How many subscribers did you need to decide to launch service?

This was a very difficult question for our Board of Directors. It was difficult chiefly because Qwest was such a moving target. Qwest initially demanded that we purchase an eleven-million-dollar insurance policy naming Qwest as a beneficiary. Later Qwest dropped its demand to a "mere" one million dollars. Qwest initially demanded we pay $1707.09 to learn what Qwest's price would be for installation of a Field Connection Point (FCP). Later Qwest dropped that demand to a "mere" $1107.09. Still later Qwest agreed to let the $1107.09 be credited toward the price of installation of the FCP. This meant that if the price Qwest stated for the FCP were $1107.09 or less, then it would be "free" in the sense that we would have already paid for it with the $1107.09 fee already paid for quoting the FCP price.

The monthly cost for renting subloops was also a moving target. First Qwest demanded $21.32 per month per subloop. This was said to be non-negotiable. Then Qwest's non-negotiable price dropped to $15.12. Still later it dropped to $8.33. Still later it dropped to $4.54. Later Qwest announced the applicable price (again non-negotiable) was $8.73 monthly. Since then the Colorado PUC has stated that it will be $15.84 monthly.

For these and other reasons it was not easy to guess what was the minimal number of subscribers to justify launching service. Nonetheless our Board had no choice and had to decide. We ended up deciding that we needed at least ten subscribers. Good fortune has favored us and we think we may have eleven or twelve subscribers at service launch.