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Strategies & Market Trends : Roger's 1998 Short Picks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Ross who wrote (3421)	2/22/1998 9:12:00 PM
From: Ploni	Respond to of 18691

Dan, I also considered the need for a company to install fiber optic cable the final mile, but I decided that there is no need for a national or regional company to do this. A franchise might not be a bad idea, to provide some basic training, but even that might not be necessary. There's no economy of scale that I can think of. Consider the fact that there is no such thing as a national or even regional electrical contractor. Electrical contractors are present in every city, and fiber installers are similarly becoming present in many cities. I imagine that pulling fiberoptic cable is very similar to pulling electrical cable. I don't know how difficult splicing is, either; I think it depends on the thickness of each fiber. I think a little more care is required for personal safety, because with some of the fiber, it can cut into the installer's hand and break off, and require trips to the doctor to dig out the almost invisible fragments. But then again, a fiber installer doesn't have to worry about frying himself with high voltage. The big question is who will pay for the installation. If the telephone companies or cable companies were interested, they'd have their own teams. If an individual wants cable in his house, it would probably be expensive to contract individually with a contractor. It would be cheaper for condo and apartment units, especially new construction, but even retrofits.