What is the timeframe for finishing the construction and installation of a particular neighborhood or site to the time when it is actually lit up
z and other future 5G spectrum deployments, any issues in the supply chain? And beyond wireless, anything that perhaps on the cable side as well that you're seeing?
Joe Natale -- President And Chief Executive Officer
Yes. Thanks for the question, Sebastiano. We feel we're in good shape in terms of the wireless network deployment. Bear in mind that a lot of the heavy lift is already done. I don't know if you recall, but when we did our 4G LTE advanced implementation and the radios we put up on the towers, etc.. We did that later in the 4G LT advanced cycle. And therefore we were able to secure 5G ready radios from Ericsson. So a lot of the equipment lift is already there. And for other things that we need along the way, we've been stockpiling. As supply chain issues have become a global phenomenon, we've been stockpiling things and building up inventory to make sure we don't have a challenge, whether it's in the network uplift on 5G, the coverage and capacity building that we're doing, or whether it's in our cable uplift, GPON capabilities. So we feel good about that.
In terms of CPE in the cable business, we feel good about where we are in that. We've also managed to improve safety stock levels. And the supply chain team has done an incredible job of managing in the face of what's been happening in terms of global chip shortage. The nexus of focus has really been on the smartphone side, right, because these are hot devices. And in the scheme of the global supply chain for smartphones in Canada collectively among all the players is a small part of the base. And therefore, it's always a question of not where they go in terms of company; it's where they go in terms of country. Now we're fortunate to have very strong relationships with the major smartphone providers and work very collaboratively with them on that. Given we have the largest wireless business and the volume -- but that's really where the focus and Dave's world is. But we're fine in terms of network and cable CPE. Hope it answers the question, Sebastiano.
Sebastiano Petti -- JPMorgan -- Analyst
Yes, that's great. And then circling back, I think, Joe, in your prepared remarks, you talked about by the end of '21, reaching about 500,000 households in rural and underserved communities. I guess, two questions related to that. When do, I guess, you like those up in terms of marketing and trying to target those? And when does that become a -- when do you start to see those numbers, penetration, gains, etc., start to come through the Internet and broadband KPI line?
Joe Natale -- President And Chief Executive Officer
So just to be clear, Sebastiano, that's a cumulative number in terms of our rural base. And we typically, first time we light them up and we've been adding to it all year. And bear in mind, there are about two million underserved homes across Canada. So that's the target market set that's available to us to go build to with either fiber, fixed wireless or any other sort of technology that comes along the way. And to that end, there are many different government programs to help subsidize the funding in noneconomic areas. And to my comment earlier, I believe fixed wireless is a very important part of that strategy for us as well as some of the UBF and other opportunities to partner with governments, at all orders of government, provincial and federal to kind of close that gap. But in terms of when we finish the construction and installation of a particular neighborhood or site to the time when we actually light it up. It's measured in months, it's measured in months.
A lot of it has to do with sometimes the build ahead. If it's a greenfield operation, even in rural, there are small communities being built in rural. And the tranches often put the fiber in. And then we have to really wait for people to move in. So that's more a function of people moving in. But if it's an area where there are existing rural customers, we're actually building and delivering like right away. In fixed wireless, like there's -- we light up the tower, and then it's a sales effort.
z and other future 5G spectrum deployments, any issues in the supply chain? And beyond wireless, anything that perhaps on the cable side as well that you're seeing?
Joe Natale -- President And Chief Executive Officer
Yes. Thanks for the question, Sebastiano. We feel we're in good shape in terms of the wireless network deployment. Bear in mind that a lot of the heavy lift is already done. I don't know if you recall, but when we did our 4G LTE advanced implementation and the radios we put up on the towers, etc.. We did that later in the 4G LT advanced cycle. And therefore we were able to secure 5G ready radios from Ericsson. So a lot of the equipment lift is already there. And for other things that we need along the way, we've been stockpiling. As supply chain issues have become a global phenomenon, we've been stockpiling things and building up inventory to make sure we don't have a challenge, whether it's in the network uplift on 5G, the coverage and capacity building that we're doing, or whether it's in our cable uplift, GPON capabilities. So we feel good about that.
In terms of CPE in the cable business, we feel good about where we are in that. We've also managed to improve safety stock levels. And the supply chain team has done an incredible job of managing in the face of what's been happening in terms of global chip shortage. The nexus of focus has really been on the smartphone side, right, because these are hot devices. And in the scheme of the global supply chain for smartphones in Canada collectively among all the players is a small part of the base. And therefore, it's always a question of not where they go in terms of company; it's where they go in terms of country. Now we're fortunate to have very strong relationships with the major smartphone providers and work very collaboratively with them on that. Given we have the largest wireless business and the volume -- but that's really where the focus and Dave's world is. But we're fine in terms of network and cable CPE. Hope it answers the question, Sebastiano.
Sebastiano Petti -- JPMorgan -- Analyst
 Yes, that's great. And then circling back, I think, Joe, in your prepared remarks, you talked about by the end of '21, reaching about 500,000 households in rural and underserved communities. I guess, two questions related to that. When do, I guess, you like those up in terms of marketing and trying to target those? And when does that become a -- when do you start to see those numbers, penetration, gains, etc., start to come through the Internet and broadband KPI line?
Joe Natale -- President And Chief Executive Officer
So just to be clear, Sebastiano, that's a cumulative number in terms of our rural base. And we typically, first time we light them up and we've been adding to it all year. And bear in mind, there are about two million underserved homes across Canada. So that's the target market set that's available to us to go build to with either fiber, fixed wireless or any other sort of technology that comes along the way. And to that end, there are many different government programs to help subsidize the funding in noneconomic areas. And to my comment earlier, I believe fixed wireless is a very important part of that strategy for us as well as some of the UBF and other opportunities to partner with governments, at all orders of government, provincial and federal to kind of close that gap. But in terms of when we finish the construction and installation of a particular neighborhood or site to the time when we actually light it up. It's measured in months, it's measured in months.
A lot of it has to do with sometimes the build ahead. If it's a greenfield operation, even in rural, there are small communities being built in rural. And the tranches often put the fiber in. And then we have to really wait for people to move in. So that's more a function of people moving in. But if it's an area where there are existing rural customers, we're actually building and delivering like right away. In fixed wireless, like there's -- we light up the tower, and then it's a sales effort.