommodate the traffic on these networks, with no contribution to capital or operational investments from outside sources.

Nearing two years into having the COVID-19 virus in our lives, it’s no secret that our society has undergone significant changes. Some of these are completely new, like wearing masks or not being able to shake hands. Others were merely accelerations of changes that were a few years down the road—specifically, technological advances.

increase. We started a 3-year multi-million-dollar project in 2017 to transform the network from 10G to 100G,” Todd explained. “Here we are one year after finishing that project and we’re already anticipating that our next round of upgrades are only a few years away.” Todd said a major driving force of the demand for network expansion is a direct result of the continuously increasing use of streaming services. “For every investment we make to increase capacity on our networks, the streaming providers are using more and more of that capacity,” Todd said. “Considering revenues for streaming services that use our networks, we’ve determined that for every dollar earned for streaming companies, we were investing 49 cents to provide an adequate network.”

Rural broadband providers will need fiber-optic technology to stay ahead of the demand for hungry bandwidth applications like streaming. Source: Nex-Tech

USTelecom identified that services have increased by 2018 report also found that heavy content streams—like grow by 20% year over year.

subscriptions to video streaming 60% over a four-year period. The rising consumer demand for datahigh-definition video—continued to

Three years and a global pandemic later, those numbers continue to grow. Nex-Tech is a fiber-based company positioned between Denver and Kansas City. Its network covers roughly 10,000 square miles. Aggregated data from rural carriers identified streaming stats within their networks which showed that streaming traffic is growing 30% annually across its rural network alone and that streaming makes up for 75% of the network traffic.

In more urban areas, you have more subscribers per mile, giving you a bigger bang for your buck when it comes to network expansion. In rural areas, you can have as little as one subscriber per square mile, Todd explained, “So the cost per customer is extremely high.” “When you’re looking at service providers, who have a finite amount of capital, they have to continue to reach customers while also staying ahead of the demand that will continue to be placed on the network,” he said. Todd said he hopes these concerns by rural providers will be recognized on the federal level this year. Specifically, Todd pointed to HR 1650, which was introduced recently and requires an FCC study on network traffic in high-cost rural areas. Todd said he also hopes for 2020’s HR 2929 (the Rural Broadband Network Advancement Act) to be reintroduced to this Congress.

Looking at total capacity for one month, most Nex-Tech customers in 2015 were consuming up to 10 Mbps. Five years later, consumption jumped to between 50 Mbps and 1 Gigabit speeds and those relying on less than 10 Mbps had nearly vanished. When considering data usage, Nex-Tech CEO and General Manager Jimmy Todd said it was a similar story.

“Businesses and countries that already have advanced broadband networks will be able to spring back from this crisis, as well as manage other ones in the future, far better than most that do not,” Michael Philpott, Director of Research at Omdia said. “That puts a new focus back on the digital divide.” High-quality broadband drives socioeconomic growth, he stressed. According to research from Omdia, every doubling of broadband speed offered in a community equates to a 0.3% growth in GDP. Beyond that, a 10% increase in broadband penetration in a community brings between 0.25% and 1.2% growth in GDP. “If you want to ‘level-up’ not just countries, but the whole world, we must invest in not just broadband connectivity, but high-quality broadband connectivity,” Philpott said. But, he noted, meeting consumer broadband demands is not all just about speed. Philpott agreed that speed is important as we move towards technologies of tomorrow. However, he added, we also know that investing in today’s networks addresses the needs of today and the needs of the future. And the needs of the future are Gigabit speeds. “When we put infrastructure in the ground today, we’re not just putting it in for what we’re doing today, but for the future. This technology will be in the ground for 20 or 30 years, and we must plan for that,” Philpott argued.

But consumers value more than just speed. Research from Omdia shows that consumers place high value on broadband reliability, customer service, a good Wi-Fi experience and high-quality applications and features. “That’s why when we’re moving to higher quality, higher broadband type services, that fiber is a fundamental technology that will deliver that going forward,” he said. Fiber has numerous benefits to the operator, as well, including increased ARPU, reduced churn, reduced maintenance, reduced infrastructure and reduced energy consumption. “Going forward in the next five years, we do see DSL dropping off quite rapidly and being replaced by fiber,” he said. “Cable is holding quite strong, although this forecast was done at the start of the year and we’re just now going into a renewal of that data.” Philpott went on to say that Europe is undergoing a much faster migration from cable to fiber, and that we may start seeing that in the United States soon. “Broadband is essential to the COVID-19 recovery, and fiber is the backbone of that,” Philpott said. “The socioeconomic benefits it provides enable us to move to a cleaner, more sustainable world.”

“If you want to ‘level-up’ not just countries, but the whole world, we must invest in not just broadband connectivity, but high-quality broadband connectivity,” Philpott said. Fiber delivers more reliable, consistent broadband service. Source: Adobe Stock

The increased streaming traffic is no surprise as people are spending more time at home, but as Todd explained, the concern is that increased streaming will require higher speeds—which puts a strain on rural broadband providers who are already facing higher costs. “When we were looking at projections on our network in 2016, we realized our 10Gig core network was obviously going to need to

Rural broadband subscribers are currently at a disadvantage when compared to their urban counterparts. Source: Adobe Stock

Identifying Broadband Needs with NTIA’s New Public-Facing Map The National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) released a public-facing map that combines public and private source data on the need for broadband. The Indicators of Broadband Need (IBN) tool was derived from the National Broadband Availability Map (NBAM) program.

The Role of Fiber in Fulfilling Stimulus Broadband Expansion Projects

The map presents a detailed view of usage and access to the Internet across the U.S. The areas with an indicator of need are red, while “served” are green and those without data are grey.

“We’re not saying that all of these areas are necessarily unserved. We’re saying there is an indicator of need,” he explained. “It could be that there’s a lack of infrastructure, it could be that there is a digital inclusion challenge. But the bottom line, I think, is this pandemic has shone a light on parts of the country that don’t have the same access that other parts do.” He said this map is a means to highlight that divide and start a conversation. “There is no silver bullet data set,” Moyer said. “These are indicators of need. They inform the conversation, they are not determinant, but it certainly tells us a little more than we knew before.”

Only 14.1% of commercial buildings with less than 20 employees working onsite have access to fiber broadband, according to a 2020 survey by Vertical Systems Group. Rosemary Cochran, Principal and Co-Founder of Vertical Systems Group, said “the move to fiber has been steady over the years, noting that 2018 showed a strong focus for connecting small businesses with fiber and in 2019 we saw the first instance where the number of lit commercial buildings in the U.S. exceeded one million.”

“The whole goal is to better inform broadband policy and investment decision making,” Tim Moyer, Director of Data & Mapping at NTIA, said during a recent Fiber for Breakfast.

When looking at the map using its opening presets, the country is far more red than green, indicating a high percentage of unserved. The FCC has estimated 17 million unserved Americans while the Biden Administration number is closer to 20 million unserved and Microsoft’s data indicates that the number is in the range of 42 million. Moyer said the true answer is probably somewhere in the middle, according to this compilation of research.

Fiber Installation Trends and Drivers for Future Growth

Cochran explained that the drive for fiber is stronger than ever, due to increased services that rely on a strong network. “At this point, 10 Gigabit and higher speed services have the highest growth overall in the U.S.,” she said, and pointed to increased need for network capacity, diversity, reliability and low latency. Visionary Broadband expands broadband access to communities in Wyoming with fiber. Source: Visionary Broadband

Additionally, the push for 5G brings with it increased desire for fiber expansion.

“The fact of the matter is, the discussion around fiber is the most important. I don’t care if you’re a cable company, cell provider, utility, municipality or a broadband builder like myself--everybody needs fiber.” Brian Worthen is President and CEO of Visionary Broadband, a broadband builder with experience deploying fiber networks across Western U.S. In 2020, Worthen and his staff put in countless hours of work “playing the field,” submitting 39 grant applications for broadband expansion. Of those 39, they secured 15. One of those was an expansion project in Wyoming funded through CARES grants. “In 117 days, we put up 56 towers and almost 60 miles of fiber, including fiber through four communities,” Worthen explained.

Emerging technologies like AI, IoT and 5G will require further fiber expansion in the years ahead. Source: Vertical Systems Group

While each application comes with its own frustrations, including the time taken and masses of paperwork to ensure funding, Worthen said the process is far worth the benefit that these communities receive from expanded broadband access.

“The wireless carriers have been investing heavily in fiber for many years to ensure the coverage and performance of 5G services and also to help enable the IoT devices and sensors that, ultimately, are supposed to control everything. So, that’s going to take a lot of fiber,” Rosemary noted.

“And as we look at future programs and as providers are talking to their municipalities or states,” he noted. “We should be talking about fiber first.”

Other services that further push the need for fiber expansion include edge computing, Gigabit Ethernet, and new-age ways of enjoying entertainment and sports experiences.

The National Broadband Availability Map is an indicator of need for more access to broadband. Source: NTIA

Former RUS Administrator Reflects on Past, Future Plans for Rural Broadband Federal programs are imperative to bridge the broadband gap that exists across rural America, but support can’t stop there — according to Chad Rupe, former RUS administrator and current Managing Member at Rural America Strategies, LLC. “It shouldn’t just be government proceeds going out to support low-income individuals, it should be giving those people a leg up, and letting them go out and earn a higher income to be part of the mainstream and middle-income type of bracket,” Rupe said. Rupe served as the 21st Administrator of the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service during which he implemented the 2018 Farm Bill changes

to rural broadband (including Smart Grid deployment), deployed over $18 billion in federal loans and grants for 8,000 utility borrowers, led the ReConnect broadband program and more. Rupe said the ReConnect program is a real opportunity for broadband expansion—leveling the playing field to allow for more wide deployments in those hard-to-reach areas. “I don’t want to disparage any technology,” Rupe said. “But when we’re talking about taxpayer dollars, I think it’s important that we’re diligent in the application of those taxpayer dollars.”

The USDA invested in 105 projects in the second round of the ReConnect Program. The investments include $852,077,242 in grant and loan funding for high-speed broadband infrastructure. The funded service areas include a total of 141,451 households.