Randy Edley, White River Connect’s outside plant manager, credits the use of microduct to co-locate fiber in existing underground electric conduit and roadway microtrenching with helping the co-op deploy fiber faster and more cleanly while accelerating cash flow.

“At the end of the day, broadband is a competitive business, so getting into those high-density areas as quickly as we can and getting that revenue source rolling as fast as we can is important,” Edley said. “Doing it in a manner that’s protective of the members’ property and our internal resources—that is huge.”

Microduct and microtrenching—which involves contractors placing microduct for fiber in narrow trenches along county or city roads—reduce the need to excavate entirely new fiber routes using traditional underground construction.

“We’ve spent several thousand dollars rectifying damage—roads buckling, driveways cracking, all the things that happen with a traditional underground build,” Edley said. “Not to mention, this big, heavy rig is in somebody’s front yard. It’s loud, it’s messy, and it tears things up.”

The technology proved especially valuable as crews moved through challenging terrain. Rather than relying on a single construction method, the team could evaluate existing infrastructure and determine where microduct provided a more efficient option. That flexibility allowed White River Connect to make timely construction decisions, reduce unnecessary boring and trenching and, in some areas, reduce estimated construction costs by more than 60%.

“We would have struggled to do this traditionally,” Edley said. “We’re always looking for the best way to provide service to the member while also delivering the best value.”

The method provides a significant speed advantage. In suitable existing conduit routes, crews could install nearly 4,000 feet of microduct and fiber a day, compared with about 800 to 1,200 feet using conventional boring equipment, Edley said. Using existing electric conduits also keeps fiber within a known utility corridor rather than creating another underground path.

White River learned the technique from Cumberland Electric Membership Corp., based in Clarksville, Tennessee. CEMC successfully demonstrated microducting while building its 5,300-miles of mainline fiber and never looked back. The co-op completed its build in 2024—two years ahead of schedule.

“Microduct played a big role,” said CEMC Broadband Vice President Mark Cook, P.E.

As a case in point, Cook recalls a 60-lot subdivision where the crew with a directional boring rig hit rock the first day. The co-op was told it would take at least three weeks to get the job done. CEMC decided to go with microducting instead and the neighborhood was fiber ready in six hours at a cost that was 10 times below the estimate, he said.

“That’s the kind of game-changing impact microduct can have,” said Cook.

Then there’s the benefit of no muss and no fuss. Before the co-op tapped into microducting, five or six boring machines were in Cook’s own neighborhood, pumping out gallons of water and mud to dig out a trench for fiber.

“People hated it,” he said. “We do microduct and it’s completely mess-free. When people would ask what we’re doing and we tell them, they’d come back with cookies for our lineworkers.”

Although its fiber broadband build is done, CEMC welcomes co-ops like White River to learn about the details and benefits of microduct. “We love to talk about it,” said Cook. “It’s cooperation among co-ops.”

The combination of microduct co-location and roadway microtrenching “has been a literal game changer for White River Connect,” Edley said. “It gave us the ability to build effectively at a reasonable cost to our membership.”