Tag: "economic development"

Eugene's "Silicon Shire" : No Orcs Here

Posted March 24, 2017 by lgonzalez

Eugene was recently named a recipient for a Mozilla and National Science Foundation Gigabit Community Fund award. The funding will allow education and workforce development ideas that require next-generation technologies to take advantage of the “Emerald City’s” new gigabit infrastructure.

Green Means Go

Last summer, the City Council voted to make a downtown fiber-optic infrastructure pilot project eligible for Urban Renewal funds. The approval allowed the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) the ability to expand the project to bring Gigabit per second (1,000 Megabits) capacity to more businesses in the city's downtown.

Based on the success of the pilot and the new funding source, the city solidified plans to take the publicly owned network even further last fall. The city has approved up to $3 million to expand the open access network and connect to approximately 120 downtown buildings.

On March 21st, the city and EWEB is holding a Fiber Launch Celebration downtown. They’ll hold a Fiber Lighting Ceremony and demonstrate 10 Gbps Internet speeds from XS Media, one of the first ISPs planning to offer services via the new infrastructure. Tickets to the event will benefit the Springfield Education Foundation and Looking Glass Community Services. From the event announcement:

"More and more businesses and jobs depend on high-speed internet, just as much as they depend on other basic infrastructure," says Mel Damewood, EWEB's chief engineering and operations officer. "This innovative 'open-access' model of public ownership partnered with private ISPs offers service in a cost-competitive environment, and that helps to support our growing tech sector and a vibrant downtown."

EWEB’s deployment is part of a regional effort called EUGNet that includes a number of public agencies from Portland to San Jose. Locally, the Springfield Utility Board and the Lane Council of Governments also include their fiber...

Wilsonville, Oregon: Survey, Analysis, Consideration

Posted March 24, 2017 by KateSvitavsky

The city of Wilsonville, Oregon, is collecting information from businesses and residents to explore community interest in a municipal fiber network. So far, efforts to analyze need include two surveys and the first of several public meetings with businesses. The City Council anticipates considering the results of the study this summer.

This Is Wilsonville

Wilsonville is a densely populated city located in the Portland metro. Its seven square miles is home to about 20,000 residents and a handful of tech companies. The city has some existing fiber, which connects to neighboring Clackamas County’s broadband network and provides high-quality, low-cost service to Wilsonville’s police department, library, and schools. Wilsonville doesn't have a municipal electric utility, but does supply water and wastewater.

It's in the northwest corner of the state, primarily in Clackamas County with a section of the community located in Washington County. There are a number of large distribution centers in the community, including Coca-Cola and Rite-Aid, that require access to high-capacity connectivity. Clackamas County's Broadband eXchange provides fiber connectivity to public facilities and businesses across the county.

Wilsonville first considered improving Internet access last January, when the City Council authorized staff to work with a consultant to explore their options.

“It really goes to the concept of how competitive we think our city should be across business interests and across industry, as well as the financial addition and even the residential participation in that,” said [Mayor] Tim Knapp.

All Options On The Table

In 2013, the city invested in some fiber that serves government institutions and could become the backbone for expansion projects. They're considering several possibilities, including maintaining a network only for governmental purposes, providing connectivity to the commercial district, and offering high-quality Internet access to residential neighborhoods. Though community leaders have not made a decision on the matter, they are considering whether to become a municipal Internet Service Provider (ISPs) or to find a partner to operate on the network...

Holland, Michigan, Will Expand Pilot To More Of Downtown

Posted March 22, 2017 by lgonzalez

In January 2016, Holland, Michigan, made commencing fiber-optic Internet access to residential neighborhoods its number one goal for fiscal year 2017. They’re a little behind schedule, but the town is now moving forward by expanding a pilot project in order to serve a larger downtown area.

It's Really Happening

The Holland Board of Public Works (BPW) held an informational meeting on March 13th to answer questions from the community and share plans for the potential expansion. About a year ago, we reported on the results of a study commissioned by the city in which, based on a take rate of about 40 percent, 1 Gigabit per second (1,000 Mbps) connectivity would cost residents about $80 per month. Small businesses would pay approximately $85 per month and larger commercial subscriber rates would run around $220 per month. The update on the plan confirms those figures, noting that the four businesses that tested the pilot services had positive experiences. As a result, BPW feels it’s time to expand to more of downtown.

"If it goes really well we hope to be able to expand the service out as far into the community as we can," said Pete Hoffswell, broadband services manager at BPW.

The expansion is planned for construction in June and July, with service testing in August. Actual delivery would be in September, BPW estimates.

BPW will use a boring technique to place conduit and fiber below ground so there will be minimal disruption. No streets will be closed. Next, BPW will get construction bids, evaluate them, and present them to the City Council for approval.

Not An Impulse Decision

Holland has had dark fiber in place for decades for the municipal electric operations. Later BPW extended it to schools and businesses that needed high capacity data services. After years of incremental expansions, the network is now more than 150 fiber miles throughout the city.

They tried to lure Google to the community in 2010, but when the tech company went elsewhere, city leaders created a 2011 strategic plan which confirmed the desire to improve connectivity. The plan came with a $58 million recommendation to...

Shutesbury: "No Thnx, Charter. K. Bye."

Posted March 21, 2017 by lgonzalez

Even though they don't have to chip in any local funds, the town of Shutesbury, Massachusetts, rejected Charter’s proposal to build a hybrid fiber coaxial network in their community. They don’t consider the proposal a “good long-term solution to bring broadband to our town" and prefer to build a publicly owned fiber-optic network for future-proof technology, provider accountability, and local control.

You Get What You Pay For

Unlike Charter’s proposal to serve only 96 percent of the homes in the community, the town made a commitment to include all members of the community some time ago. Charter would not extend its proposal to include about three dozen properties that are further out unless the town committed to providing funds above and beyond what the state offered to provide as part of the proposal. Board of Selectmen Chair Michael Vinskey went on to tell MassLive that Charter would not commit to a specific cost for extending a network to those additional homes.

In the words of Vinskey, committing to such an ambiguous arrangement, “would not be fiscally responsible.” No kidding.

Shutesbury authorized spending for a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network once already. In 2015, folks at the annual Town Meeting voted to approve $1.7 million in bonding to pay for the infrastructure. They’ll take another vote this May for the debt exclusion authorization, as required by state law.

Community leaders estimate deployment to every property at approximately $2.57 million. Their share of the state grants that are to be distributed by MBI come to $870,000 for construction and professional services. Like the community of Leverett, Shutesbury intends to use a modest property tax increase to fund the infrastructure investment.

A basic subscription for Internet access at speeds higher than those proposed by Charter would cost approximately $75 per month and would not include video services but would include Voice over IP (VoIP) services. A number of the local communities in the western Massachusetts region have dealt with sub-par telephone services due to aging infrastructure.

Shutesbury wants...

Mission Viejo, CA, Embarks On Feasibility Study

Posted March 17, 2017 by lgonzalez

At one time, it’s hilly geography earned it the label “undevelopable” in the 1960s, but now the planned community of Mission Viejo, California, is home to approximately 97,000 people in Orange County. The city with the suburban feel is looking at ways to develop even further.

A Blank Slate

The city has recently commissioned a feasibility study to examine how this suburban community can improve its connectivity to boost economic development and improve municipal efficiencies.

According to the city’s website, they want to:

Define the City’s strategic goals, objectives and roles of deployment for broadband network services;
Develop an understanding of community-wide need for fiber-based broadband;
Document fiber-based broadband demand in the City that leverages the City’s existing relationships with local businesses and stakeholder.
Assess the feasibility of using existing right of way, existing and new conduit pole lines and other assets to reduce the cost of FTTP deployments throughout the City;
Determine the benefits that a fiber network would provide in terms of economic development, education, healthcare, municipal government and the quality of life of its constituents, residents and visitors;
Determine how a fiber network could create added-value through economic efficiencies and cost reductions;
Determine the most feasible options to gain consensus on the path forward to achieve the City’s goals.

Like a number of other communities, Mission Viejo has existing fiber within the city that was deployed some time ago for its Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). The community doesn’t own or operate municipal gas or electric utilities. Incumbent Internet access providers are Cox and AT&T.

Business A Priority

Local businesses have been complaining about poor connectivity for years. Back in 2015, one of the community’s two large retail shopping centers found that Cox Communications didn’t see investing in a connection worthwhile. Merchants at The Village shopping center had to depend on DSL and were understandably irked:

“How can you run a...

Businesses Selected For Ellensburg Pilot

Posted March 16, 2017 by lgonzalez

Out of 58 business applications, the city of Ellensburg, Washington, recently selected 30 local businesses to participate in their fiber-optic pilot project. Nineteen participants are business owners, 11 are business tenants; 22 are located at commercial locations and six are home-based businesses along with two telecommuters, reports the Daily Record.

The participants will obtain a credit of $5,000 to connect to the network from the city’s telecommunications utility. Any connection fees over and above the credit will be the responsibility of the pilot project participants.

Businesses will be able to purchase Internet access from the city at either 300 Megabits per second (Mbps) capacity or gigabit (1,000 Mbps) capacity. Service is symmetrical, which is critical for business, so speeds are just as fast on the upload as on the download. Month service fees will be $39.95 and $59.95 per month respectively. The city expects to begin connecting businesses in August.

West Plains Builds Network to Preserve Jobs - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 244

Posted March 14, 2017 by christopher

West Plains is one of the many population centers of rural regions that have been left behind by big cable and telephone companies. Located in the scenic Ozarks of southern Missouri, they are taking their digital future into their own hands with a modest fiber-optic investment.

City Administrator Tom Stehn strolls by our podcast this week to discuss what they are doing and why with a municipal fiber network that will connect anchor institutions and local businesses with high-quality Internet access.

We discuss the need, how they are financing it, and why the state legislature should not enact new barriers to local solutions. The community has already been placing conduit as part of a larger undergrounding effort, which will help them to expand the network over time.

Read the transcript of the show here.

We want your feedback and suggestions for the show-please e-mail us or leave a comment below.

This show is 17 minutes long and can be played on this page or via iTunes or via the tool of your choice using this feed.

You can download this mp3 file directly from here. Listen to other episodes here or view all episodes in our index.

Thanks to Break the Bans for the music. The song is Escape and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Christopher Talks North Carolina, Local Solutions

Posted March 11, 2017 by htrostle

How do we connect rural America? Unreliable, slow Internet service with data caps is the norm for much of the country. Even though the federal government gives billions of dollars to large telecom companies, North Carolina is one of the many states that still has an urban and rural digital divide.

Western North Carolina Public Radio (WCQS) recently spoke with our Christopher Mitchell about local ways to improve rural Internet access. While Christopher spoke of electric cooperatives, two other initiatives are also seeking creative solutions in the western half of the state.

Potential Service from Electric Cooperatives

Communities across the U.S. are already bringing better connectivity to their homes and businesses. Specifically, Christopher pointed to the growing number of electric cooperatives providing Internet service:

“When you look at the threat communities face from not having broadband Internet—the way people are moving away, and fewer people are willing to move in—these electric membership corporations really have to think about what they can do to make sure there’s a high quality of life.”

In our 2016 North Carolina Connectivity report, we explored the work of two local electric cooperatives, Lumbee River and Blue Ridge Mountain. They collaborated with telephone cooperatives to provide high-speed Internet service in the several rural counties near Georgia.

Spotlight on Local Solutions

The WCQS article reported on two more local initiatives: the community network in Highlands, North Carolina, and the nonprofit Land of Sky Regional Council.

Back in 2015, the people of Highlands saw that poor Internet access was hurting their community. They quickly built the Altitude Community Broadband network. Highlands Internet Technology Director Matt Shuler told WCQS:

“...

Broadband Communities 2017 Summit, May 1- 4 In Dallas

Posted March 3, 2017 by lgonzalez

The 2017 Broadband Communities Summit, Fiber: Get In The Game Of Gigs, is approaching fast. From May 1 - 4, the Downtown Sheraton in Dallas, Texas, will be packed with policy wonks, advocates, experts, and vendors all mulling over the importance of high-quality connectivity. You can still register online.

Once again, the Coalition for Local Internet Choice (CLIC) will hold a special preconference session on Monday afternoon. Christopher will participate in the CLIC session as a panelist on the section titled, “The 2017 State Legislative Session: Challenges and Opportunities for Local Internet Choice.” It’s scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and the panel will discuss various state legislative measures this session and state barriers in general.

Christopher will also be on Tuesday’s Blue Ribbon panel as part of the Economic Development Program at 3 p.m. Lev Gonick, CEO from OneCommunity will moderate the discussion and the other speakers will be Nicol Turner-Lee, a Fellow in Governance Studies at the Center for Technology Innovation from the Brookings Institutions and Hilda Legg, Vice Chairman of Broadband Communities. Here’s a description of the topic from the agenda:

We now have a new administration, a new congress, and a new FCC. They are all focusing on new investment strategies, accelerating high-capacity wireless deployment, and addressing the digital divide. What does all this mean for local communities? Can public-private partnerships provide fertile common ground?

Check out the full agenda for the main event and for the CLIC preconference session.

Earlybird full pass registration expires on April 19, so register now for the best price.

Rock Falls: The Future Is In Fiber

Posted February 27, 2017 by lgonzalez

The community of Rock Falls, Illinois, is well on its way to developing a gigabit municipal network to offer better connectivity to residents, businesses, and public facilities. Last week, the City Council adopted an ordinance that allows the city to issue general obligation bonds to fund citywide fiber-optic Internet infrastructure.

Following Demand

The city’s plan will expand first in business corridors and then use the fiberhood approach in residential areas, building only after a certain percentage of households preregister. The plan divides the city into 14 fiberhoods with each area’s build out cost estimated to be approximately $250,000. Residential fiberhoods will require 45 percent participation prior to construction. Consultants estimate citywide buildout costs will be $13 million; the City Council authorized bonding for that amount. The first bond issue will be $4.1 million likely to happen in early May if approval proceeds as planned.

The City Council authorized the first phase of the project to begin - network design and project administration - which will cost approximately $207,000. The process to issue GO bonds will start in March and city leaders hope to have the backbone completed by the end of June.

Most publicly owned Internet infrastructure is funded by revenue bonds, avoided costs, or interdepartmental loans rather than GO bonds. When funded by general obligation bonds, a project is backed by the credit and taxing power of the issuing jurisdiction and the resource is always publicly owned. Clearly, the community of Rock Falls recognizes how critical the investment is to the community's future.

From The Mayor

In his recent State of the City address, Mayor Bill Wescott focused on three factors that drove the initiative: growth, the city’s strong finances, and local control.

While it’s common knowledge that economic development needs better connectivity than what is now available in Rock Falls, Wescott noted that residents stuck with 10 - 20 Megabits per second (Mbps) download Internet access need and deserve higher capacity connectivity to participate in the modern economy. He defined “growth” broadly, encompassing jobs, education, innovation, public safety, and government.

...

community broadband networks

Left Navigation Lower