Quote:
Originally Posted by bowener
I think we must be talking about two different things. I don't know where he is actually located, but to build a 100' tower is about $6-8k. Land prices not included. Leasing fiber is different everywhere but let's say $1500 a fiber a month. The equipment on the tower is $15k, and another $7k for all the equipment on the homes themselves. If the backbone is a mile away from the tower site, and somewhere rural where there is no pavement, he can direct bury (depending on the county/state permitting) at $2 a foot probably. If there is boring required the price per foot triples pretty easily. $10-15k for a mile buried (very pricey side). If he wanted to get permits for the poles and the owner didn't require anything ridiculous of him, that can take months and cost a few dollars or much higher per attachment permit (required for each pole). That assumes they have room on their poles, but about 80% the cost of buried for aerial. If weather like icing or high winds/downed trees is an issue, then aerial is not recommended.
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Again, it's not the cost of the fiber, it's the cost of the electronics to make it work. Why would you need a tower? You have to get to a hub and place electronics in both the hub and the POP. Trust me, that's the pricey part, at least $2-3M for each hub. Depending on how you will serve your subscribers out of the hub will determine what costs you will face from there. Buried is the only way to go, IMO. You'll need some electronics at each access point as well as the sub end. Next, you'll have to find a vendor to carry your signal back to the ISP. If you think you can get them to carry an optical level signal (minimum OC-3) from a rural POP to a vendor ISP (don't forget those hosting costs) for $1500 a month, I have a bridge to sell you. Don't forget you'll have to have optical transmitters/receivers from your concentrator to the transport vendor.
Bottom line is that most companies don't have the resources to lay out that kind of start up cost without help from the Feds or state. Depending on how many subscribers you have out of each hub, it'll take quite some time to recover just the initial outlay.