Fiber Broadband Association Digs into Microtrenching’s Ability to Close the Digital Equity Gap

A new best practice white paper explores micro-trenching, an advantageous fiber broadband deployment method. The report compares micro-trenching amongst other deployment methods as a valuable option in the fiber broadband construction toolkit and it also details the scrutiny that micro-trenching faces, success stories, and best practices. The white paper finds that micro-trenching is cost-effective and proven to speed installation and the connection to the symmetrical gigabit-capable networks needed to establish digital equity and close the rural digital divide. The white paper also explores multiple fiber deployment styles, including micro-trenching, horizontal directional drilling, plowing, conventional trenching, and missile boring. In terms of cost, conventional trenching can be roughly five times the cost of micro-trenching. From a time perspective, micro-trenching reduces one-third of the time it takes for a fiber installation using traditional methods, in some cases, moving from days to hours. Installing new utilities, like fiber, brings concerns about damage to previously installed utility infrastructure (such as gas lines and water pipes). The white paper features a risk profile between the different deployment styles by investigating the average strikes (damage to an existing utility that causes a service failure) per mile. The profile reveals that micro-trenching had the lowest (0.03) strikes per mile, compared to conventional trenching with the highest (13.97) strikes per mile. So, while damage and risk are unavoidable, micro-trenching can be regarded as a deployment style with relatively high output and low utility damage risk.