10 THINGS RURAL COOPS CAN LEARN - Vertix Consulting...Jun 10, 2019 · asset life, you’re...

10 THINGS RURAL COOPS CAN LEARN From Commercial Broadband Deployments

2 | 10 Things Rural Coops Can Learn From Commercial Broadband Deployments

The potential for broadband to improve both business operations and economic opportunities is universally agreed, even if the term isn’t always clearly defined. For

simplicity we consider the most critical features of a broadband network

to be large bandwidth, high data rates, low latency, and the capability for

a high density of simultaneous connections. For decades, broadband

installation and engineering services were largely kept in-house for major

carriers and infrastructure companies. Over time, a large ecosystem

grew up to support the industry, whether for equipment, engineering

services, construction services, or support and maintenance. Like any

industry, the telecom industry has its own language, its own set of

acronyms, and its own ways of working. As the technologies of the rural

electric utility industry and the telecom industry converge with smart

grid and broadband technologies, rural coops can learn from some of

the successes and failures of the telecom industry. The best networks will

be scalable for growth, capable of evolving with new technologies, and

potentially be a key asset in building thriving communities. These are

some of the key lessons that rural coops should keep in mind as they think

through their broadband implementations, whether wired or wireless.

10 Things Rural Coops Can Learn From Commercial Broadband Deployments


cases of today; also consider tomorrow’s possibilities, and the potential capabilities that they might provide. Further, excess capacity can often be monetized or otherwise used as a catalyst for getting broadband connectivity to members. The modest increase in capital expense today will be much less than that required if the fiber capacity needs to be upgraded after the initial deployment.

Cisco VNI forecasts 396 EB per month of IP traffic by 2022:

01There’s no Such Thing as Overbuilding Capacity

We all know that data requirements grow at a rapid pace. The Cisco Visual Networking Index1 forecasts that global IP traffic would increase threefold between 2017 and 2022 and that M2M (or IoT) connections will explode to 14.6 billion by 2022, eclipsing the growth of all other traffic types. From experience, commercial fiber and infrastructure companies all wish they’d put more fiber in the ground when they had the chance; not less. Excess capacity will quickly become critical capacity as data needs grow for smart grid applications: more nodes, more frequent polling, and richer data exchanges. Even current use cases such as video surveillance may drive significant bandwidth requirements, so future use cases – for example as autonomous, electric cars become more prevalent – will only compound the capacity requirements. When evaluating network dimensioning don’t just think of the technologies and use

1 https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white-paper-c11-741490.html


02Build for UptimeThink about the criticality of the data that might run over your network. You need to consider this more than commercial carriers do. Network downtime costs many commercial enterprises real money, but the effects could be much more damaging for a rural coop. This will be especially true as smart grid operations evolve and mature, and data availability becomes essential for optimal operation of the distribution network. This ‘uptime’ may mean optimization of the fiber cable type (and quality), the installation quality, the mounting design, the network architecture, a greater ratio of underground-to-aerial fiber, or the electronics installed at substations and

other critical points in the network. For wireless networks it could mean the type or height of wireless cell towers, their location, the electronics, or even the spectrum used. Make sure your broadband deployment partners aren’t simply giving you the lowest-cost option to win the job, but rather are building the network that your critical infrastructure demands. Consider the degree of uptime your services need now – and will need in the future – and make that a firm requirement of the overall network design. There are companies that can help you assess your overall data availability requirements and translate that into network design requirements. Of course, the network design will affect the operational requirements of the network as well, minimizing support issues by building a better network from the start.


03More CapEx Today for Less OpEx TomorrowThere is a relationship between the cost of a network build and the cost of its ongoing operations. This relationship isn’t merely limited to deploying more fiber strands and the resulting capacity benefits, or the focus on reliability and uptime above. Broadband networks that minimize ongoing OpEx do so by building simplicity into the design. The bottom line is to build the network for less maintenance, less field visits, and less callbacks. They do this by optimizing the type of field / home electronics and access points, their simplicity of use, etc.. For microwave this same approach requires the optimal placement of towers and specific location of electronics on towers (RAD centers) to minimize the seasonal impact of vegetation. For private LTE it might mean investing more in spectrum with better propagation characteristics for adequate in-home coverage. For Fiber-to-the-Home, in-home equipment that can support robust troubleshooting can minimize calls to customer service or truck rolls to fix the network. This ‘low-maintenance’ approach is especially important for rural coops that don’t enjoy the large staff counts in the engineering and IT organizations that

are often required on the commercial side to keep networks running. In the commercial world we have seen that that the cheapest design approach always leads to a high-maintenance, high-cost network in the long run.

04More Planning Today for More Revenue TomorrowDesign your network to monetize the asset and to potentially enable future broadband for your members. A core network design that is effective for internal electric coop operations may not meet the needs for a territory-wide FTTH deployment. Routing fiber so that it is optimal for current and future population centers or business districts can increase the overall value of the network asset. In this way it may be beneficial to ‘think like an operator’, as there may be ways to increase the attractiveness and value of the asset with some additional pre-planning and minimal additional capital outlay. This focus on long term monetization will increase the value for coop members. If wider network usage (or capacity leasing) is a future possibility for the network, consider an assessment of your network plans to make sure it’s designed with extensibility in mind.


05A Network Needs its own Supporting IT Suite and ToolsYou’re not just building a fiber (or wireless) network with a 20 year asset life, you’re deploying all of the associated tools and systems needed to operate and maintain it, and this may be far from what has been required to support existing low-bandwidth data networks for use cases such as AMI or capacitor bank controllers. There are other supporting tools and systems that should be considered in any good

business case for a broadband network. Likewise, strong cybersecurity is an essential requirement and should be built into the design, which will require supporting tools. While some of these systems may exist for the distribution network today, they may not be currently optimized for – or compatible with – the management of a broadband data network. This extends further if you wish to deploy broadband to members, which includes requirements for robust platforms for customer care, provisioning, rating & billing, customer self-service, and other functions required for a commercial broadband service. Ensure that your business case factors in the OpEx and CapEx requirements related to wider network support, including training and staffing requirements.


06Track those Assets from Day 1The fiber industry has seen its fair share of mergers and acquisitions. In many cases valuable outside plant (OSP) information about fiber usage, stand assignments, and even the network topology got lost along the way, if they were ever fully tracked in the first place. This may be hard to believe, but we have seen instances were companies in the fiber business didn’t actually know whether a given fiber route of theirs was redundant or not. Wireless tower companies have experienced similar issues with the tracking of asset data, especially customer assets on their towers. This is still a problem they’re trying to solve today in new

ways, including UAV (drones) and UAS investments. We see data centers having very similar issues. This asset tracking is crucial for uptime and support, but even more critical for those that wish to lease capacity or otherwise monetize their assets in the future. Every infrastructure and broadband provider wishes it had better information about the current configuration and usage of its network assets, ideally down to the port or strand level. Develop your asset management processes and best practices before your network is deployed and operational. Future engineering activities are much simpler with the correct data about individual strand usage and capacity usage. You should insist on specific asset management requirements in the services contract for the initial deployment. If you instill the correct practices up-front, you can save yourself a lot of issues in the future, and potentially be in possession of a more valuable asset. Or at a minimum know what you have!


07Manage those Assets from Day 1Just like a distribution network, a broadband network – whether wired or wireless – requires its own degree of management, optimization, preventative maintenance, predictive maintenance, and repair. There are other operational aspects to owning a broadband network that are distinct and cannot be overlooked when staffing or when budgeting. The NOC operations for a retail broadband service, for example, are significantly different than managing a power grid. There are physical and logical aspects to the network that must be controlled and managed, including logical routing and switching, IP address management, firewalls and intrusion prevention and detection, etc. On-going upgrades to management software and equipment are required to keep up with changing capabilities and demand, and every new smart grid capability is a new service that must be actively managed.

08Know That Broadband Services to Customers is a Very Different GameThe continual increase in customer expectations, the incessant technology improvements, and the need to have much more direct contact with the customer - whether physically in their home or through customer service channels – makes commercial broadband a very different type of business. A different type of customer support and call center is required for a residential broadband network. It may be necessary to help with minor home PC issues, to help educate customers, and train field techs on effective customer service practices, especially when entering the homes. Add to that a different and onerous set of regulatory hurdles and constraints and there is certainly an element of adjustment required from a business model perspective. These differences only increase if moving into value-


added services, such as voice or content services. Broadband customers are quite price sensitive, and commercial competitors will look to build on your heels and slash rates in the denser and more profitable service areas, leading to overall revenue loss. The need to enter a customer’s home to install set-top boxes creates a very different set of training challenges for the field tech. In-home installations can lead to various complaints such as ‘since your tech came to install broadband my (insert appliance) no longer works properly’. You need to define your new operating model up-front rather than reacting to the changes as they come, as the latter could lead to poor customer experiences. Coops need to put in place a plan to equip and train their workforce to support this new operating model, which includes new types of customer expectations and increased levels of

interaction. The variabilities are quite real and impact efficiency. It’s not just about troubleshooting equipment anymore: people can be late for appointments, and you may experience unknown conditions in the home. Conversely people may be taking time off work for a service call and certainly and expect technicians to be on time and visiting within a tight service window.

09Define Your Requirements CarefullyFor companies that are experienced and savvy with broadband deployment, they will typically describe their requirements in a very technical nature.


Major broadband telecom equipment vendors and deployment vendors are used to working with carriers and infrastructure companies and expect very precise and specific technical requirements. As such, coops should consider a partner firm (that knows the language of the telecom industry) to assist with the development of technical requirements, or finding broadband deployment vendors that are prepared to build to business requirements and outcomes vs. a very precise technical scope. Note that the latter may be difficult to find at this current juncture and at the required price point. Be prepared with a robust set of requirements that will lead to the outcomes that you want, and certainly consider service level agreements (SLAs), but make sure they are meticulously defined and equally robust so that they can be enforced. Otherwise they will provide false comfort. Your technical partner should share both the risk and the reward with you. Such partnership must provide mutual benefits as the customer base grows and is satisfied.

There are other critical requirements that extend far beyond the technical level, such as the requirements for your

product offerings and pricing plans. These will most directly affect takeup rates for a commercial broadband network, and it’s critical to get these right first time. Similarly, the marketing plan that announces these offerings and prices to customers must be well defined in terms of timing, target audiences, approach to branding, etc.

10…But Don’t Wait for PerfectionIt’s always good to know your requirements, but as broadband demand, IT technology, and electric grid technology converge, the constant march of technological improvement and continually changing capabilities will come with it. The downside of this fluid situation is that it’s more difficult to lock down requirements and solutions. The landscape keeps changing, and there’s now the risk of integration issues, or of investing in a technology that is quickly superseded. This may be unusual for electrical coops to experience, and


it can be unsettling. The good news for broadband deployment is that you simply don’t need to dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ in advance. If anything, there would be a degree of folly in assuming a perfect plan can ever be crafted. Instead, broadband can be thought of as building the highway: you don’t need complete certainty of what vehicles might travel its lanes; rather you just need to make sure the highway is in the right places, that it is wide enough, and that it’s as maintenance-free as it can be for your capital budget. Ultimately, you want to make sure that your broadband solution is flexible and adaptable to future capacity requirements and use cases, because they will change over time. With broadband, the clear lesson is to build it big and build it now!

About Vertix ConsultingWe are a highly specialized consulting firm that provides pragmatic and actionable insights on the most critical issues faced by providers and consumers of telecom, media services, and technology.

At Vertix, we pursue our collective passion for helping carriers, OEMs, tower companies, MSOs, network services vendors, equipment suppliers, utilities, government, and telecom and technology consumers resolve their most complex strategy, sourcing, and deployment challenges. From helping a carrier deploy a 4G network to negotiating an IoT services contract for a client in the manufacturing sector, we cover the entire TMT value chain

Our focus and simplified model enables us to deliver an alternative vision for our clients: producing client-centered solutions in a way that only experienced and proven professionals can.

For more information on Vertix and its services portfolio please visit www.vertixconsulting.com & follow us on twitter @vertixconsult.

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Andrew Sheridan

10 THINGS RURAL COOPS CAN LEARN - Vertix Consulting...Jun 10, 2019 · asset life, you’re...

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