Despite the uncertainty surrounding the Broadband Equality Act (BEAD), Zayo’s Bill Long expects that efforts by states in the United States towards Middle mile fiber projects will continue to strengthen. He pointed out that technologies like satellites cannot solve the “bandwidth vicious cycle” problem affecting medium-sized cities, and believes that 2025 will be a crucial year to address licensing restrictions.
We are all holding our breath, wanting to know the fate of the fiber optic and BEAD projects in 2025. However, Bill Long, the Chief Product Officer of Zayo, stated that states will continue to fully advance their plans for mid-range fiber optics. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the United States has allocated nearly $1 billion from mid-range projects to some states, such as California, Kansas, Maine, and Nevada, which are actively building their own mid-range networks.
Looking ahead to the next year, Long predicts that more states will join this ranks and launch medium range broadband plans, relying not only on federal funding but also utilizing their own resources. Industry insiders are concerned about the insufficient funding for medium range fiber optic cables and the high cost of last mile providers accessing medium range infrastructure. However, Long is optimistic that states can balance the necessary funding between mid-range and last mile deployments.
He also mentioned, “The allocation of BEAD funds between red and blue states also indicates that medium range fiber optic [funds] will continue to receive support A key issue within the industry is whether BEAD will abandon its preference for fiber optic under the Trump administration and instead support cheaper and faster deployed technologies such as satellites. Long believes that although satellites can connect “very remote areas”, they do not help solve the “bandwidth vicious cycle” faced by medium-sized cities.
The so-called “vicious circle” means that when cities and towns lack enough bandwidth capacity to attract industries, Internet service providers are unwilling to establish networks where there are no enterprises. These medium-sized cities, usually with a population of 20000 to 40000, need to connect with the distribution centers of Amazon, FedEx, Wal Mart and other companies. These companies are spending billions of dollars to automate their distribution centers, using a large number of robots, automation, and artificial intelligence. If these locations do not have high bandwidth connections, they cannot function properly.
He predicts that the large-scale construction of a medium range network may take one to two years, but it may take five to ten years for the local economic dynamics to truly begin to change. To enable more people not only to enter the digital economy, but also to enter the AI empowered economy, more investment is needed, “Long added.
Provide more power reduction permit programs for AI
2024 witnessed increased activity between telecommunications companies and cloud service providers in preparation for AI. For example, Lumen won a major contract from Microsoft to provide private fiber optic connections between its data centers; Windstream recently revealed to Fierce that it sees a demand for higher numbers of dark fibers to support GPU capacity. This obviously requires a large amount of electricity supply. According to Long, the cost of power transmission is four to ten times the cost of deploying fiber optics.
He expects that there will be a lot of demand to bring fiber optics to places with large power facilities. As AvidThink’s Roy Chua previously told Fierce, companies with dark fiber capacity can build data centers in places where electricity is cheaper.
Operators have repeatedly complained about the cumbersome licensing process. However, this issue does not only exist in fiber optic deployment. Long pointed out that the entire “AI infrastructure ecosystem” has licensing restrictions, including data centers and power transmission.
Shortly after the election, OpenAI released a “blueprint” for US infrastructure, proposing the creation of “AI economic zones” that would allow states in these areas to accelerate the licensing and approval process for AI infrastructure such as data centers, solar arrays, and wind farms.
Regulatory changes may also be imminent. Future Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has been calling for a reduction in government regulations that are “too cumbersome or outdated”. Therefore, Long concluded that ‘2025 will be a rather transformative year for addressing licensing issues’.