Bartow, Florida, has owned and operated its own fiber network for years as a way to connect municipal facilities and offer high-quality connectivity to a few select businesses. Now, they’re on the verge of expanding use of their fiber by developing a pilot project to connect more businesses and also residents.

A Recurring Theme

Back in 2013, the City Commission had begun a serious investigation of the possibilities. The city has had continuing plans to use fiber infrastructure for smart metering for Bartow’s electric service. Many people in the community have also been unhappy with service provided by Comcast, the incumbent cable ISP.

The City Manager George Long also recently told the Ledger, that the municipal electric utility will use an upgraded electric system to allow customers more flexibility in managing their accounts and conserving energy.

“This program will include the ability to pay for utilities in incremental portions.”

For example, a resident would be able to purchase a week’s worth of power at a time, in advance, rather than have to pay a month’s bill at once.

“There are people who need to be able to do that,” he said, “and this will give them that flexibility.”

The $2.5 million needed for the pilot has already been included in the budget for the year. The next step for the City Commission is to determine the location of the pilot project; community leaders have estimated that the pilot will serve approximately 1,000 premises. They intend to address the matter in June at a workshop.

Bartow

The county seat in Polk County, Bartow, is in the central area of the state and home to more than 19,000 people. Industries such as phosphate mining, citrus production, and honey production play key roles in the economy. They’re also around 50 miles away from Walt Disney World and Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, which makes tourism another important economic driver. 

The Proof Is in the Pilot

Pilot projects have become a common step for communities to take as they consider...

This is the transcript for episode 269 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast. Pete Hoffswell, the Broadband Services Manager for Holland, Michigan, joins the show to discuss the city's downtown pilot program. Listen to this episode here.

Pete Hoffswell: The demand is here and it's now and we have people banging on our doors saying "Come on, let's do this."

Lisa Gonzalez: This is episode 269 Community Broadband Bits podcast from the Institute for Local Self Reliance. I'm Lisa Gonzalez. This week Christopher talks with Pete Hoffswell from Holland, Michigan. The community has had fiber in place for a while now, but are in the process of building out a pilot program to offer connectivity to downtown areas. In this interview Pete explains what Holland has achieved, what challenges they face, and what they have in mind for better connectivity. Now here's Christopher and Pete Hoffswell from Holland, Michigan.

Christopher Mitchell: Welcome to another edition of the Community Broadband Bits podcast! I'm Chris Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self Reliance up in Minneapolis, Minnesota and today I'm speaking with Pete Hoffswell, the Broadband Services Manager for the Holland board of Public Works in Michigan. Welcome to the show.

Pete Hoffswell: Hi, Chris, how are you doing today?

Christopher Mitchell: I'm doing good. It's good to talk to you here. Let's just dig in a little bit with what is Holland like?

Pete Hoffswell: You know, Holland, Michigan is on the shore of Lake Michigan. We're about 100 miles from Chicago by boat so it's a little longer by the highway but we're not that far from Chicago. We're right outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Holland has a population of 33,000 and is part of a larger regional area of 100,000 people. It was settled in 1847 by Dutch immigrants, as you could well guess. We host a Tulip Time festival here with over 600,000 visitors every year. We have a lot of tourist influx into our town, it's a big part of our DNA here. But another big part of Holland is our business. We are a support industry for automotive, of course, a lot of light industry in our town and a lot of knowledge workers working downtown in small startups....

Not-for-profit Southern Tier Network (STN) is already providing infrastructure for local ISP Empire Access to compete with incumbents in some areas of south central New York state. Now that the dark fiber network construction is complete, STN recently released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a last mile broadband pilot project. Responses are due September 28, 2017.

For this project, STN seeks ISPs interested in serving a particular area in Schuyler County with the possibility of expanding to serve more premises in the future. The area in question is underserved for both residential and business connectivity.

Connectivity Opportunity In Rural New York

The network began as a partnership between Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board, Corning Incorporated, and Chemung, Schuyler, and Steuben Counties. Corning contributed $10 million of the $12.2 million to deploy the original network, while the three counties shared the balance.

In 2013, STN received a $5 million New York Empire State Development fund grant, which allowed the nonprofit to expand the network into two more counties and to several local universities. The original 235-mile ring has since been extended to include more than 500 route miles. The network now touches nine counties.

Since becoming operational in 2014, STN has taken on a multifaceted task. In addition to establishing infrastructure to encourage better connectivity for residents and businesses, STN is serving public entities. The dark fiber network is improving local connectivity for public safety, schools, health care clinics, and municipal facilities.

Pilot With Larger Goals In Mind

Goals of the initiative, as stated in the RFP are:

1. Establish partnerships between the STN and interested providers for the betterment of the communities involved and for quality of life enhancements. 

2. Facilitate the development of cost effective broadband into the CR16, CR17 and Reading Center areas of Schuyler County, addressing unserved and underserved residents. 3. Enable the deployment of state-of-the-art technologies, services, and applications that are often found in more developed urban areas but may not be currently available within...