America’s fiber deployments face many challenges, with permitting and accessing rights-of-way among the long-lead items service providers and construction firms face. Of the many types of rights of way network operator UTOPIA Fiber has faced, there’s one that’s the “cream of the crop” in terms of needed lead time and preparation when compared to getting access to build around or under state roads and canals and obtaining pole attachments, tasks which typically take anywhere from two to six weeks. For more on Fiber’s Right-of-Way Train Wreck: Part 1 – The Service Provider’s View, check out this Fiber Forward Magazine article by Editor-in-Chief Doug Mohney. Be sure to sign up for our Fiber Forward Weekly newsletter for similar content! ⬇️ 🔗 https://buff.ly/45JeKd0
Timothy R.
3mo
from fiber build design side you need 27ft from top of track to sag of lowest comm over railway. that's pretty high on the poles either side of tracks. if you look at these existing builds you'll often see that the phone company dead-ends to riser before the crossing and comes up after and the secondary (system neutral) for power often also ends before crossing: so you tend to have power primary and a legacy catv making the crossing when new broadband wants to cross. years back 25ft at pole low comm or even below was standard but now most RR want that 27ft top of track to span. you're talking 45ft 50ft and even 55ft poles needed to cross tracks these days. so its not just permitting that's an issue its make-ready time and cost as well. i work primarily for jobs in the northeast and from what i've seen OH transmission line crossings, highway crossings and RR crossings- the telco usually goes to riser and there's not alot of space on poles for aerial crossings- meaning the distribution infrastructure just wasn't built to get 3rd party comm fiber over the tracks.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Digital Council Africa
3moClearly a global problem. Slow turn around times, red tape and rent seeking by public sector entities remains a massive problem that slows down deployment and adds unnecessary costs to projects. Investors want project certainty, and don't want to wait a year just for an approval (while you sitting with their money in the bank). It is time for entities to develop standard frameworks for deployment that will assist private sector to speed up the pace of roll out and provide project certainty. We should all also understand and agree that the intrinsic value of broadband is not in trying to make money out of charging exorbitant up front application fees, but in the greater value that broadband offers society. The sector should also have avenues through regulators to seek protection from parties trying to exploit telco operators by charging unreasonable fees.