Aerial fiber is likely to play big role in BEAD deployments

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will announce the allotment of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funds to the US states and territories in June 2023. And NTIA has indicated it wants areas that are unserved with broadband to receive the funds first. Jonathan Chambers, a partner with the fiber construction company Conexon, says that in terms of deploying fiber to unserved rural areas, deployments are going to be mostly aerial deployments as opposed to trenched deployments. This is because of cost: lashing fiber onto existing utility infrastructure over long distances is going to be cheaper than digging trenches to lay underground fiber. “It costs three to four times more to build underground than it costs to put on poles,” said Chambers.