FTTH Deployment Assessment

The Fiber to the Home Council says that fiber to the home (FTTH) investment requirement estimates based on large-scale deployments and US averages place the cost to pass at ~$700 per household (HH) and cost to connect at an incremental ~$650 per subscriber HH. Investment requirements for FTTH have decreased substantially over the past few years and vary considerably depending on the topography being served. FTTH deployment investment requirements for rural areas are difficult to estimate due to variations in household distributions (clustering) within even the most sparsely populated areas. FTTH Council argues that the basis for universal broadband service should be US households ­ not housing units. There are currently 18 million US households with FTTH availability, plus an additional 16.5 million forecasted by 2015 funded by private capital. All 34.5 million should be considered in estimates for universal availability requirements. Based on current FTTH build investment requirements (FiOS and rural providers), CSMG estimates that the average cost to pass and connect all but the 20% most expensive remaining non-FTTH households in 2015 is ~ $1,704 per HH. The incremental cost to connect will only be incurred for a subset of homes passed, reflecting FTTH service uptake levels. FTTH penetration short of 100% is recommended -- CSMG estimates 41.5% based on current benchmarks and forecasts. The cost to pass and connect the most rural areas could be significantly higher than the cost of FTTH deployment in non-rural areas. Though future efficiencies in deployment practices and technology are expected to decrease the cost to connect each FTTH HH, these have not been factored into the estimation for investment required.