Microtrenching Goes Mainstream

Microtrenching – using microtrenches just 1 to 3 inches wide and 5 to 12 inches deep – has become a mainstream method for installing fiber, and many network operators use it successfully under certain conditions. City planners and engineers use the technique to leverage overcrowded utility corridors in right of ways, providing more high-speed broadband services to meet the demands of the growing population. Suppliers speak about the products they offer for microtrenching and where they think those products might best be used. Deployers, including Verizon, talk about the advantages of microtrenching as one of the tools in the toolbox, along with macrotrenching and overhead wires. The specialized knowledge and products around microtrenching causes one to think the fiber-to-the-home industry is maturing rapidly.

[Rollie Cole is a senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research]