Providing telecom service can be a challenge. From weather to technology shifts, the industry battles many unpredictable situations. This year, it’s a worldwide fiber-optics shortage. TDS has plans to install more than 1,700 miles of fiber-optics in the next 12 months.

“This has been an interesting year for fiber,” says Jon Finseth, manager of Sourcing, Procurement and Fleet at TDS. “Japan, which produced 15 to 20 percent of the world’s supply, was taken out of business by the earthquake. Other fiber manufacturers don’t have enough capacity to make up that difference, so there is a real shortage.”

Thankfully, our Procurement team anticipated the fiber-optic supply problem, acted quickly, and negotiated a deal to secure the fiber we need—at a guaranteed price.

The large amount of fiber-optic cable is necessary for our normal operations and to deploy the many stimulus projects planned for construction in 2012.