- Five-year cumulative cash
- —
- Peak funding requirement
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- Cash payback
- —
Run your own numbers.
See every assumption.
Compare an illustrative wired and wireless deployment using inputs you can change. Connect build cost to revenue, operating expense, and cash timing. Then take a site-specific model to your planning team.
Your territory.
Your assumptions.
For 12,000 Subscribers
All-fiber build$56M
ngFWA build$9.45M
Change the inputs to compare.
Initial capital costs only. This is not a quote, a savings guarantee, or a lifecycle TCO forecast.
80 planned sectors in this example.
Understand the build-cost model.
Subscribers
Target premises × take rate, rounded up
Fiber build
Premises × build cost per passing + subscribers × connection cost
Wireless build
Required sectors × deployment cost + subscribers × installation cost + shared setup
What to include in a full business case.
This initial-cost model excludes operating expense, financing, taxes, recurring site leases, spectrum fees, equipment refresh, revenue, and time to market.
Site selection and sector loading require engineering validation. A financial model should also compare the same service area, performance targets, and planning horizon.
Read Tarana’s Economics AnalysisMove from build cost to five-year cash flow.
Use the same service-area assumptions from the comparison above. Add local operating costs, revenue, launch timing, and customer acquisition to see the funding requirement over time.
All starting values are illustrative. Replace them with your own estimates. The five-year model phases customer connections over time; the initial-cost comparison above assumes the full target is connected.
Update the highlighted inputs above to calculate a valid scenario. Results are hidden until all fields are valid.
- Five-year cumulative cash
- —
- Peak funding requirement
- —
- Cash payback
- —
| Period | Fiber revenue | Fiber net cash | Fiber cumulative | ngFWA revenue | ngFWA net cash | ngFWA cumulative |
|---|
Pressure-test the wireless scenario.
Change take rate and monthly revenue together to explore a downside and upside. These are scenarios, not forecasts.
| Scenario | Target take rate | Monthly revenue / subscriber | Five-year cash | Peak funding |
|---|
Model Assumptions and Formulas
Shared footprint. Premises, target take rate, sector loading, and build costs come from the initial-cost inputs above. Both scenarios use the same retail revenue, variable operating cost, acquisition cost, and target demand.
Timing. All network infrastructure is paid at month 0. Fixed operating costs start in month 1. After each scenario’s launch delay, active customers ramp linearly from zero to the target over the entered ramp period. Connection cost is paid as customers activate.
Monthly service cash. Average active customers × (monthly revenue − variable operating cost), less fixed operating costs, acquisition costs, and connection costs.
Churn replacement. Previous-month active customers × monthly churn determines replacement customers. Each replacement incurs acquisition and replacement-connection cost. Replacement is assumed to preserve the target ramp; there is no additional lost-revenue interval.
Cash and payback. Cumulative cash starts with the negative upfront investment. Peak funding is the deepest cumulative deficit. Payback is the first month after the final negative balance within the five-year window. No terminal value is included.
Scope. Illustrative, undiscounted, pre-tax operating cash flow. Financing, grants, taxes, inflation, residual value, major refreshes, and unentered shared costs are excluded. It is not a quote, valuation, IRR calculation, or return guarantee.
Sell a service.
Budget the capacity to support it.
| Model relationship | Decision to validate | Required evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Target premises → serviceable premises | Remove addresses that the validated design cannot serve. | An address-level serviceability result. |
| Take rate → active customers | Account for the sales and installation ramp rather than assuming every customer activates at launch. | A monthly acquisition and activation plan. |
| Customers → sectors | Use planned loading for the service mix, not the maximum radio-association count. | A busy-hour capacity plan with headroom. |
| Sectors → operating cost | Include leases, backhaul, power, software, field support, and spares. | Local quotes and an agreed allocation of shared costs. |
| Initial cost → cash requirement | Track revenue timing, recurring costs, new connections, and customer replacement. | A downside scenario and a funding plan for the cash trough. |
Build the plan around
the requirements.
BEAD
Review the current program requirements and the specifics of the awarded project.
E-ACAM & RDOF
Evaluate obligations, timelines, and technology decisions for the relevant service area.
Network Modernization
Model upgrades and expansion alongside the economics of your installed base.