.... and one more thing in the build-out: the individual units that need to be placed in the subscriber's location (on the utility meter, TV set-top box, etc.) The cost of these units is a large part of the financial equation. Either a deep-pocket partner, or a large equity pool, is required to develop, manufacture, and place the units, which are necessary en masse to get the network up and running. For instance, a set-top box could run from, say $250 all the way to over $1000 apiece (during initial build-out). I don't know what a radio on the utility meter costs, but I'm guessing considerably less. In either case, it's unlikely the customer is going to finance the unit.
At any rate, the unit cost, coupled with other build-out, advertising and marketing, technical development, and other business costs is why the IVDS development needs to have an initial application like utility automation (deep pocket partner) to help get the network up.
Rob |
