PART I: Deploying fiber optic cables via sewer lines - What an idea!
It was the brainchild of a telecommunications attorney to utilize aging sewer lines as the conduit for new cable lines. Not only does it eliminate the problems of excavation when laying a line but the leasing of the sewer lines provides badly needed renovation revenue. Looks like a win-win.
By Jey K. Jeyapalan, P.E., Ph.D.
Pipeline Engineering Consultant
The Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and almost everything changed in telecommunications. Long distance companies, Internet service providers, and entrepreneurs promised consumers faster connections, better service and lower rates.
Deregulation was working everywhere but in the "last mile." The incumbent carriers still had a virtual monopoly on connectivity from the carrier's Point of Presence to the customer premise. Some competitors provided an opportunity for connectivity as well as some economic relief compared to the incumbent, but these resources were limited, and often unavailable.
Burying last mile of cable created havoc
Those well-funded among the new entrants tried to provide their own last-mile connectivity. Aside from the expense involved in such a venture, there was still one problem. Deployment of high-speed metropolitan area fiber optic network rings required extensive construction, usually involving excavation of city streets. These excavations caused pollution, traffic hold-ups, economic loss, and unsafe conditions to the inhabitants in every city. Even worse, the repair of the streets after excavation rarely left the streets in acceptable condition once the job was finished, some mayors felt forced to shut down most construction on last mile projects.
Telecommunications lawyer thought there must be a better way
For a career telecommunications lawyer named Robert Berger, groomed at Brown and Harvard never to settle for anything but the best, the thought of being the match-maker between fiber optics cables and the aging sewer infrastructure starving for renovation funds came one morning while he was rushing through his shower for a meeting as the Chairman of the Washington Sanitary Sewer Commission.
The pioneering idea for CityNet Telecommunications was born in 1999 when he pulled together a dozen people, across the table in his hometown, Silver Spring, MD. They all decided that the aging sewer infrastructure would be used to finish the last mile without having to dig all over town. A win-win situation was created by arranging to pay a lease fee up front and share the revenue with city halls all over America.
Regular inspection and maintenance critical
They also decided that in order for the fiber optic gear to work flawlessly for 25 years, they will have to undertake the periodic inspection and maintenance of the sewer network for the city halls, using existing sewer renovation contractors all across America.
Telecommunications experts managing sewer sub-contractors all over America for 25 years in most major cities? One of the founders said, "would be hard."
Another one said, "let us brainstorm with the fiber cable supplier, Alcatel from Paris, France." The answer was a partnership with the most suitable construction management firm Carter-Burgess, which already had vibrant engineering practices in telecom and public works.
One problem still haunted the founders of CityNet at night, "who among them would be small enough to crawl into the sewers as small as 200 mm in size to hang their fiber optic cables and could do it fast enough to connect over 750,000 commercial buildings to metro fiber loops already circling the cities?"
And the rest is history …
The team quickly discovered Ka-Te from Switzerland, well known for its sewer inspection and rehabilitation equipment, with a robotic system solely for the deployment of fiber optic cable. The CityNet team negotiated with Ka-Te to buy up to 100 robots in the first year alone. The rest is all history, one might say.
First installations are now underway in Omaha (NE), Albuquerque (NM), and Indianapolis (IN) while negotiations are underway to enter the sewers of over 40 other cities on both sides of the Atlantic. The first round of venture capital in the amount of $100 million initiated the project while seeking a second round of infusion in the amount of $150 million will carry out the construction.
The in-sewer deployment system operates without impact to either the sewer operation or to the streets above. This deployment technique is less expensive than traditional fiber network construction, but the major advantage with this last-mile network deployment technique is speed.
Stay tuned for part II for an explanation of how CityNet'S technology works.
Edited by Joyce Everhart
Content Manager, Public Works Online
jeverhart@vertical.net