Thanks to Jeff Hoel for providing the transcript for the Episode 75 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast with Kent Halder and Rob Houlihan on long term muni network success in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Listen to this episode here.
00:09:
Kent Halder: We are municipally owned, and we answer to the citizens of our community, and feel compelled to a higher standard than we would be otherwise.
00:20:
Lisa Gonzalez: Hi there. This is the Community Broadband Bits Podcast, from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Lisa Gonzalez here.
Rob Houlihan, Network Services Manager, and Kent Halder, Communication Sales Manager of Cedar Falls Utilities, join Christopher this week. CFU is located in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and announced earlier this spring that it would begin offering gigabit service to all its customers. We've also reported on several occasions when CFU increased speeds for customers at no extra charge. CFU began serving the community in the late 1800s as a water utility. Since then, it's expanded to include gas, electricity, and most recently communications. CFU is one of the first municipal utilities to bring communications to its customers, and we've watched it upgrade from a hybrid fiber-coax [HFC] system to a fiber-to-the-premises [FTTP] system. What's the secret behind CFU's success? The answer is multifaceted, of course, but the core motivation remains the same. Their mission is to benefit the community in the best possible way. Here are Chris, Rob, and Kent.
01:23:
Chris Mitchell: Welcome to another Community Broadband Bits Podcast. I'm Christopher Mitchell. And today we're talking with two folks from Cedar Falls, Iowa. We've got Rob Houlihan, the Network Services Manager at Cedar Falls Utilities.
01:38:
Rob Houlihan: Good afternoon.
01:39:
Chris: And we also have Kent Halder, the Communication Sales Manager with CFU. Welcome to the show.
01:45:
Kent Halder: Thanks, Chris. Glad to be here.
01:47:
Chris: So, Kent, you and I were just together in Chicago. We had a fun time on a little panel talking about economic development. And it seemed like a good time to get you on the show. Can I start by asking you to tell us a little bit...
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