Investment Costs of Terrestrial Long-Haul Telecommunication Facilities

The investment costs of long-haul, modern, radio relay and coaxialcable systems, as determined from data submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, are presented. Formulas to determine costs per voice-circuit-mile, and per television-channel-mile, are developed. The specific facilities investigated are the TD-2, TD-3, and TH radio relay systems, and the L-3 12-tube and L-4 20-tube coaxial cable systems. The radio relay systems are significantly, with one exception, less expensive than coaxial cable systems over their design capacity ranges. The L-4 20-tube coaxial cable system (32 400 voice circuits) and the TD-3 radio relaysystem (12 000 voice circuits) have approximately equal investment costs per voice-circuit-mile ($3.40) at full capacity.