Summary
1. Fiber back-haul is the best technology choice for carrying high-bandwidth IP traffic from broadband wireless cell sites back into the network. 2. Fiber cable availability at cell sites is still very limited and costly to install. 3. Wireless carriers spend very little capex on back-haul facilities, and will continue to lease capacity from wireline service providers.
Analysis
Fiber cable back-haul has a lot of appeal for wireless carriers because of its ability to carry high-speed, high-capacity IP/Ethernet traffic from broadband wireless (WiMAX/LTE) cell sites. In reality, access to fiber facilities is still hard to come by, despite years and billions of investment by major telcos (AT&T FTTN, Verizon FiOS), CLECs, and cablecos. Most fiber cable is installed in high-density urban and suburban markets. A recent study we did of cell towers in a major metro area determined only 50% of those within 5 Kft of landline facilities, either a CO or remote terminals. Unless cell sites are close to existing fiber facilities, incluiding long-haul IXC networks, the cost to install new fiber laterals to a cell site costs about $100/ft. So it is not cheap. Moreover, the wireless carriers are not likely to pull their own fiber cable and are still reliant on wireline carriers for these facilites. Aside from microwave links that they may own, most wireless carriers will continue to lease back-haul facilities, both copper and fiber, from wireline carriers that must invest their capital to provide the service.
