At the beginning of July 2020, the city of West Des Moines, Iowa announced that they were going to build a citywide, open access conduit system connecting every home, business, government building, and community anchor institution, with Google Fiber to come in right after to pull fiber and light up a network to bring service to the community. 

Construction on the project has now begun "in [the] area bounded by the West Mixmaster, Ashworth Road and 22nd Street," the first of six phases.

After years of fielding complaints from residents about the speed, reliability, and poor customer service of the city’s single wireline broadband provider, Springboro, Ohio (pop. 19,000) has decided enough is enough. Over the next year, the city (situated ten miles south of Dayton) will build a 23-mile fiber loop for municipal services and, at the same time, lay five additional conduits to entice additional Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to come in and offer service, stimulating competition and economic development in the region moving forward.

A Fiber Master Plan

City Manager Chris Pozzuto laid out the plan for the city council, which staff had been working on for the last half year, back in July. It was driven in part by the criticism his office had fielded for years about the incumbent wireline service provider (the two satellite providers also prompted plenty of complaints of their own). Out of a desire both to provide residents with symmetrical gigabit access and stimulate economic development on a 200-acre commercial plot, Pozzuto started talking with regional partners and putting together an alterative.

The city’s Fiber Master Plan [pdf] calls for a 72-strand, 23-mile loop to be built around Springboro, along every major street and thoroughfare and up to the entrance of every neighborhood. Via microtrenching, six conduits will be laid — one for the city, and the remaining for up to five new ISPs to compete for service. 

The city will contract with the Miami Valley Education Computer Association (MVECA) to build the network, lay the additional conduit, and provide access back to the peering point to the northeast in Columbus. A second line will come in from the south via the Southwest Ohio Computer Association (SWOCA) to provide redundancy.

Construction is projected to be complete within a year, and expected to cost around $2.5 million. The Warren County Port Authority will own the network and lease it to Springboro until the debt is repaid, at...

On July 6th, the City of West Des Moines, Iowa, announced an innovative public-private partnership with Google Fiber to bring gigabit Internet to all 67,000 of its citizens over the next two and a half years. The city will build conduit connecting every home and business and available for use by different providers. Google Fiber will be the first, coming in and laying and maintaining its own fiber once the city’s construction is complete. It’s the result of years of effort by the city council and serves as an example of other communities looking for solutions to improve options for all citizens. 

Origins

The origin of the decision dates to 2016 and the city’s 2036 Vision [pdf]. In it, West Des Moines committed to “doubling down on technology,” creating five- and ten-year milestones that reached for specific markers of success by 2026, including: 80% of the population having access to gigabit Internet service, $2.5 million per year in new revenue generated by the city’s information infrastructure, and all citizens using the West Des Moines Integrated Network app for greater dissemination of information and citizen engagement.

In the city’s announcement, Mayor Steve Gaer said,

A key element of the City’s 20-year strategic plan calls for all residents, regardless of their means, to benefit from high-quality and high-speed connectivity.

Community leaders, stakeholders, and citizens all played a role during the planning phase, and project officials considered three criteria for guidance. The first was the expectation by its citizens had that the Internet was a utility; whether or not the city wanted to become an ISP, its efforts would have to work toward universal, affordable, reliable access. The second was a determination to regain and then maintain control of the municipality’s rights-of-way so as to preserve the infrastructure future of West Des Moines. And the third was that any future public network facilitated by the city should serve as a platform for serving residential and commercial users according to their diverse needs, from business to education to telemedicine. 

Deputy City Manager Jamie Letzring...

When Lincoln, Nebraska, developed their extensive network of conduit back in 2012, they were working within the confines of restrictive state law to encourage better local connectivity. Jump ahead seven years and we find that the city has established a fruitful partnership with private sector partner ALLO Communications. The relationship has brought a long list of benefits to the community, but the latest will help nonprofit sector organizations — Lincoln and ALLO will provide free gigabit Internet access for 10 years to 75 local nonprofits.

The list contains 35 organizations that ALLO has already selected. The remaining 40 will be chosen through a lottery managed by the city’s Community Connect Program. In order to qualify, nonprofits must have fewer than 75 full-time employees, be certified as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, and have been operating for at least two years. There are other criteria that apply and interested local nonprofits can review the application here [PDF]. In January 2020, the city and ALLO will announce the list of nonprofits to receive the benefit. 

Local Control

The concept of offering the service to local nonprofits was an important element of the partnership between the city and the Internet access provider. Even though Nebraska’s state law prevented Lincoln from offering Internet access directly to the general public, the city recognized the need for fast, affordable, reliable connectivity. When large national providers didn’t provide the types of services businesses and residents needed, they made an investment that would encourage competition.

Lincoln’s conduit infrastructure investment has allowed them to gain a measure of control over connectivity in the community. They considered future needs and varying sectors of the community when they penned the partnership with ALLO, which led to the ability to support local nonprofits.

By extension, nonprofits will be able to divert more of their limited resources to the needs of the Lincoln community.  Cause for Paws, an organization focused on helping local shelter animals hopes to be one of the beneficiaries:

Cause...