Gigabit Internet costs
The main cost in providing FTTH is in running the last few metres of fibre into the home (i.e. digging a trench, putting a plastic tube in it, blowing fibre down the tube, and terminating the fibre in the home).
Implications:
1) it's not about "Huawei kit" vs "US kit".
2) the cost is relative to local labour costs (so much cheaper to do this in China than in the US or UK).
3) the cost is relative to housing density (as that determines how many metres you have to dig).
4) fibre rollouts for FTTH and for mobile fronthaul are only loosely coupled (since those final few metres are required for the former but not the latter)
5) you need to find a way to depreciate the dig over a much longer term than the equipment (since passive assets are immune from Moore's Law)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
