How can you successfully operate, plan, and fund a broadband network?
Most project owners focus on building the network, but they often forget a critical component – running and operating the network after deployment. So for that, we created something called a Board-Ready Study (BRS), which enables any project owner to successfully develop an actionable plan. It also helps them understand what it would take to build, operate and run the network. It’s also critical that they don’t focus solely on running the network, but they also focus on running a business.
That’s a critical aspect whether it’s a board of network investors or the city council, who approve a project. I think it is very important to not necessarily tell them how much it’s going to cost to build a network, but what would it take to ultimately return on that investment.
What can you recommend to customers who are hoping to get to market fast, given what you just told us?
Well, I think that’s when customers should take time to evaluate different business models – like using managed services versus doing it yourself. The former allows them to embrace that ecosystem of partners and find a trusted managed services partner that can help them operationalize the network much faster. They’ll also reap additional benefits such as a low capital investment, access to a skilled workforce, and the ability to leverage the partner’s network expertise.
In some cases, it may make more sense to use a build, operate and transfer model. For example, tribal communities, whose end goal is that they have ownership of the network, can generate employment, and develop their own skilled workforce.
The build-operate-transfer model gives them the ability to get to market quicker while they build that knowledge, and ultimately, we can transition network operation back to them.
So, how important is it to have kind of a robust ecosystem of partners in all this? You know, if your goal is to supercharge these broadband networks?
You know, that’s critical. I do think that there’s great opportunity, in particular, when we see all these recent announcements coming from AT&T and from T-Mobile about leveraging and using open access providers to reach bigger and broader geographies that they were not able to do by themselves. So, embracing that ecosystem of partners right now, whereas you may use a network investor or you may use a regional retail service provider or multiple ISPs allows you to ultimately reach a bigger market and bring high-speed internet to much bigger communities.
You mentioned tribal areas, which also makes me think of rural areas. And what are the main challenges of deploying networks, broadband networks, to those types of areas?
So, that’s a process, you know, a set of challenges that also brings opportunities. And some of those challenges, of course, are the very widespread territories and very, very low densities. This makes those areas really hard to reach, economically speaking, with fiber infrastructure.
But the good news is that there are some emerging technologies coming out that can really enable them to be economic while reaching those communities.
Another way you can leverage some of those partners is through a pay-as-you-grow model, which makes it a lot more economical through very low startup costs. Then, as you activate those subscribers, you’ll be able to pay for the cost of the network.
Let’s talk about some of those emerging technologies such as 5G and AI. How do you see those playing a role in future deployment?
We’ve all been hearing a lot about AI lately. And we’ve been saying that AI is really transformational, and you have to really target the use cases.
When it comes to broadband networks, that’s where you can benefit from AI in terms of driving operational efficiencies, which is perhaps the biggest use case right now. You can use AI technologies that allow you to accelerate the root cause analysis of situations where you were not able to process that humongous amount of data.
And alarm information, for human beings, is just impossible to process. But now AI allows you to do that and bring those key insights, so you can resolve problems more quickly. You can also bring self-serve capabilities to end users that allow them to get a much, much better customer experience for the service. And with 5G technology, in terms of that focus towards 5G or fixed wireless, there’s CBRS technology that can bring fixed wireless as a more economical technology to reach those underserved or rural areas where you were not able to justify at all the return on investment with fiber infrastructure.
