Broadband Stimulus: A View from the Trenches

[Commentary] Calix is the largest communications equipment supplier focused solely on access solutions for broadband service delivery. And nearly 100 of Calix's wireline Internet service provider customers have applied for broadband stimulus funding. These proposals have ranged in size from a few hundred thousand dollars to more than half a billion dollars. Average proposal size? Well over $10 million. From a technology perspective, the choice has been clear: Deploy fiber. Fiber to the premises (FTTP) architectures have dominated the proposals, showing up in more than 90 percent of them. Many of the proposals come from small, rural operators and, based on Calix's calculations, aim to address more than half a million homes.

[Geoff Burke is the senior director of corporate marketing at Calix.]