Last month I submitted $15 million in fiber projects, this program will cover 75% of eligible expenses. All the projects I saw (as a consultant for various clie

Last month I submitted $15 million in fiber projects, this program will cover 75% of eligible expenses. All the projects I saw (as a consultant for various clients) started having positive cash flow around year 10. The cost of building fiber networks is really high. In low density areas it can still be $50,000-$100,000 per mile. This high cost is in part due to the existing poles. Any entity who touches a pole has to bring it up to current NESC standards. The pole conformed when it was built 20 years ago but modern clearance and strength requirements mean these broadband projects often have to replace 50% or more of the old poles in rural America. We've seen many large investment companies build fiber networks on their own dime in cities that only have coaxial cable, they're skipping BEAD funding because those rural areas would not break even with O&M cost. Also seen small WISPs that can't afford to conform to BEAD requirements and won't participate even though they expect some other large player to come through, build fiber to their customers and damage their business. However LEO communications will never be able to compete with an optical network, especially if you live near large population that all see the same section of sky.