With the continuing pole rental increases, difficulty in obtaining pole contracts and, in some cases, the requirements of franchises and pole contracts, underground cable installation is becoming more common throughout our industry. Beautification groups demand it, public utilities are headed more and more in this direction and cable operators are receiving constant pressure to adopt this method of plant installation.
Although underground installation has been practiced for years by the utility companies, it is a relatively new concept for the CATV industry. And, as with anything we lack experience in, hesitancy, apprehensiveness and phobias exist.