American Broadband Initiative (2020 Transition)

Book 2 - Issue Papers
Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020

The American Broadband Initiative (ABI) is the current Administration’s signature strategy aimed at stimulating increased private investment in broadband infrastructure and services to address broadband connectivity gaps in America, particularly in rural areas. ABI recognizes federally owned assets such as tower facilities, buildings, and land could potentially be made available to lower the cost of broadband buildouts and encourage private-sector companies to expand telecommunications infrastructure.

As part of this effort to identify types of federal assets or classes of assets that private-sector companies could use to expand broadband infrastructure in America, the Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA) and Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), in consultation with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Electricity, completed feasibility assessments to determine if SWPA and WAPA’s preexisting excess fiber, referred to as “dark fiber,” can be leased to their existing customers and broadband service providers.

SWPA and WAPA are two of four federal Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) that market and deliver wholesale federal hydropower to 33 states. The PMAs operate and maintain over 34,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, which are used to deliver power from water projects and related hydropower generating facilities owned primarily by the Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. By law, the PMAs are required to set rates to cover costs including federal investments in dam and transmission infrastructure, plus interest, “at the lowest possible rates to consumers consistent with sound business principles.” The other two PMAs (Bonneville Power Administration and Southeastern Power Administration) were outside the scope of this initiative.

SWPA and WAPA have been using fiber optic cable in their telecommunications for the past 20 years. Combined, they currently have an inventory of over 5,500 miles of dark fiber deployed on transmission lines, the majority of which is optical ground wire (OPGW). OPGW is the preferred type of fiber for overhead transmission lines as it is both strong and versatile; it combines the functions of grounding, a telecommunications pathway, and lightning protection all in one single package. Typically, OPGW contains glass optical fibers inside a metal tube structure that is then surrounded by layers of high-strength steel and aluminum wire. This cable has been installed primarily for PMA use in support of power operations, but SWPA and WAPA also have partnerships with other utilities that enable shared use of the cable for the utility partner’s power operations use.

Issue(s)

A number of risks were identified in association with leasing available fiber capacity, including possible limitations on existing legal authority, right-of-way issues, cost, non-alignment with the PMAs’ missions, security concerns, and lack of benefit to utility operations (or potential interference with those operations). Should SWPA and WAPA move forward with leasing available fiber capacity to third parties in order to provide rural communities with better access to broadband services, they must develop processes and procedures at the PMA level that outline how requests would be made, what entities would be allowed access, and what uses would be permitted. WAPA noted that its current process for fiber usage requests is handled regionally and is based on best practices, though it noted that it plans to move to a PMA-wide process.

The SWPA and WAPA assessments were submitted to DOE and assembled into a consolidated report in July 2020.

Status

Both SWPA and WAPA completed feasibility assessments in December of 2019 to determine if excess fiber could be leased to customers and broadband service providers. SWPA and WAPA reached different conclusions in their individual assessments. For instance, WAPA stated that, contingent upon full clarification of its existing legal authorities, current law may potentially allow preference power customers to lease available fiber capacity in order to carry broadband internet traffic. WAPA’s preference power customers pay back capitalized costs, including those associated with fiber, through the collection of revenues from their ratepayers, and it is possible they may have a preference in the commercial use of the fiber under current law. Following clarification, and/or confirmation of legal authorities, WAPA also could potentially lease fiber to commercial broadband providers, which would require significant investment in managing and tracking leased fiber, as well as consideration for capital investment recovery, which in either case would be paid for by the lessee. SWPA allowed for the possibility of leasing more than 100 miles of existing and available fiber capacity once various risk factors have been mitigated.

Background

SWPA

• SWPA identified preexisting available fiber capacity on its system and conducted a technical analysis for the feasibility of leasing that specific fiber.
• SWPA allowed for the possibility of leasing more than 100 miles of existing and available fiber capacity once various risk factors have been mitigated.

WAPA

• WAPA assessed the feasibility of leasing fiber in the abstract (more qualitatively).
• WAPA currently operates and maintains a fiber optic cable inventory consisting of about 5,500 route miles over its 15-state territory. Fiber optic strand counts are 24-fibers or less for 85 percent of WAPA’s current inventory.
• WAPA may rely on existing statutory authority to construct, maintain, operate, and share fiber optic cable to perform DOE’s power marketing functions relating to electric power. New authority may be needed, but it may be possible for existing statutory authority could allow the use of fiber optic assets for third-party communications unrelated to the operational requirements associated with the marketing and transmitting of electric power if the third party lights the fiber. WAPA already has partnerships for utility use by customers. In addition, land rights pose a potential risk if WAPA fiber is used by third parties, especially for commercial broadband purposes. While some land rights provide for WAPA to string lines of others, it is uncertain whether that type of language would allow third-party use for commercial broadband purposes.
• If WAPA were to begin leasing its available fiber to third parties, all receipts from such agreements might have to be returned to the U.S. Department of Treasury, as provided by current law. Should WAPA decide to establish a third-party leasing program, additional staff would be required.
• Interfacing WAPA fiber with third parties would require special design of interface locations to ensure physical security and cybersecurity. Additionally, a GIS-based fiber management system would need to be implemented to track third-party usage across the WAPA’s system.
• Introduction of additional third-party fiber customers would necessitate additional planning and coordination time, along with a more defined and universal procedure across WAPA for repairs during outage conditions, as well as routine maintenance. Should WAPA move forward with allowing its power customers to use its fiber to support rural communities with better access to broadband services, it would develop WAPA-wide processes and procedures to outline how requests would be made, what entities would be allowed to access the dark fiber and what uses would be allowed.
• WAPA conducted customer meetings during the summer of 2019 and the results were incorporated into the final assessment. One key outcome of these meetings was customers emphasized that WAPA should adhere to the “beneficiary pays” construct, which ensures the beneficiary of services is responsible for any related costs.