Telecom Industry Perspective: Kevin Maes on FTTH

This article originally appeared in OSP – a publication of ISE Magazine. We’re reprinting it here on the blog because the information remains relevant today.

When I started in this business some 20 years ago, a colleague of mine told me: “There is a stigma attached to outside plant that implies we all wear size 3 hats and have 19-inch necks. Soon, you will find out it requires so much more than that.”

Boy, was he right! You may be able to survive in this role if you approach the outside plant (OSP) with limited abilities and work ethic. However, to be successful, you must be efficient, adaptable, and sharp as a tack. In this article, I’ll share what my team and I have discovered in our 10-year quest for the optimal FTTH build plan.

The Quest

Obviously, the goal is to prepare and issue a perfect plan that can be adhered to without variation during the construction process. Unfortunately, this rarely (if ever) happens. In the OSP business, the preparatory work is often hurried, affected by budget limitations, marketing timelines, inexperienced personnel, understaffing, and so on. As is often the case, the best laid plans often go awry.

No matter what the reason, it is up to the OSP team to get the job done — on time and under budget. In order to achieve this result, it is important to identify and empower individuals to react quickly and to be decisive. Having a solid plan is just as critical as being aligned with other departments across the company. Not only does this create an environment for an effective FTTH launch and speed to market, it also keeps the project rolling.

Here are 4 major stages, and some tips-of-the trade for each stage, that can help your project run smoothly.

Stage 1: PLANNING

Labor is overwhelmingly the biggest factor driving OSP construction costs. Understanding this and crafting your designs around labor costs is extremely important. Since there is no way around it, be creative and make sure your designs are as cost efficient as possible. Keep in mind the timing of the project at hand is critical, as seasonal conditions impact labor costs.

Consider grouping or issuing projects together in advance to make them attractive to bidders. High volume helps stabilize the process and gets more work out faster. If done correctly, it can get you a volume discount. The one drawback to this approach is that it can create problems for teams downstream.

Know what your “cost per household passed” threshold is. Keep that dollar amount in mind during the planning and design process. This number will definitely impact the people preparing the designs.

Stay current with industry standards when working your designs — but use caution. Don’t get caught up in the hype of the latest fads. As the old adage goes: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Once the new innovative products are deployed, you might discover they’re not that great after all. Focus on striking a balance. Infuse a few new ones with tried-and-true techniques.

Contact your material suppliers. Find out if they foresee any issues with product availability based on when you need the materials. Ask if any material cost increases are being forecasted for the duration of your project.

Research the permitting authorities with whom you need to work. Learn about their processing times, fees, and any special conditions that may be required.

Talk to people involved with marketing. What are their sales goals and projected take rates? Will their projects affect your material or cable sizing selections? Will their project take rates have a positive effect on the construction budget (allowing for greater expansion of your project)?

Stage 2: DESIGN

Aerial or buried plant? Some municipalities may prefer underground construction and may not allow you to place new facilities aerially. If you get to choose, here are a few things to consider:
High labor costs are the primary obstacle when placing buried plant.

There may be obstacles if joint-use agreements are not favorable for aerial plant construction. Pole attachment permitting can also take time. Any violations that require the power company to perform “make ready” or “corrective” work are difficult to predict and account for when preparing your budget. In addition, the make ready work is often done at the power company’s convenience, which may negatively impact your construction schedule.

When considering moving from buried to aerial plant, expect resistance, especially where existing buried plant is prevalent. For example, the Operations department may be resistant initially as they look at possible future higher maintenance costs caused by normal environmental hazards (e.g., tree limbs, rodent bites, and storm damage).

Pre-terminated plant versus hardline cable. A great deal of time should be spent on this conversation during the design phase because finding the threshold or “sweet spot” for using connected plant or cable is critical to the FTTH build. This is something TDS Telecom has wrestled with for years. At first, everything was done with hardline cable. Then, we started migrating to mostly connected plant. Today, we are using more of a balanced approach. There are real benefits for having things already connected. However, too much of it can affect other aspects of the design, including the number of terminals per service address, and labor to push the tails through the innerduct.

Innerduct placement (or not). Currently, we place all new fiber cable inside an innerduct instead of directly burying the cable. We have considered going without, but most construction companies say they will place innerduct anyway because they feel it offers efficiencies during construction. The one big advantage to placing fiber cable inside innerduct is that, in the event of fiber cable damage, the damaged section of cable can be replaced faster and easier.

Develop strong partnerships with your vendors and stay current with them. Choose wisely when deciding what to introduce into your designs. Remember, not all ideas from the lab turn work in the field. If you can, offer to trial items your vendors have been testing in the lab. We have done this many times, but have not implemented all of the new products tested.

Stage 3: RESOURCES

Human capital is the most critical, and dynamic, part of an FTTH build. Everyone in planning, sales, marketing, engineering, procurement, construction, and records play a major role. It makes communication and collaboration extremely important, and often can be the difference between a project’s success and failure. Here are several examples.

Failing to involve the locators or to communicate with them about the timing for underground cable locating can hold up the entire plan.

Working with municipalities to secure permits means wrapping in the folks who review permits to those who locate utilities (e.g., water, street lighting, etc.).

Forgetting to communicate with the municipality can lead to ill-prepared employees who are unable to handle your overbuild. Getting them the plans in advance allows them to prepare which ultimately provide better service to their residents. However, if a municipality finds your plans a burden, or they hope to add their own infrastructure, consider moving to another community. In order for this to work, you must have a project “on-deck” in case a recalcitrant city official is not moved to work with you to provide better services to their residents.

Securing materials is next in line in terms of priority. Consider having multiple vendors to ensure what you need is available when you need it. This can improve your access to materials, serve as a fall back plan, and protect you from catastrophic events, including weather. Believe it or not, a tsunami on the other side of the globe can affect availability of materials just as much as a hurricane in the southern US.

The tricky part is building a solid relationship with your vendors — one based on trust and fairness. Once you have both the materials and vendors in place, you’ll need a solid logistics company to move your materials around and get them to the job site on time.

What to order (or not order) is also key when dealing with materials. Look to understand the real savings (or costs) if you choose to place an up-front order for all the materials needed for the entire project or year. You must consider the impact on teams who care for receiving the equipment and materials as well as the available space, warranty information, pre-staging, and internal accounting overhead. What initially might look like savings could prove to be more costly than having your contractor supply and provide the materials as needed.

Stage 4: GEOGRAPHY

Population density (or the homes per mile) in an OSP build is the largest factor driving cost per service address. All the savings in the world and the best designs can’t make up for homes not being near each other.

In addition to proximity, other geography issues require thoughtful planning. Some tips to help you along the way are:

• Remember to plan for future growth and vacant lots. Use a pre-terminated design that allows some flexibility to grow as the subdivision grows.
• Soil types have a big impact on buried cable construction. Sand, caliche, clay, rock and cobble can be significant cost drivers. Knowing as much as you can about the soil type should help avoid sticker shock when you open the bids. It will also help avoid unnecessary approvals (and potentially re-approvals).
• Research the number of projects being executed by other service providers in the area. It’s sort of like shopping for a home: Is it a buyer’s market or seller’s market? If there is little telecom work in the area, it benefits the provider. If there is a lot of work, it benefits the contractors.
• Concentrating large workloads in the same geographic area can make things very difficult to sustain over time. Relying on the same employees, consultants, and contractors for an extended period of time can be tricky and sometimes can lead to burnout.

In summary, when it comes to the optimal FTTH build, it’s important to have a solid game plan. Early on, the plan should identify obstacles and evaluate the pros and cons of decisions to be made. Then, you need to be ready to adapt your plan to unexpected circumstances and be prepared for the inevitable.

It’s like the old adage The more you know, the more you discover you don’t know. When changes do occur, be adaptable, employ your contingency plans, and be ready for unforeseen issues that may present themselves during your FTTH overbuild.

Kevin Maes is VP of Engineering at Millennium Geospatial. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

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