Skip to main content
Calcimator

Fiber-to-the-Home Cost Calculator

Per-subscriber FTTH cost from density and distance.

About this calculator

This calculator builds a bottom-up cost estimate for a fiber-to-the-home network by pricing out every layer of a passive optical network (PON) deployment and summing them. OLT (Optical Line Terminal) cost is driven by how many PON ports you need — homes passed divided by your chosen split ratio (how many homes share one fiber via a passive splitter, commonly 32 for GPON or up to 128 for denser deployments) — each port priced at $1,500 plus a flat $25,000 for chassis and cards. Feeder fiber runs from the central office to splitter cabinets at $4,500/km, while distribution fiber runs from splitters out to homes, with route length derived from homes passed divided by your home-density-per-route-km input (a proxy for how spread out the service area is). Drop cables ($350 each) and ONTs ($250 each) are priced per expected subscriber — homes passed times your take-rate percentage — not per home passed, since unconnected homes don't need a drop or terminal yet.

Construction cost is the biggest lever: total route kilometers times a per-km rate that varies sharply by method, from $35,000/km for underground boring down to $12,000/km for aerial placement. All of that rolls up into total project cost, then divided by homes passed and by subscribers to produce the two benchmark figures the industry actually compares deployments on. The payback estimate assumes a flat $70/month ARPU at 60% margin — a placeholder, not your actual pricing or churn — so use it as a directional gut-check, not a business-case number.

Inputs

%
mi

Results

Cost per home passed ($)

$2,055.00

Cost per subscriber ($)$5,137.00
Total project cost ($)$1,027,367.00
Expected subscribers200
Construction cost ($)$758,333.00
Equipment cost ($)$118,200.00
Fiber cable cost ($)$150,833.00
Total fiber route (km)21.67
PON ports needed16
Est. payback (months)122.3
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter the number of homes passed and the expected take rate (%).
  2. Enter the average distance from the central office (km) and homes per route-km (density).
  3. Select the construction method (underground bore, trench, or aerial) and the PON split ratio.
  4. Review the Total Infrastructure Cost and Cost Per Home Passed.
  5. Compare the Cost Per Home Passed against the addressable market revenue to evaluate project viability.

How the result changes with Homes per route-km

Homes per route-kmCost per home passed ($)
15$3,338.00
23$2,445.00
45$1,627.00
75$1,285.00

What each input means

Homes passed
Total number of homes in the service area that fiber will pass.
Take rate (%)
Percentage of homes expected to subscribe. Typical: 30-50% initially.
Distance from CO (km)
Average distance from Central Office to the service area in km.
Homes per route-km
Home density along the distribution route. Urban: 60-100, suburban: 20-40, rural: 5-15.
Construction Method
Select fiber construction method
PON split ratio
Optical splitter ratio (1:N). Common: 32 for GPON, 64 for XGS-PON.

What each result means

Cost per home passed ($)
Total project cost divided by homes passed — key industry benchmark.
Cost per subscriber ($)
Total cost divided by expected subscribers at the given take rate.
Total project cost ($)
Sum of all equipment, cable, and construction costs.
Expected subscribers
Homes passed multiplied by take rate.
Construction cost ($)
Trenching, boring, or aerial placement labor and materials.
Equipment cost ($)
OLT, splitters, and ONT hardware.
Fiber cable cost ($)
Feeder, distribution, and drop cable materials.
Total fiber route (km)
Combined feeder and distribution route length.
PON ports needed
Number of OLT PON ports based on split ratio.
Est. payback (months)
Rough payback period assuming $70/mo ARPU at 60% margin.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Homes passed = 500, Take rate (%) = 40, Distance from CO (km) = 5, Homes per route-km = 30 = 6 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Cost per home passed
    Cost per home passed = totalCost / homesPassed
    2055 = $2,055
  3. Calculate Cost per subscriber
    5137 = $5,137
  4. Calculate Total project cost
    Total project cost = oltTotalCost + feederCost + totalSplitterCost + distributionCost + totalDropC...
    1027367 = $1,027,367

Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the cost-per-home-passed figure not change when I adjust the take rate?

Cost per home passed is total project cost divided by homes passed, and homes passed is a fixed input independent of take rate — so that metric stays constant as you vary take rate. Take rate only affects the subscriber-dependent costs (drop cables, ONTs) and the cost-per-subscriber metric, since drop cables and ONTs are only installed for homes that actually subscribe, not for every home the fiber passes.

How does the PON split ratio affect the number of OLT ports and splitters needed?

PON ports needed is homes passed divided by the split ratio, rounded up — a higher split ratio (like 64 or 128 instead of 32) means more homes share each fiber via a passive splitter, so fewer OLT ports and splitter cabinets are required for the same homes-passed count. The tradeoff, which this calculator doesn't model, is that higher split ratios divide the optical signal budget across more endpoints and can constrain maximum reach or require stronger transceivers.

Why does construction method have such a large effect on total project cost?

Construction cost is total route kilometers (feeder plus distribution) multiplied by a per-km rate that varies nearly threefold by method: $35,000/km for underground boring, $25,000/km for trenching, and $12,000/km for aerial placement. Since construction is typically the single largest cost component in an FTTH build, and it scales directly with a rate that differs by that much between methods, the construction-method choice has an outsized effect on the final cost-per-home-passed benchmark.

Is the payback period a reliable number for evaluating whether a deployment is worth building?

No — the payback estimate uses a fixed placeholder assumption of $70/month ARPU at 60% margin applied uniformly to every subscriber, not your actual pricing, service mix, or expected churn. It's meant only as a directional gut-check; a real business case would need your actual revenue plan and cost of capital rather than this flat approximation.

Related Calculators

The questions that sit next to this one — chosen by subject, including calculators filed under a different category.

Telecom Infrastructure

Telecom OSP Design Calculator

Outside plant material from route length and subscriber count.

Telecom Infrastructure

Network Redundancy Cost Calculator

Additional cost for N+1 and ring redundancy.

Telecom Infrastructure

VoIP Bandwidth Calculator

Bandwidth from concurrent calls, codec, and overhead.

Fiber Optics

PON Splitter Calculator

Calculate passive optical network splitter loss, link margin, and bandwidth per user for GPON, XGS-PON, and EPON deployments.

Military Logistics

Deployment Cost Calculator

Total deployment cost from personnel, duration, and equipment weight.

More in Technology & Computing.