Recently I had the privilege of talking with several rural telephone cooperatives (co-ops) regarding their broadband access and middle-mile networks – the networks themselves and the use cases driving the co-ops to invest in them. The rural communities served by these internet service providers (ISPs) required better community enablement tools, which meant having broadband availability and a robust middle mile.
Poka Lambro is a fiber broadband access and middle-mile network service provider that provides vital service to communities across a 4,200-square-mile area in West Texas, primarily supporting the region south of Lubbock. Their current network comprises 15 optical networking nodes making up a ring about 1000 kilometers in diameter. To meet their network and service expansion plans, they needed to upgrade their current 100G-per-wavelength platform to support capacity of 400G per wavelength.
Then there were other rural telephone co-ops, with similarly large service areas, one covering more than 20 rural towns. To fully enable their recently deployed fiber-to-the-home (FTTH_ technology and support higher-capacity services driven by other non-residential uses cases, ISPs cited needing to focus on middle-mile modernization. Some of the middle-mile network projects comprised 20 or more optical networking nodes and spanned up to 800 kilometers. Due to several legacy optical platforms having reached end-of-life/end-of-support status in recent years, some of these ISPs needed to replace, not just upgrade, their current optical networking solution.
No BEAD, No Problem
As of the writing of this blog, Texas became the final U.S. state or territory to have its initial BEAD grant proposal approved (both Vol. 1 and 2). This is great news, yet it will be a year or more before the first funds are released to many successful bidders. For many rural ISPs, other broadband and middle-mile projects are in full swing thanks to the many other stimulus funds that have been awarded. For example, Poka Lambro will be using its USDA ReConnect Round 4 award received in the second half of 2023. The funds from this $1.8B allocation should start flowing to Poka Lambro and the other 90 award recipients in mid-2025.
One other rural Texas ISP, which completed rolling out new FTTH networks into its communities, is utilizing Universal Services Enhanced Alternative Connect America Cost Model (E-ACAM) funding it was awarded in mid-2023. They were one of 388 ISPs to receive a portion of the much larger $18B allotment that will be dispersed over many years.
How Are Communities Benefiting from a Modern Middle Mile?
These ISPs cited several community use cases that drove their decisions to upgrade the broadband access and middle-mile capabilities within their respective regions. They called out the need for their broadband networks to offer more competitive speeds and greater service dependability. As one of the general managers conveyed to me, years ago the internet could have been down for a while before a customer called them. “Today, you’re lucky if three minutes pass,” illustrating how important the internet has become to their community.
Dependable internet support point-of-sale devices keep local businesses running smoothly and provide always-on home internet supporting work from home. The Poka Lambro service region has seen an influx of higher-salaried remote workers buying primary or second homes in the area, coming from as far away as New York City. City-based medical doctors including radiologists have moved to the area to remotely work, relying heavily on their high-speed reliable internet service. These special new residents bring increased spending power, benefiting local businesses and services. This economic boost can lead to job creation and the revitalization of rural communities.
The need for dependable internet service points directly to deploying optical networking solutions that preserve service continuity by employing network resiliency capabilities protecting against transponder, amplifier, and power failures as well as fiber cuts.
What Are the Expanded Revenue Opportunities Afforded to an ISP by a Modern Middle Mile?
Once a higher-capacity modern optical networking solution is deployed, rural network providers are afforded additional revenue-generating opportunities. Rural ISPs can expand their addressable market by delivering increased network capacity to more places, leveraging a rich optical feature set to support commercial services ranging from data center interconnect (DCI) to cryptocurrency mining.
Rural ISPs have the opportunity to overbuild adjacent regions where broadband network investment has been limited. Across America, fiber-based ISPs have had success overbuilding ISPs that only offer lower-speed internet services delivered over copper- and wireless-based broadband access platforms and antiquated middle-mile platforms. Unlike these incumbent network operators, the overbuilder ISP often does not have access to temperature- and humidity-controlled locations. Due to this, optical networking platforms with environmentally hardened components, including transponders, switches, filters, and amplifiers, allow for more rapid market expansion.
Additional revenue streams from enterprise cloud, mobile backhaul, and DCI services can be supported using a more capable optical networking solution. Many ISPs are deploying 400G-capable solutions that can also effectively deliver scalable 10G and 100G Carrier Ethernet services supporting a wide range of retail enterprise service and wholesale requests. Additionally, to support mobile backhaul services requested by nationwide mobile network operators, the ability to reliably deliver network timing via optical transport networks using Precision Time Protocol (PTP) can be a critical feature set.
Another expanded middle-mile use case comes from the cryptocurrency industry. With cryptocurrency mining, network latency is directly related to profit margin. Therefore, deploying a middle-mile solution that offers low latency is important. Low latency is not just applicable to this lucrative niche market but is also needed to support the wider market need driven by the quality-of-experience demands of application users, with video gamers being one example.
Summary
Even without access to 2025 BEAD funding disbursements, we are seeing progress in closing the digital divide via other stimulus fund packages. As a result, rural network operators are accelerating the delivery of higher-capacity and more dependable connectivity that serves both their communities and the commercial entities that operate within their regions. Let’s recognize these service providers and others just like them that are doing their part to ensure digital equality in rural America — because the middle mile matters.
We have a societal goal to deliver internet connectivity to everyone, thus closing the digital divide. This will enable all our communities, both urban and rural, to reach their full potential by maximizing talent and delivering economic opportunities for all citizens.