Re: last mile, regulatory incentives, etc (was: att fiber, et al)

[Keegan Holley <keegan.holley () sungard com>]

2012/3/22 Jared Mauch <jared () puck nether net>

> On Mar 22, 2012, at 1:22 PM, Keegan Holley wrote:
>
> > 2012/3/22 Jared Mauch <jared () puck nether net>
> >
> > On Mar 22, 2012, at 11:05 AM, chris wrote:
> >
> > > I'm all for VZ being able to reclaim it as long as they open their
> fiber
> > > which I don't see happening unless its by force via government. At the
> end
> > > of the day there needs to be the ability to allow competitors in so of
> > > course they shouldnt be allowed to rip out the regulated part and
> replace
> > > it with a unregulated one.
> >
> >
> > Maybe I'm missing something, but how exactly does one share fiber?
>  Isn't it usually a closed loop between DWDM or Sonet nodes?  It doesn't
> seem fair to force the incumbents to start handing out lambdas and
> timeslots to their competitors on the business side.  I guess passive
> optical can be shared depending on the details of the network, but that
> would still be much different than sharing copper pairs.
>
> You agree on a price per distance (e.g.: mile/foot/whatnot).
>
> Lets say the cable costs $25k to install for the distance of 5000 feet.
>
> That cable has 144 strands.

> You need access to one strand.  If you install it yourself, it will cost
> you $25k.  If you share the pro-rata cost, it comes out around $174 for
> that strand.  Lets say they mark it up 10x (profit, unused strands), would
> you pay $1740 for access?  What does emergency restoration cost?

I agree, but what if it's not as simple as a bunch of strands in a
conduit.  What if the plant is part of some sort of multiplexed network or
GPON solution.  That's alot harder to share with another carrier .  But yes
if it's simple stands of glass not plugged into anything in particular it
can be shared just like copper.  Alot of the fiber plant out there isn't
used this way though.


> WDM/DWDM add cost to that strand, but also increase the capacity based on
> what your overall lit capacity may be on a route.  There are various
> cwdm/dwdm systems that range the usual 10/20/40/80/100km ranges.  You
> obviously need to do the math yourselves on this.  You may find the ROI is
> better than you think...

This is different than sharing cables. Any long distance carrier is still
free to purchase service from any LEC.  The term "sharing fiber" seemed to
imply that it's freely transferable from one company to the next.  It
largely isn't though, which is why I think the FCC hasn't touched it yet.