When we are scoping a deployment with a new operator, the first question we ask is also the question that produces the most uncomfortable silence: "what does it cost you to run one subscriber for one month?" The right answer is a number, broken down by line. The common answer is "let me get back to you." Here is the anatomy that emerges when you do the work.
The big six line items
Across the operators we have benchmarked (a mix of South Asian, Middle Eastern and European mid-size FTTH ISPs), the per-subscriber-per-month OpEx settles into six lines that account for 90–95% of variable cost.
Approximate per-subscriber per-month OpEx (illustrative)
| Upstream bandwidth (IP transit + peering) | $1.20 – $3.50 |
| Power, cooling, colo for OLTs and core | $0.40 – $1.20 |
| NOC + customer care staff (allocated) | $1.50 – $4.00 |
| Field operations (allocated) | $0.80 – $2.20 |
| Software licences (NMS, CRM, ERP, ACS) | $0.60 – $1.80 |
| Last-mile maintenance + replacements | $0.30 – $0.90 |
Why the ranges are wide
The wide ranges hide two things: the maturity of automation (high automation → lower NOC/care line), and the upstream cost per Mbps (which varies more than 10× across regions). The point of breaking this down is to see which lines are within your control.
Where the savings actually live
The savings are not where most operators look first. Almost everyone focuses on bandwidth contract renegotiation — and that is fine — but it usually moves the bandwidth line by 5–10%, not the headline OpEx. The two lines that move the most when you automate are NOC/care and field operations, because both are dominated by repetitive human work that closed-loop autonomy eliminates.
| Metric | Before | After | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| NOC + care per sub / month | $2.80 | $1.20 | −57% |
| Field operations per sub / month | $1.50 | $0.85 | −43% |
| Software stack per sub / month | $1.40 (4 tools) | $0.80 (1 platform) | −43% |
| Total recurring per sub / month | $8.90 | $5.20 | −42% |
The hidden labour cost
The line "NOC + customer care" hides a lot. The dominant component is not headcount — it is handle-time per ticket, multiplied by ticket volume. A 12-minute average handle-time at 0.4 tickets per subscriber per month puts you near $2.50 per subscriber per month in pure labour. Pull average handle-time to 5 minutes (because every diagnostic is one query, not five tabs), and the line halves before you change anyone's salary.
Truck rolls are the most expensive sentence in the business
A truck roll typically costs $55–$120 fully loaded. A typical FTTH operator runs 0.05–0.15 truck rolls per subscriber per year. That alone is $3–$18 per subscriber per year. Of those, 30–60% are avoidable in retrospect — the diagnostic data was there to know it was a customer-side issue or a non-issue. Closing that gap is between $1 and $10 per subscriber per year on its own.
Software consolidation is real, but be honest about it
Replacing four tools with one looks great in a slide. In practice, the saving has two phases. Phase 1 (months 1–9) — you are paying both sets of licences while you migrate. Phase 2 (month 9 onwards) — the legacy contracts expire and the saving lands in P&L. The total saving is real and usually 30–50% of the software line, but do not promise CFO it lands in the same quarter you sign.
What we recommend a CFO ask
- 1What is our per-subscriber-per-month variable OpEx, broken down by the six lines above?
- 2Which of those lines have moved more than 5% in the last 12 months — up or down — and why?
- 3What percentage of customer-care handle-time is spent in tool-switching rather than in customer conversation?
- 4How many truck rolls in the last 12 months, in retrospect, did not need to happen?
- 5What is our annualised software-stack spend, and how many vendors does it span?
