The missile has been adopted as the preferred method of placement for conduit and fiber in the FTTH brownfield subdivision application. The missile method is proven to be quicker and cleaner than any other construction method. In today’s FTTH market, speed of delivery to the customer premise is critical.

Additionally, the longer crews “linger” in a subdivision, the more upset homeowners become. If homeowners are unhappy with the disturbance to the neighborhood, they are less likely to take the new service that will be offered. This is where the missile technology far outweighs any other method of placement inside the subdivision.

As an example, take a typical 250 home G-PON topology subdivision that has approximately 15,000 linear feet of conduit and 30,000 feet of fiber to be placed. A crew of 15-20 men with 4 missiles and 2 air compressors will be sent to tackle this size project and it will be completely installed in four weeks. Add another week for fiber splicing and the entire subdivision has been turn keyed, ready to sell bandwidth and commence return on investment in five short weeks. With any other method, this project would have taken 2-3 times as long with 20% of the customer base unhappy about their yard being disturbed and length of time for deployment which will definitely reflect on the initial take rate.

These crews actually hand shovel every pit on the job. There is absolutely no mechanized digging from start to finish. They will neatly remove the sod, hand dig the receiving pit and place the soil on a tarpaulin. After they have completed the conduit and handhole installation, they will hand tamp the hole and place the sod back from where it originated. In the same day after completion, it will be difficult to visually notice where the work was even completed in a yard. Some customers have even asked, after the fact, when will the construction begin?

This process is simply amazing! I am confident that after you see (or more importantly - don’t see) the result of this technology, you will not place fiber by any other method. Keep in mind the numbers that I mentioned earlier. Almost 3 miles of conduit and 6 miles of fiber completely installed and spliced, ready to sell service, in 5 weeks!

Currently, we have multiple crews that are available to place FTTH networks by missile method. If you have further questions regarding this technology, give us a call and we will be more than happy to speak with you in depth regarding your underground needs.