I cannot agree enough. Design engineering of an FTTH solution is not the domain of a single engineering discipline. If you "locate a community that would valu

I cannot agree enough. Design engineering of an FTTH solution is not the domain of a single engineering discipline. If you "locate a community that would value your contribution as a starting point", that city council will move heaven and hell to ensure you have the rights to enhance their town. If you do everything underground, then the city can usually sign off on your easement rights and access (plus they will give you the friendly coordination of the water and sewer department and maybe other local utilities). Going aerially will be quicker and cheaper, but it will be fraught with more potential obstacles from the incumbents. Directional boring, plowing and trenching have become commodity priced construction costs ($ per ft), with massive competition. Many underground construction firms will give you the credibility you need to work responsibly and with accountability (bonding and liability insurance). Once the physical plant is design engineered, your Ethernet and Internet engineering is virtually unregulated. You will want specialists to set up your BGP constellation and other things that will only be done once, but if you have a good working knowledge of routing and Q-tagged VLANs and other core Ethernet technologies, you will be amazed how much you can do yourself.