How turnkey can open community fiber become?

The open community fiber network is transforming from an experimental ad-hoc endeavor to a more commercialized market, thanks in part to the promise of broadband stimulus funds. Across the country, those in need of broadband have launched grassroots public/private partnerships for creating fast, open fiber networks that link municipalities, hospitals, schools and other key community members, leasing excess capacity to encourage private providers to deploy broadband where it wasn't cost-effective before. But whereas those efforts have previously been trials by fire, they are now imagined on a much more massive scale. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done some back-of-the-envelope math on applying community fiber across the entire underserved U.S., figuring a total cost between $5 billion and $10 billion to link key tenants such as hospitals, libraries, schools and colleges. The FCC, which is still formulating its national broadband strategy, has taken notice of those numbers, asking for public feedback on the Gates Foundation estimates. Meanwhile, the private sector is gaining speed in its pursuit of this market. Alcatel-Lucent is formalizing its approach, recently announcing a "turnkey Open Community Broadband" offering worldwide that combines its own fiber access networks with technologies from an ecosystem of partners.