Due to constraints on the existing fiber network, in May 2017, the TVA Board of Directors approved the Strategic Fiber Initiative (SFI) with a budget of $300 million to expand TVA’s fiber capacity by 3,500 miles over the course of ten years on 31 prioritized routes. In addition, TVA planned to lease surplus fiber to external entities to help offset a portion of the operational costs. As of January 2026, the 31 routes that were originally scheduled for fiber installation had been reduced to 19 routes and mileage reduced from 3,500 to approximately 1,900 miles to stay within the $300 million budget. Due to the decrease in mileage, we initiated an evaluation of the SFI program to identify the cause(s) for the decrease in scope for the strategic fiber program.
We determined the original budget for the SFI program contained some flawed assumptions that resulted in an underestimated cost per mile. To stay within the approved $300 million budget, TVA reduced the scope of the program. We reviewed documentation that identified some of the flawed assumptions that contributed to cost increases (resulting in scope decreases), including: (1) issues with wood poles, (2) limited use of helicopter to install the fiber, (3) increased use of contractor labor, (4) environmental requirements, and (5) outage availability. Additionally, the program has not generated the amount of revenue from leasing excess fiber capacity that was anticipated. At the request of the Project Review Board, program personnel identified lessons learned to be applied to future programs of similar size and duration.
