Appendix C

Costs

In this annex we present typical costs for some microwave relay link compo-
nents, such as parabolic reflector antennas, flat reflectors, guyed masts, tow-
ers, waveguides and radio equipment. These costs, that should be taken as
merely indicative, are for equipment placed at the customers premises, in the
European Union, and do not include taxes (namely customs and value added
tax). They are expressed in Euro (or approximately in American dollars) and
where valid in end of the nineties.
Installation and commissioning costs amount to 20 to 30 per cent of indi-
cated costs.
• Parabolic reflectors
Cost ca of a parabolic reflector with diameter d (in m) , normal series,
complete with primary feed for a single linear polarization is
ca = 1000 + 75 d3 ; (C.1)

• Flat reflectors
Cost ce of a flat reflector with area s (in m2 ) between about 5 and about
20 m2 may be estimated as
ce = 2500 + 750(s − 5); (C.2)
459
460 COSTS

• Guyed masts
Cost cte of a guyed mast, with typical anchorages and anti torsion device
(to keep torsion below about ±0.5 degree), is given as a function of the
height h, (in m), by the following approximate formula

cte = 3500 + 300 h f or 10 ≤ h ≤ 40, (C.3)

cte = 3500 + 350 h f or 40 < h ≤ 60; (C.4)

• Self standing metallic towers

Cost cta of a self standing metallic tower, with typical anchorages, as a
function of the height h, in m, changes quite dramatically near h = 30
m, as shown in the following approximate formulas

cta = 4000 + 600 h f or 10 ≤ h ≤ 30; (C.5)

cta = 22500 + 16000 (h − 30) f or 30 ≤ h < 80. (C.6)

• Co-axial cable
Cost per meter of normal co-axial cable is 4.5 for 1/2 ” cable and about
15 for 7/8 ” cable;
• Elliptic waveguide
Cost, per meter, of elliptic waveguide cge , for the frequency f , in GHz,
may be approximated by:
 
10
cge = 15 × 1 + ; (C.7)
f

• Transmitter and receiver

Cost of the radio equipment for a digital terminal, in a 1 + 1 configura-
tion, including transmitters, receivers, modem for 8 or 34 Mbit/s, and
switching gear is in the range of 325̇00 and 350̇00;
• Shelter and uninterruptible power supply
Cost of a simple, non air-conditioned, shelter and the uninterruptible
power supply, assuming there is a local mains supply is between 500̇00
and 600̇00. This value does not include the cost of the land nor the cost
of access roads.