State Broadband Expansion Center

Develop a financial model of cost and economic viability

Once you have a sense of the areas you want to target in the program, the next step is to figure out what it will cost to reach those areas. Aim to be closer to actual cost than napkin math here, recognizing that while there are inputs unique to a provider, your goal is to set a maximum that you’re “willing to pay” across the eligible areas. It would be best if you modeled your cost estimates for local conditions, populations, and geography. Similarly, building an estimate for commercial viability, or business case as we call it, will help you determine the additional funding a provider would need to justify the build-out.

A common question(s) at this stage: Do we want to/are we able to consider existing infrastructure? Which technology types do we want to model? How long of a business case do we want to consider?

Related practice

CostQuest can help you create Fiber, Fixed Wireless, and 5G custom cost models.