Across the country, millions of wooden (and occasionally metal) poles are used to carry broadband and phone cables overhead. They're a common feature of Britain's network infrastructure because they're fast, cheap and less disruptive to install than digging up roads and. The Fiber Optic Association, Inc. (FOA) was founded in 1995 to help develop the workforce to build the fiber optic networks to support a rapid expansion in communications and the Internet. The charter of the FOA was to promote professionalism in fiber optics through education, certification, and. Deploying fiber above ground on poles or towers removes the need for underground digging and is particularly useful when the ground is uneven, rocky or both. Unlike buried cable, they excel in rural or suburban areas where trenching is impractical. FO-VC2 JOINT USE - VERICAL MIDSPAN CLEARANCES 48.