Recent columns have focused on what is happening with dark fiber, that which is being “lit” to become the backbone of the world’s communications systems. Dark fiber connects data centers, cell towers, cities, towns, governments and people. The dark fiber business is booming and creating more work for many of us.


In the early days of fiber optics, only three decades ago, the construction of fiber networks was the job of giant telecommunications companies such as AT&T or GTE in the United States. After the breakup of AT&T and its virtual monopoly on U.S. telecom, others got into the business of creating long-distance networks.


During the first Internet boom period, we saw investors start building fiber networks and looking for quick returns on their investment, but we know how badly that turned out. Around 2001, an estimated 90 percent of all fiber in the United States was dark fiber—unused—and many people wondered if it would ever be put to work.


They needn’t have worried. It took the rapid growth of the Internet less than five years to make use of that fiber. The expansion in Internet video and use of smartphones in particular have fueled much of the current demand for dark fiber. The public awareness of the advantages of fiber connectivity also has been a factor. First came Verizon with its FiOS fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) program, which has been so successful (technically and financially) that the company is trying to purge its system of copper to reduce costs and enhance revenue from new services.


Then Google Fiber upped the ante with gigabit FTTH and created a 
public-relations dream for fiber optics (and a nightmare for incumbent telcos). It started with a competition among some 1,000 cities vying to be a Google Fiber experimental test case. Kansas City, Mo., won. The positive reaction was so great that Google added Austin, Texas; Provo, Utah; then Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; and Nashville, Tenn.


Along the way, Eric Schmidt, one of Google’s founders, told the world, “We’re not doing this as a hobby anymore.” 


I calculated that the potential income for Google from those Southern cities could be $6 billion per year with a very high profit margin.


It seems everybody wants fiber and the better service it provides. However, the traditional companies that would be expected to build these networks are often not the ones doing it.


Just recently, we at the Fiber Optic Association (FOA) have talked to dozens of organizations wanting advice on building their own fiber networks, including owners of data centers, cell towers, apartment buildings, subdivisions and long-distance networks. We have also talked to a number of utilities and government agencies, including small towns in the Midwest, highway and transit authorities and rural electrical co-ops. We have even talked to cable TV companies that are adding fiber to their networks and looking at FTTH.


Get the idea? It’s a busy market, and somebody has to design, install and operate these networks. Very few of the network owners do their own construction. They usually have a few staff members with enough knowledge to move the project along but rarely have the personnel to do the actual installation. Besides, once the fiber is installed, it requires minimal maintenance (none, really, except for expansion or restoration), so having a crew of trained fiber techs is unnecessary for all but the biggest users. Don’t forget, outside-plant installation requires a fairly large investment in expensive equipment, not something you want to buy and let sit idle.


Thus, contractors do the majority of fiber work. Some are giants such as Bechtel, one of the contractors for Google Fiber. Some specialize, like those who work on fiber-to-the-antenna on cell towers or municipal networks. Many are local contractors, often those who are also electrical contractors, who take the smaller projects or subcontract to prime contractors for parts of the project.


At the FOA, the biggest complaints we hear are about the quality of the work or the unfamiliarity of the contractor with new technology. Part of the growth in fiber installation is due to lower costs, which usually means new components or installation technology developed by companies, such as Verizon or Google Fiber, and they are doing massive numbers of installations.


Next month, I will present my annual review of the market, discuss some new technology that is becoming mainstream, and then launch into a series about new fiber technology.