AT&T Delays 500,000 Fiber-To-The-Home Builds Due To Severe Fiber Shortage (arstechnica.com) 32

Posted by BeauHD on Thursday August 12, 2021 @05:40PM from the supply-and-demand dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: AT&T says that supply-chain shortages will delay fiber construction to about 500,000 homes that it originally planned to wire up this year and warned that shortages are likely to impact other companies that purchase fiber even more. "Up through the second quarter, we hadn't really experienced any impact from the supply-chain disruptions that are happening across the industry. But since the start of the third quarter, we are seeing dislocation across the board including in fiber supply," AT&T Senior Executive VP and CFO Pascal Desroches said yesterday at a virtual conference hosted by Oppenheimer.

AT&T previously told investors to expect "3 million homes passed [with fiber] this year," Desroches said. "We're probably going to come in a little bit light, probably around 2.5 [million]." The planned deployment of 3 million locations includes all the fiber construction AT&T has completed in the first seven months of 2021. As we've written previously, AT&T is expanding its fiber builds in about 90 metro areas, with new locations primarily consisting of homes and businesses close to AT&T's existing fiber installations.

AT&T Delays 500,000 Fiber-To-The-Home Builds Due To Severe Fiber Shortage

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How long will the shortage last? (Score:3, Informative)

by inode_buddha ( 576844 ) writes: on Thursday August 12, 2021 @05:46PM (#61685809) Journal

How long will the shortage last?
Probably until the money runs out.
Lather, rinse, repeat: https://news.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]

- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by StormReaver ( 59959 ) writes:
  
  At which point, there won't be any money left due to executive embezzlement.
- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by logjon ( 1411219 ) writes:
  
  Who could have predicted this? I mean, who? Really, who? [slashdot.org]
- Re:Wonder what CCP factory (Score:5, Informative)
  
  by virtig01 ( 414328 ) writes: on Thursday August 12, 2021 @07:23PM (#61686119)
  
  Corning is the market share leader in fiber. They manufacture in North Carolina [corning.com].
  
In a Depression (Score:2)

by Lake Level ( 6897432 ) writes:

If you are not in a business that requires materials, you probably don't know that there is a severe shortage on just about everything. Our feckless News Media certainly isn't going to tell you. It's not just computer chips. Good luck. We are going to need it.
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) writes:
  
  This is what happens when you don't build much anymore.
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by Ostracus ( 1354233 ) writes:
    
    I'm sure we have plenty of bran plants.
  - Re: (Score:1)
    
    by Narcocide ( 102829 ) writes:
    
    yea, but all the missing fiber is probably just sitting in some backlogged shipping containers they're bribing someone on the side to make sure gets unloaded last or simply "misrouted"
  - Re: In a Depression (Score:3)
    
    by NagrothAgain ( 4130865 ) writes:
    
    No, it's what happens when you shut down most raw materials production for a year and a half. Almost all the lumber used in construction in the US is produced domestically, and prices are sky high due to materials shortages. Tyson foods just announced they'll be increasing prices on meats to make up for increasing labor costs caused by wage increases. It takes a while for a lot of production shortages to work its way down to consumers but it's starting to hit, and will hit hard.
    - Re: (Score:2)
      
      by inode_buddha ( 576844 ) writes:
      
      I have a very hard time believing that because I've spent most of my life in manufacturing and raw materials and they've never been busier. My current employer keeps a few steel mills etc fed with raw supplies and we can hardly keep up with demand.
      - Re: (Score:1)
        
        by inode_buddha ( 576844 ) writes:
        
        Follow-up to add, most of those jobs were not deemed "essential" that I know of, and masking was never an issue because the next guy might be 50 yards away. Semi-outdoors shed environment.
      - Re: (Score:1)
        
        by Lake Level ( 6897432 ) writes:
        
        I cant even get sheet metal parts made because there is no sheet metal to be had. My normal supplier of monitors can get me some by February. EthernetIP IO modules for machine automation have no delivery date at all. Now we see the down side of lean manufacturing: one interruption in one line causes the whole thing to go down. We are in for at least 3 years of real hurt.
        
        Re: (Score:1)
        
        by inode_buddha ( 576844 ) writes:
        
        Well, I can recommend my own suppliers, if you'd like.
        http://www.kleinsteel.com/ [kleinsteel.com]
        And for smaller projects and personal projects:
        https://www.onlinemetals.com/ [onlinemetals.com]
        I continue to have very good luck with both. Klein does local delivery via semi trucks, but I think there is a minimum 1-ton order or pickup yourself. The real cost is in the shipping.
    - Re: (Score:1)
      
      by justinleona ( 6314896 ) writes:
      
      Lumber prices are significantly recovering at present... for instance a local 2x12x8 SYP is back to around $15, down from a high in the $40s.
Only ATT can say... (Score:2)

by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 ) writes:

We're "going to be a little bit light", and mean that they are not going to connect a half-million homes.
It's going to take a lot of fiber... (Score:2)

by kit_triforce ( 3682453 ) writes:

... to get them to shift all their crap.
hard to believe (Score:2)

by awwshit ( 6214476 ) writes:

I find this hard to believe. I think its more about cost, ATT cannot get enough fiber at its super low-ball pricing. If ATT paid a little more there would be no shortage.
- Re: (Score:1)
  
  by olsmeister ( 1488789 ) writes:
  
  Companies that locked in agreements with suppliers are not having issues. AT&T assumed they were too large to have to resort to those kinds of measures. Oops!
Not unforseeable... (Score:5, Interesting)

by virtig01 ( 414328 ) writes: on Thursday August 12, 2021 @07:16PM (#61686087)

FttH and 5G require lots of fiber. AT&T's main competitor, Verizon, saw this coming and did something about it [corning.com], at the same time AT&T was preoccupied with how to become a media company.

Grow Up, (Score:2)

by Otis B. Dilroy III ( 2110816 ) writes:

They are just waiting for Biden era subsidies.
Got you covered, AT&T (Score:2)

by ytene ( 4376651 ) writes:

We'll just give any share of that $65 billion you would have received to SpaceX for their Starlink constellation. They apparently don't have any fiber shortages in orbit at the moment.
covenant shortage (Score:1)

by raslin ( 110940 ) writes:

that is a covenant shortage if i ever heard of.. NB just read the head line
Infrastructure bill gives them MORE billions, too (Score:2, Troll)

by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) writes:

So just to be clear, AT&T is delaying existing fiber installs which we paid them hundreds of billions of dollars to perform* and now we're going to hand them more hundreds of billions of dollars that they will steal?**
* To be fair, some of this money was given to them so long ago that they were supposed to install DSL with it, but since they didn't do that I'm just lumping it together.
** During the time AT&T was supposed to be spending the money we gave them on infrastructure, they paid record divid
- AT&T employees with modpoints (Score:2)
  
  by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) writes:
  
  It is a fact [newnetworks.com] that AT&T has stolen our money, along with the other telcos, but they are the worst offenders.
Better excuse than our first attempt (Score:2)

by theendlessnow ( 516149 ) * writes:

We were going to blame global climate change, but fiber shortages did better in our sample testing.
AT&T suffers... (Score:2)

by groobly ( 6155920 ) writes:

AT&T suffers extreme build-out constipation due to fiber shortage.
ISDN Works Well & Runs On Copper (Score:2)

by littlewink ( 996298 ) writes:

If only AT&T will provide it! ISDN is more than adequate for most purposes and doesn't need fiber or cable.
Lucky (Score:1)

by LaminarFlow ( 6246940 ) writes:

Just had gigabit fiber installed at my new place last week, perfect timing.

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AT&T Delays 500,000 Fiber-To-The-Home Builds Due To Severe Fiber Shortage (arstechnica.com) 32

AT&T Delays 500,000 Fiber-To-The-Home Builds Due To Severe Fiber Shortage More Login

AT&T Delays 500,000 Fiber-To-The-Home Builds Due To Severe Fiber Shortage

How long will the shortage last? (Score:3, Informative)

Re: (Score:1)

Re: (Score:1)

Re:Wonder what CCP factory (Score:5, Informative)

In a Depression (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:1)

Re: In a Depression (Score:3)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:1)

Re: (Score:1)

Re: (Score:1)

Re: (Score:1)

Only ATT can say... (Score:2)

It's going to take a lot of fiber... (Score:2)

hard to believe (Score:2)

Re: (Score:1)

Not unforseeable... (Score:5, Interesting)

Grow Up, (Score:2)

Got you covered, AT&T (Score:2)

covenant shortage (Score:1)

Infrastructure bill gives them MORE billions, too (Score:2, Troll)

AT&T employees with modpoints (Score:2)

Better excuse than our first attempt (Score:2)

AT&T suffers... (Score:2)

ISDN Works Well & Runs On Copper (Score:2)

Lucky (Score:1)

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