What Comes First When Putting Together a Public-Private Partnership for Broadband: Designing the Network or Choosing an ISP Partner To Operate the Network?
When a community starts planning a new network that will involve working with a third-party ISP, they may be tempted to complete a full, detailed network design — or their consultants may try to sell this work to them. Should a community pursue a full network design before choosing an ISP partner? We were asked this question during a webinar and wanted to share our answer with everyone.
The short answer: It is extremely risky to complete a full, detailed network design without an ISP partner in place.
The long answer: There are a couple of reasons municipalities should avoid designing a detailed network before engaging an ISP partner:
- Smaller ISPs are used to outsourcing the engineering and construction of networks, and usually have go-to entities that know them and do this well. Larger ISPs typically handle those tasks in-house and often save money doing so. Either way, ISPs have processes they trust and prefer, and will bristle at being asked to use someone else’s design.
- The eventual ISP partner will need to contribute to network architecture decisions that must be incorporated into the design, from the type of technology used (e.g., active ethernet, XPON) to the type of construction (e.g., whether splitters are in cabinets or in the field). Designing the network without the operator in mind will likely lead to conflicts between the design and the preferred architecture of the ISP.
There may be small exceptions, such as a design just for installing conduit down the main street of a town so that an ISP can eventually run fiber; in that case, an ISP should be able to incorporate this simple, more universal design into their network.
Rather than completing a full network design, it is common — and often recommended — to do a high-level design (HLD) during the planning process. This type of design can be used to approximate the cost of types of architecture (e.g., XPON, Active E) and calculate critical metrics that impact the financial viability of a network expansion (e.g., route miles, number of passings). It is not detailed enough for construction purposes; instead, it allows communities to evaluate network scenarios and make an informed decision regarding which network model to pursue.
Have you worked with a community that approached a potential ISP partner with a detailed design, and if so, how was the design received? Have you done an HLD and experienced benefits besides those described above? Let us know!
