Wi-Fi Expansion Project with Tight Deadlines
San Antonio, Texas
In July 2021, our client, a communications company, together with their housing partner, asked ENTRUST Solutions Group to help with a Wi-Fi expansion project that had the goal of improving lives and advancing resident independence. This partnership was officially set in motion on July 22, 2021, when our client was awarded a one-year contract for the broadband installation and service portion of the Wi-Fi expansion project.
In Q4 of 2021, our communications client came to us in a dire situation and with a hefty ask. Their initial contractor lacked critical knowledge in the space and had missed key targets causing the project to be severely behind with deadlines coming fast. They needed a firm with not only the knowledge and skillsets to complete the work within extreme timelines, but one that had strong relationships with downstream entities that would give them the ability to meet their looming deadlines for this high-impact and high visibility contract.
ENTRUST agreed to take on the project and immediately began the review. It was evident early on that not only would the designs need to be rerouted in multiple locations to comply with owner restrictions, but the previously collected field data was also incomplete to satisfy the submission requirements of the utility company.
ENTRUST worked closely with our client to set a priority schedule for not only the collection of the needed data but also milestones at each progressive step in the permitting and design process to ensure core deadlines were met. A shared spreadsheet, as well as a weekly meeting, were set up to ensure real-time information was always readily available to the client.
ENTRUST began by sending expert teams of fielding crews out to systematically survey all poles for each project, including photographs and top-to-bottom measurements of all electric and telecommunication attachments as well as all midspans needed.
The new data was then compiled into applications where both telecom and electric make-ready engineering were completed to include recommendations to allow room for new attachments while also adhering to the utility’s stringent infrastructure and safety requirements.
Final designs were sent to the client for their approval on a per-project basis complete with multiple options for speed vs cost decisions in issue areas.
Once approved, the finalized make-ready recommendation was sent to our Pole Loading Analysis (PLA) and Electric Make Ready (EMR) divisions for P.E. sealed loading analysis report and electric make-ready design.
Due to the utility’s long lead time to complete electric make-ready construction and our client’s constricted timelines, temporary attachment research was conducted by ENTRUST, and applications were completed for all projects that required EMR and qualified for early attachment.
An approved temporary attachment made it possible for the client to schedule construction within weeks of joint use submission rather than pushing the projects out for 6+ months.
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