BROADBAND COMMUNITIES SUMMIT SPONSORS MAY 1-3, 2018 • AUSTIN SUMMIT OFFICIAL CORPORATE HOST:
I loved sharing our story at the Summit. My favorite quote afterward: “I loved your presentation. It gave me hope for my rural broadband expansion project!” – Cheryl DeBerry, Natural Resources Business Specialist DIAMOND SPONSOR: Garrett County, MD
GOLD SPONSORS: SILVER SPONSORS:
The Summit is full of energy and offers the best The show was very productive and we look forward to getting of everything: A great staff, awesome and varied more involved in the magazine. presentations, a tremendous knowledge base – James Lightfoot, President/CEO that is shared and an opportunity to network with ACRS other professionals from across the spectrum of telecommunications. This is my number one event of the year, and I recommend you make it yours! – Gordon Caverly, Regional Vice-President FEATURED SPONSORS: Mid-State Consultants, Inc.
We loved exhibiting at and attending the Broadband Communities Summit in Dallas. Not only did we get to meet some of the most interesting people, but a few weeks later, we are already closing deals from people we met at the show! It’s a nice balance of education and business connections. We will be back! BROADBAND COMMUNITIES SUMMIT EXHIBITORS – Layne Sisk, CEO ServerPlus
Great conference. I wish I could have spent more time there than just one day. – Stacy Cantrell, Vice President, Engineering Huntsville Utilities
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Here’s what attendees are saying about the 2017 Summit! Make plans to attend the 2018 Summit now. EDITOR’S NOTE Community CEO Barbara DeGarmo / [email protected] Broadband PUBLISHER Nancy McCain / [email protected] Is a Local Choice EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Masha Zager / [email protected] EDITOR-AT-LARGE Steven S. Ross / [email protected] Citizens and local elected officials should be able to ADVERTISING SALES ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE control their communities’ broadband destinies. Irene Prescott / [email protected] EVENTS COORDINATOR Dennise Argil / [email protected] his issue presents the magazine’s of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. COMMUNITY NEWS EDITOR Marianne Cotter / [email protected] annual listing of community The UPenn authors made serious fiber networks – a listing factual errors and, more important, did DESIGN & PRODUCTION T Karry Thomas that grows longer each year. At least not understand the networks’ financial 216 municipalities, or groups of models or take account of many of their CONTRIBUTORS Rollie Cole, municipalities, are building fiber to the community benefits. Sagamore Institute for Policy Research premises of residents and/or businesses. It is true that some – not many – David Daugherty, Korcett Holdings Inc. Many citizens and elected officials community broadband networks failed Heather Burnett Gold, Fiber Broadband Association don’t believe their communities should and proved burdensome to taxpayers. Joanne Hovis, CTC Technology & Energy enter the telecom business. That’s Some were sabotaged by political Michael A. Kashmer, Digital Broadband a legitimate opinion. There are any opposition, and others suffered self- Programming Consultant W. James MacNaughton, Esq. number of good reasons not to build a inflicted wounds. Still others, though Christopher Mitchell, Institute for broadband network. But it’s a mistake not outright failures, had disappointing Local Self-Reliance to think that community broadband results. Henry Pye, RealPage, Inc. Bryan Rader, UpStream Network represents creeping socialism: Nearly However, private companies fail, too. Craig Settles, Gigabit Nation 20 of the networks are owned in When multiple financial institutions Robert L. Vogelsang, Broadband collaboration with private enterprises, collapsed in 2008 and had to be bailed Communities Magazine about half engage private companies to out by taxpayers to the tune of at least operate them or provide services, and half a trillion dollars, no one suggested BROADBAND PROPERTIES LLC nearly all the communities are motivated that private companies didn’t belong in CEO by the desire to support local businesses. the banking business. Generalizing from Barbara DeGarmo In fact, most of the communities would isolated examples is always dangerous. VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS & have preferred private providers to build The community networks that OPERATIONS Nancy McCain their networks – community broadband succeed perform an important is nearly always a last resort. CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD function: They introduce competition where there was none before. This Robert L. Vogelsang ARE COMMUNITY results in lower broadband costs and VICE CHAIRMAN NETWORKS A BAD DEAL FOR better broadband service. In many The Hon. Hilda Gay Legg TAXPAYERS? documented instances, community BUSINESS & EDITORIAL OFFICE The other criticism leveled at BROADBAND PROPERTIES LLC broadband strengthens local economies 1909 Avenue G • Rosenberg, TX 77471 community networks is that they’re a and enables more efficient government 281.342.9655 • Fax 281.342.1158 “bad deal for taxpayers.” Most of these service delivery. www.broadbandcommunities.com criticisms are spurious. For example, Because the potential benefits are so a study published earlier this year by great, each community must be allowed Broadband Communities (ISSN 0745-8711) (USPS 679-050) (Publication Professor Christopher Yoo and student to decide for itself whether to invest in Mail Agreement #1271091) is published 7 times a year at a rate of $24 per year Timothy Pfenninger of the University this essential infrastructure. Only the by Broadband Properties LLC, 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471. Periodical of Pennsylvania that claimed several postage paid at Rosenberg, TX, and additional mailing offices. community can determine whether it POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Broadband Communities, well-known community networks were needs a network and has the capacity to PO Box 303, Congers, NY 10920-9852. financial failures received a great deal of build and manage it. v CANADA POST: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608. Canada Returns press. This report was swiftly debunked to be sent to Bleuchip International, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Copyright © 2017 Broadband Properties LLC. All rights reserved. by the network owners themselves as well as many independent experts, including Blair Levin of the Brookings Institution and Christopher Mitchell [email protected]
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TM Simply Exceptional Connections Contact US TODAY 800.677.6812 [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER STORY: IN THIS ISSUE CENSUS OF MUNICIPAL NETWORKS PROVIDER PERSPECTIVE A Record Increase In Municipal Fiber Broadband / 18 8 Blueberries or By Masha Zager, Broadband Communities Broadband, Consumer Broadband Communities’ 2017 census of municipal and public-private fiber Shifts Are Real / networks now shows 216 active projects – and many more in preliminary stages. By Bryan J. Rader, UpStream Network What do consumers really FEATURES want? COMMUNITY 50 Planning for Poles / MULTIFAMILY BROADBAND By Ken Demlow, BROADBAND NewCom Technologies TECHNOLOGY 32 Slow and Steady Wins The Fiber Race / Projects have foundered on pole 10 Using Resident and By H. Trostle, attachments. Plan carefully! Community Data / By Bruce Sanders, Multifamily Institute for Local Self-Reliance Broadband Council and Elauwit Feasibility Studies for Three communities take gradual 54 Analyze data to improve approaches to building fiber. Municipal Broadband / service. By Lori Sherwood, Vantage Point Solutions 36 Why Municipal Networks NEW WORLD Should Be Disruptive / What to do in a feasibility study and OF VIDEO what to save for later ByJeff Christensen and 12 Disney/ESPN’s Risky Robert Peterson, EntryPoint Streaming Strategy / Companies Whose Emulating the incumbent 58 By Michael A. Kashmer, Consultant broadband model isn’t enough. Offerings Support Fiber for the New Economy Can Disney save ESPN? Huntsville Becomes A 40 THE LAW PROPERTY Gig City / By Masha Zager, OF THE MONTH Broadband Communities 62 The Connect America Fund Reverse Auction / 14 Student Housing, Texas- Google Fiber becomes a provider on Size: TAMU Park West, By Douglas Jarrett, a municipal network. College Station, Texas / Keller and Heckman LLP By Steven S. Ross, 44 Topics in Community Competitive providers will be able to Broadband Communities Broadband / By BBC Staff bid for CAF funds in 2018. Aggies get gigabit service. Q&A with Clearfield’s Cheri Beranek; news from Fort Morgan and Leverett TECHNOLOGY THE GIGABIT HIGHWAY 68 Clean Up Your Act / 48 Engaging the Community / By Mike Jones, MicroCare Corp. 76 FCC Should Focus On By Bob Knight, Harrison Edwards Broadband Experience / Clean fiber means faster networks. By Heather Burnett Gold, How to generate community Fiber Broadband Association support for a broadband project Speed isn’t everything.
ABOUT THE DEPARTMENTS Visit www.bbcmag.com for COVER up-to-the-minute news of EDITOR’S NOTE broadband trends, technologies 2 and deployments New York artist BANDWIDTH HAWK Irving Grunbaum 6 celebrates MARKETPLACE ADS the power of 72 twitter.com/bbcmag communities working together. 75 ADVERTISER INDEX / CALENDAR
4 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 MAKE THEIR CONNECTIONS MOVE-IN READY.
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©2017 Charter Communications BANDWIDTH HAWK Broadband for Rural Areas and the Poor? Fuggedaboudit!
Economic development in rural areas depends on broadband access – but the FCC’s current initiatives won’t help.
By Steven S. Ross / Broadband Communities
he FCC is seeking to help large national carriers involved bringing data carriers under the umbrella of federal deploy faster broadband networks without requiring regulation under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. Tthose carriers to serve more premises and without The FCC is now about to trample on that weak reed and providing additional subsidies. leave states with most of the regulatory task. As 5G wireless The stakes are enormous. According to the FCC’s 2016 deployments loom, major carriers have become nervous Broadband Progress Report, more than half the 42 million about opposition to microcells on poles near homes. Right Americans living in rural counties lack reliable broadband, now, much of the equipment is huge – the size of a small and broadband is unavailable or too expensive for tens of refrigerator or old-style phone booth. In the next few years, millions more in urban areas. The Obama White House as deployments really start to roll out, the electronics will directed almost 30 agencies to streamline their regulations to probably shrink to the size of pizza boxes, along with vertical remedy the situation. That process continued into early 2017. antennas on top of the poles. The near-silence on that initiative and the current FCC policy Why should carriers argue with locals, who tend to oppose are appalling. cell towers and rooftop cell sites anyway, when the FCC leans As I have documented over the past three years, at least a their way and they can lobby state lawmakers? That strategy quarter of all rural job loss since 2010 – and probably more usually costs less than paying for legal battles, and the process than half – is due to lack of broadband access. As rural counties is faster, although the money adds up – about $25 million lost more than 1 percent of their population, many urban areas in state campaign contributions last year, according to the were overwhelmed by population growth. This strains public National Institute on Money in State Politics. services, such as roads and schools, and raises housing costs. Pole attachment is one issue the BDAC was to address. Rising housing costs, in turn, reduce families’ ability to afford However, the committee seems to have some internal broadband service even when it is available. disagreements. One subcommittee member, Mayor Sam The FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee Liccardo (San Jose), signaled his displeasure with what BDAC (BDAC) is due to release its proposals for enhancing is likely to announce in November. In an October 3 New broadband access in November. National carriers and the York Times opinion piece, he decried the carriers’ pole grab Trump administration also seek to override local rules on and called for customary fees for attachments, which his city what can be attached to utility poles and what rates can would use to subsidize access in have-not neighborhoods. be charged. Though pole owners have long delayed access However, he muddled the issue by confusing poles owned by to poles and sought to jack up prices for access in efforts municipalities (which are rare) with poles owned by “public to impede competition, some communities use fees on the utilities” (phone and electric companies), which historically poles they own to subsidize or expand digital access. This is have obligations to cover entire service areas but are not particularly critical right now, as the administration considers necessarily publicly owned. sending user fees paid into the Universal Service Fund to the As important to the economy and job creation as any new Treasury for non-broadband spending. BDAC policies might be, the FCC need not fear that the public will be informed. Liccardo’s flawed opinion piece is The most valuable real estate on Earth seems to be the the first I could find in the New York Times since 2001 that space on utility poles. Carriers that own poles often seek to focused on pole attachments. I could find no article on the deny use by competitors. Electric utilities and municipalities BDAC at all in the Times, the Washington Post or any other that own poles often demand that prospective attachers pay mainstream media outlet. v for surveys of the poles’ suitability and structural integrity, and they try to collect as much rent as possible. Tentative steps toward sanity the FCC instituted several years ago Contact the Hawk at [email protected].
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PROVIDER PERSPECTIVE Blueberries or Broadband, Consumer Shifts Are Real
Amazon just upended the grocery industry. Why didn’t its competitors see that coming?
By Bryan J. Rader / UpStream Network
his past summer, Amazon announced it was buying are the same people as the cable and broadband customers Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. Industry observers saw looking for us to change. Tthis move as an inflection point in the evolution of We can laugh about the challenges that Target, Walmart, the grocery business. Every major grocery store chain was The Fresh Market and Kroger face. Maybe we should stop caught flat-footed, and they all experienced significant stock chuckling and start responding more quickly to this change value declines. Experts feared the national grocery stores in our consumers. would lose customers to the more convenient, smarter, Ask yourself these questions: How easy is it for new move- more nimble Amazon. ins to get your services? Do they have to call? What is your One leading broadcaster on CNBC exclaimed, “This response time? Does a new customer have to take a day off transaction is transforming the food business overnight. work? What happens when services are interrupted? Whom Amazon Fresh will lower prices for Whole Foods’ loyal does the customer contact? What is that experience like? customers and add same-day delivery to their already highly Does your packaging force customers to take services they loved Amazon Prime business.” Suddenly, the other grocers don’t want? panicked and announced lower prices, same-day delivery and Broadband customers have busy schedules, tight budgets, new loyalty programs. traffic, kids, anxiety. They hate dealing with traditional cable But why? What did Amazon’s announcement teach them companies. They don’t like two-year commitments, drastic about their own businesses? In all their executive meetings rate increases, add-on fees or offshore call centers. over the past few years, did they not discuss customers’ shift Our customers want convenience, home delivery, to convenience, same-day order and receive, and high-quality smartphone flexibility. Do we provide it? organic products? What did they miss? It surely shouldn’t have taken Amazon to tell them about the problems with Sling and DIRECTV NOW do. So does Hulu Plus. their traditional business model. Download the app, enter a credit card number and you’ve got Long before Amazon bought Whole Foods, the market service. Bundle it with always-on bulk broadband, and you had begun shifting. Today’s grocery consumers are very can make this an attractive “Amazon” experience. Add actual busy, and they don’t want to spend hours in the grocery store appointment times. Keep customers apprised of your arrival shopping for their families. Single parents and empty nesters time. Support them with live customer care. Support all with overcrowded schedules coping with traffic, weather and services. Help customers with whatever entertainment devices busy everyday lives led to consumer behavioral changes. Why they use – Apple TV, Roku, and so forth. didn’t the grocery stores see it sooner? Be flexible. Nimble. Quick. Make cable transactions just In the broadband business, we see the same trends. Are like ordering organic avocados from Whole Foods to be sent we waiting for Amazon to announce it is buying Comcast, to your office by 5 p.m. today. That’s the world we live in. Use Charter or DISH Network to point out what is happening? this same approach with property managers. One click of a I hope not. button to create a work order, schedule a tech visit, resolve an Broadband consumers are angry about being told what issue. Property managers, too, live in this world. We don’t need services they must buy as packages. They hate calling after Amazon to teach us about our industry. We already know. a promotional period expires to force providers to give them We are selling blueberries and broadband to the same lower prices again. They are tired of triple-play bundling. time-starved, traffic-jammed, stressed-out, fiscally worried They won’t stand for four-hour service appointment windows. consumer. Let’s do it right, unlike the grocers that weren’t And they hate waiting on hold to speak with a service ready for Amazon. v representative who has a limited English vocabulary. GROCERY SHOPPERS BUY BROADBAND, TOO Bryan J. Rader is the president of UpStream Network, a The grocery store customers who buy their weekly groceries broadband provider (formerly Access Media 3). Reach him at via smartphone and have them delivered to their houses [email protected] or by phone at 314-540-1114.
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MULTIFAMILY BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY
Using Resident and Community Data
Service providers already have what they need to improve connectivity experiences in multifamily housing.
By Bruce Sanders / Multifamily Broadband Council and Elauwit
n the words of Steve Jobs, “You’ve got to start with the • Subjective feelings 6.3 customer experience and work back to the technology – • Treatment of customers 5.1 Inot the other way around.” • Reliability 4.4 Creating great customer experiences is more than a slogan • Following through on promises 4.2 or buzzword. It is of paramount importance to the success of • Timeliness 2.6 any telecommunications provider. Customer support can no • Employees’ technical knowledge 2.3 longer focus on solving day-to-day service frustrations. Being proactive, rather than reactive, is imperative. What stands out in the list is the high ranking of attitude The basics of managing resident broadband experiences in and helpfulness over all else, including product, reliability multifamily housing include a respectable list of improvement and technical knowledge. Focusing on these attributes can opportunities: collecting resident feedback, analyzing pain move a company from firefighting to building a compelling points, creating “heat maps” to prioritize major hassles and relationship. mapping the customer journey from beginning to end. Companies that get the resident experience right will However, being proactive requires more than the basics, so create long-lasting customer relationships and earn significant newer tools are coming to the forefront. Technology service competitive advantages over those that compete solely on providers have a vast amount of data from resident activities. product, price or promotion. According to Forbes, 89 percent They can use this data to create a disciplined, scientific of customers say they have switched companies because of a approach to serving residents. In communities with bulk poor customer experience. service, broadband service providers can use data to support Multifamily residents have become too savvy and skillful and enhance the business activities of multifamily owners and to put up with inferior experiences. They will either try to managers. “adjust” a provider’s network equipment to make it work An independent survey by Ian Golding and Customer better or, more likely, turn to competitors that deliver a Experience Consultancy found some common characteristics frictionless, helpful, more relevant experience. Service of companies and brands that earn consumer loyalty. By providers will find their focus on customer experience percentage of responses from highest to lowest, the list profitable. According to the White House Office of Consumer includes the following: Affairs, 85 percent of consumers say they will pay up to 25 • Corporate attitude 15.9 percent more to ensure a superior customer experience, and • Ease of doing business 14.9 acquiring a new customer is six to seven times more expensive • Helpfulness in dealing with problems 11.4 than keeping a current one. • Employees’ attitudes 9.4 • Personalization 8.0 DATA ENHANCES PREDICTIVE SOLUTIONS • Product or service 8.0 Smart technology providers learn to use the data they gather • Consistency 7.5 from serving multifamily communities to better measure user
10 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 and property experiences. This allows Diagnostic tools can help providers determine for better, more informed decisions in serving residents and community where problems originate, and analytic tools owners. Data allows providers to take a proactive approach to customer can help owners manage buildings. satisfaction and enables the prediction of future failures. For example, new diagnostic tools help service providers determine needs and the strategic business needs become adults, service providers that whether problems originate at the of community owners depends on focus on resident experiences now and network edge, a switch, an access analytics that link structured and in the future will exceed expectations point or a user device. In many cases, unstructured connectivity data. This in serving the unique needs of the providers can now resolve network allows agile service providers to quickly multifamily industry. v problems remotely – and quickly – thus modify processes and procedures improving resident experiences. Similarly, data aggregated from while anticipating and even preventing Bruce Sanders is a member of the wireless access points and sensors can the pitfalls that can lead to negative Multifamily Broadband Council and benefit property owners by measuring customer experiences. chief marketing officer at Elauwit. resident use of various amenity spaces The tools to provide better, MBC Executive Director Valerie M. and building access and egress. It also more satisfying telecommunications Sargent also contributed to this article. facilitates camera surveillance, energy experiences for multifamily residents For more information on MBC, management, asset tracking, utility leak have never been more relevant and please contact her at vsargent@ detection and more. available. Because today’s 14-year- mfbroadband.org or 949-274-3434 Fulfilling residents’ personal olds will expect even more when they or visit www.mfbroadband.org.
Did you like this article? Subscribe here! OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 11 NEW WORLD OF VIDEO Disney/ESPN’s Risky Streaming Strategy
Has Disney traded the cable TV model for a handful of magic beans?
By Michael A. Kashmer / Digital Broadband Programming Consultant
ate last year, Nielsen announced that the October 2016 DISNEY MOVES TO STREAMING ESPN subscriber numbers were the worst in the history To combat cord cutting, Disney just announced plans to Lof ESPN’s existence as a cable channel. This was the launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service for ESPN. biggest business story in American sports last fall. The decline Further, Disney will cancel its licensing deal with Netflix in NFL ratings was serious enough, but the ESPN news and launch a Disney-branded streaming service in 2019. That reflects a larger issue – the collapse of cable subscriptions in makes two new streaming services. Imagine this: The largest general. According to Nielsen, the worldwide leader in sports media company in the world decided that embracing a new lost 621,000 cable subscribers – the most subscribers ESPN business model was more important than hanging on to an ever lost in a single month. existing one. Netflix responded with the comment that the After ESPN challenged the subscriber numbers, Nielsen impact on its subscriber base would be minimal. pulled them and conducted a review. The next month, Is the Disney strategy too little, too late, as argued Nielsen stood by the numbers, and ESPN issued a statement, by BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield? He estimates that saying in part, “This most recent snapshot from Nielsen is an Disney will lose up to $2 billion a year as it gives up Netflix revenue and spends heavily to build up content and start two historic anomaly for the industry and inconsistent with much streaming services from scratch. Greenfield adds, “Disney more moderated trends observed by other respected third simply waited too long to make this critical decision.” party analysts.” Furthermore, if Disney’s direct-to-consumer platforms are No one was surprised by either the content or the tone successful, Greenfield anticipates that will accelerate ESPN’s of ESPN’s rebuttal. If future months continue to show decline. He continues, “The more content consumers can obtain subscriber declines, there will be fresh points of disagreement without a multichannel video subscription, not to mention more and counterargument. and more content without advertising, the less interest they will Until recently, Disney’s cable bundle was a great business, have in subscribing to the big multichannel video bundle.” largely because of ESPN. ESPN charged every cable and RBC Capital Markets, by contrast, calls Disney’s move satellite subscriber about $7 a month, more than three times “a rare and impressive pivot.” Industry sources claim that the the charge for next most expensive channel. However, analysts Disney cable channels, which include ESPN, have long been such as Trey Travis at outkickthecoverage.com predict that seen as the reason many viewers didn’t cut the cord entirely. ESPN programming costs are gaining on revenue. Every cable operator will be impacted by Disney’s new SNL Kagan says that ESPN is on track to pay $7.3 billion strategy, like it or not. in total rights fees in 2017. That is more than any company in Will other video content providers now make the same the United States. A very conservative estimate puts ESPN’s move? If they do, will an unintended consequence be the subscriber losses at about 3 million per year, which would necessity for consumers to juggle a huge number of streaming leave ESPN with 86 million subscribers in 2017. ESPN services? Initially at least, few answers will be forthcoming. makes $7 a month from every subscriber, or $7.22 billion Some pundits accuse Disney of upending the traditional in 2017. Let’s add $1.8 billion in ad revenue for a total of $9 cable TV business in favor of an unproven strategy. This billion. Staff costs, facilities, equipment and so forth cost an reminds me of the fairy tale about a poor farmer trading the estimated $1 billion, indicating that ESPN is still profitable. family cow for a handful of magic beans. We all know how But how long will it remain profitable as sports rights that turned out. v costs go up and subscriber revenue goes down? At 74 million subscribers (Outkick’s projection for 2021), ESPN would bring Mike Kashmer has worked in cable TV for more than 30 years in in about $6.2 billion a year in subscriber fees at $7 a month distribution, finance and programming. His experience includes or $7.1 million at $8 a month. By that point, yearly subscriber network startups and foreign-language programming. Reach revenue will likely be less than rights fees. Mike at mikekashmer@aol.com.
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Student Housing, Texas-Size: TAMU Park West, College Station, Texas
Faced with a tight deadline and a large student-housing project at Texas A&M University, Servitas Management Group engaged one of its traditional partners, Synergy Fiber, to install and run all IT services. Our thanks to Trey Verbick of Servitas and Doug Karaska, vice president of projects and deployments at Synergy, for gathering the information for this profile.
By Steven S. Ross / Broadband Communities
AMU Park West opened for more than with a mix of appealing accommodations and 3,000 students in August. The new many technology amenities baked in. Cooking Tdevelopment – the largest for student time was short – about 16 months. housing in the United States – attracts tenants Synergy Fiber handled all the IT integration. “Our partners are often large universities with high standards for quality deployments,” says Trey Verbick, vice president and director of market research at Servitas Management Group, PROPERTY OF THE MONTH HIGHLIGHTS which runs the complex for NCCD-College ~ TAMU Park West, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX ~ Station Properties LLC, a Texas nonprofit. “We have found Synergy to be an invaluable partner, • Largest greenfield student housing build in the United States – proving capable of even the biggest projects. It more than 3,000 beds is rare in this industry to find a true IT partner • Gigabit service to every tenant capable of handling all these integrations, in • One vendor, Synergy Fiber, designed and installed all IT services. • Additional vendors include Cisco (core distribution), Brocade addition to providing world-class, 24/7 support (access switches, Power over Ethernet), Ruckus (wireless access for all their services.” points), Salto (access control), Sony (surveillance cameras), OnSSI Taking complete responsibility for the (management system for cameras), DISH (video distribution), technology aspects of the development G-Hub (energy monitoring) and Seneca (CCTV). produced savings, but more important, it was critical given the tight deadlines involved. “Our
14 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 representatives at Synergy are the same be installed once the first buildings SERVICES people we have worked with from were ready for it, starting at the end Services provided over the fiber the start of our relationship, and you of April 2016. network include cutting-edge door just don’t see that kind of consistency Date services started being delivered: security and video surveillance, very often in IT,” says Verbick. “Their All services were running in time ubiquitous communitywide Wi-Fi, and expertise and comprehensive approach for the first student move-in, August bulk gigabit internet and video. have helped us save money on MDUs 16, 2017. Testing started several Synergy Fiber is the only IT vendor large and small since 2010.” months earlier. on site and is responsible for video, VITAL STATISTICS Property Description: TAMU Park West consists of multiple new buildings on a section of a 48-acre tract in College Station. The entire plot is leased by the university to NCCD- College Station Properties LLC, a nonprofit, which engaged Servitas Management Group to develop the property and contracted with Servitas to manage the finished development as well. Demographics: University students Greenfield or retrofit? Greenfield Number of units: 1,320 housing units with a total of 3,406 beds Style: Mid-rise, garden apartments and townhome units Time to deploy: About 16 months. Network infrastructure began to A J-hook support system carries data and video cables to the individual units.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 15 PROPERTY OF THE MONTH data, Wi-Fi, security and access control systems. There are no alternative broadband providers. Synergy is the sole point of contact for technical support and handles all repairs and maintenance. Residents can contact Synergy’s always-open global service desk by calling, texting, using Synergy’s mobile app or emailing. Synergy also manages the building IT services, including telephone lines, the door entry system and building access control, wireless and TV delivery. TECHNOLOGY Armored fiber runs from the main distribution frame (MDF) to each building. Cat 6 cable is used for vertical connections to intermediate distribution frames (IDFs) and for connections to wireless access points. For horizontal connections from the intermediate distribution frames to the units, a J-hook support system carries Cat 5e cable for data and RG6 and RG11 Quad Shield cables for video. BUSINESS Although Synergy manages the network, it is entirely owned by the property owner, NCCD-College Station Properties – everything from the data vertical backbone to the switches on the racks and the surveillance system. An intermediate distribution The service provider and owner frame at TAMU Park West market the property technology jointly supports multiple IT services. through joint press releases, case studies and trade shows. LESSONS LEARNED construction site that has frequent realized significant capex savings and As always, the time spent planning the project execution pays off in improved power outages is not easy, but it network optimization, balancing user efficiency and timely delivery. On this was necessary to accommodate demands while ensuring that each user large, all-inclusive project, the planning early deployment of the network in gets a gigabit when needed. There’s phase was intense. This was the largest, the townhome sections and to run energy efficiency in the IDFs and in the most complex deployment for Synergy tests. Synergy then had to migrate buildings’ energy management systems. to date, but the team overcame all from the temporary MDF to the Finally, there are expected savings in obstacles and challenges and finished the permanent location with minimal future IT support overhead, including project on time. downtime. reduced maintenance effort for the The major challenges included Testing: Synergy certified and property manager. documented performance of every Paying a compliment to Synergy Installation scale: The sheer size Ethernet drop, all Wi-Fi coverage, Fiber’s comprehensive approach to of the project and the looming TV services, electronic door locks IT design and management, Servitas student move-in left little room for and video surveillance cameras now refers to the company as its “total slack. The scale of integration was before the property was occupied. technology partner.” v enormous, and Synergy was the only IT vendor on the site. The greatest success was that, Temporary MDF: Maintaining a because a single IT vendor deployed Editor-at-large Steve Ross can be reached temporary MDF on an active and manages all the services, Servitas at [email protected].
16 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Did you like this article? Subscribe here! SMALL SCALE AND COST EFFECTIVE
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preformed.com [email protected] 440-461-5200 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
A Record Increase In Municipal Fiber Broadband
Broadband Communities’ 2017 census of municipal and public-private fiber networks now shows 216 active projects – and many more in preliminary stages.
By Masha Zager / Broadband Communities
roadband Communities’ count of BVU Authority of Bristol, Virginia, is about to public and public-private fiber-to-the- sell its fiber optic network, OptiNet, to Sunset Bpremises network projects in the United Digital Communications. Burlington, Vermont, States now stands at 216. This is a 21 percent is sorting through bids received for Burlington jump over last year’s count of 178 and the Telecom (though it expects to retain part largest increase in any year. In fact, municipal ownership of the network). Lake Connections fiber optic network projects are progressing so in Lake County, Minnesota, is trying to find rapidly that, by now, there may be several more a purchaser. municipal networks than are listed here. Though some cities, including the three just Fifteen of the new networks are in Western mentioned, seek to sell their networks because Massachusetts, where the state government they failed to build, manage or market them promised several years ago to help fund last- effectively, that is not the only reason to do so. mile networks in unserved and partially served Localities sometimes build networks because towns. The original plan was for the unserved no other operator will make the investment and towns to build a fiber network through a are happy to sell these assets if private investors coalition called WiredWest; however, the appear on the scene. Ted Chase, chairman of state rejected WiredWest’s plan and, after the Sun Prairie Utilities Commission, explains considerable delay and confusion, allocated the funds to the towns separately. Fifteen of the the sale of its telecom network in this way: towns are building municipal fiber networks “By transitioning our network to TDS, more on their own (some may hire WiredWest as households and businesses will have access to a network operator); others are using their fiber internet at no risk to the utility.” funding to subsidize builds by private network As in prior years, the majority of community operators, including Comcast and Charter. fiber networks appear to be self-sustaining or Some towns are still considering their options. profitable. Despite the controversy attached to A few networks that appeared on last year’s a few of them, most are not controversial in any list do not reappear this year. Sun Prairie, way – rather, they are sources of civic pride. Wisconsin, sold its network to TDS, which was Many continue to expand or add new types of in a better position to finance the network’s customers and services. (For three examples, see expansion. In addition, several projects that “Slow and Steady Wins the Fiber Race,” p. 32.) never materialized were removed from the list. Often, a municipal fiber network begins in one Other networks, though still listed here, are community and expands by popular demand up for sale in whole or in part. For example, into neighboring communities, though in some
18 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 cases, state legislatures have quashed connections; in fact, many networks based businesses – are looking for expansions requested by residents. are built or extended to accommodate (price-performance, redundancy, Well-run community fiber networks specific requests by local businesses. reliability, service level agreements) are instrumental in attracting new However, community fiber networks and when economic development businesses and retaining existing do not lead automatically to economic agencies can communicate a network’s businesses. The most common rationale development. They succeed in doing capabilities to prospective businesses. for building community networks is to so when network operators understand Similarly, cities use municipal provide businesses with affordable fiber what businesses – including home- broadband networks to improve
WHAT’S A MUNICIPAL FIBER NETWORK?
There are many ways to define a municipal fiber network. Even state legislatures that want to restrict Broadband Communities maintains such networks disagree about what they are restricting. Broadband Communities identifies networks as municipally updated information about owned if a public agency undertakes most of the investment, incurs most of the risk and exercises most community fiber networks of the control over the network. All the MUNI network deployers on this list and other FTTP deployments • Are public agencies, public authorities, public in the U.S. on a searchable benefit corporations or consortia of public entities • Own all-fiber infrastructure that connects local database at www.fiberville. homes or businesses to the internet (or are actively com. The database field labeled developing such networks). In most but not all cases, deployers also own the equipment that “Community Benefits” contains lights the fiber. In at least one case, Huntsville Utilities, the service provider owns the drop cable; a wealth of information on the this network could arguably be classified as public- private, but because the municipality is making the economic development and great majority of the investment, we classified it as municipal. other benefits of these networks. • Make available – directly or through retailers – such services as voice, internet access or video (or are planning such services) • Are in the United States or U.S. territories. SMBS in Minnesota and OTO Fiber in Maine. Excluded are municipalities that provide broadband Even a network owned by a single town or city may services exclusively for municipal government facilities, provide service beyond city limits. For example, EPlus schools and other anchor institutions; those that Broadband and EPB Fiber Optics in Tennessee both provide broadband services only over cable or wireless serve areas adjacent to the cities that own them – networks; and those that serve private customers only areas that were already served by their electric utilities. by leasing conduit or dark fiber to them. (A few, such The city of Williamstown, Kentucky, used broadband as Circa and Huntsville Utilities, lease dark fiber to retail stimulus funding to expand its community network service providers that serve private customers.) beyond city borders. (Its original network was This list includes only organizations that have either hybrid fiber-coax, but the expansion area is FTTH.) In functioning networks or approved plans and funding. Washington state, though each public utility district However, plans do not always materialize; every year, builds and operates its own network, most or all belong one or more listed projects fail to survive. Others, to the Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet), although partially deployed, have stalled. a coalition of public utility districts that linked their Multiple-municipality projects can achieve fiber optic networks to achieve economic feasibility in economies of scale in construction and operation and, underserved areas. NoaNet offers long-haul transport by aggregating demand, can attract third-party service and last-mile access to wholesale communications providers more easily. Examples are ECFiber in Vermont, providers throughout the Pacific Northwest.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 19 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
Community fiber networks are found in 39 states and American Samoa. (Alaska and American Samoa are not shown.)
educational achievement, health care feasible the next year. In Colorado, for utility services. Many public power and other quality-of-life measures, but example, the state law that restricts utilities were set up in response to like economic development, quality- municipal broadband has been the private sector’s failure to deliver of-life improvement doesn’t happen on effectively nullified in the last few years adequate services, and residents its own. Municipal broadband is an as at least 68 cities and counties voted accept that government might set up opportunity, not a panacea. to exempt themselves from it. (Most of communications utilities for the same these localities are still in the planning reason. THE CHANGING LEGAL AND stages, and not all are expected to In most cases, citizens have POLITICAL LANDSCAPE proceed with broadband initiatives.) had positive experiences with their About 20 states either prohibit Holding a referendum is an expensive, municipal utilities and are prepared to communities from building time-consuming and unnecessary step buy additional services from them. In community networks altogether or in building a broadband network, but it addition, public power utilities already impose restrictions that discourage or does not seem to deter many Colorado have the outside-plant personnel and effectively prevent them from building cities at this point. back-office operations, such as billing such networks. State legislatures aren’t In several cases, city leaders and the only obstacles; often, opposition and customer service, that they need to broadband activists succeeded in provide telecom services. comes from community members who changing public opinion by educating Finally, public power utilities, disapprove of municipal broadband on citizens about the economic and social like all electric utilities, are building principle. benefits of high-speed broadband. communications networks for smart- A 2015 FCC attempt to preempt Some states – such as Massachusetts, as grid applications; once they begin state laws on this subject was described above – now actively support planning these networks, they often overturned in the courts, and the municipal broadband projects. current FCC appears unlikely to realize the networks are suitable for support municipal broadband. On the MUNICIPAL UTILITIES business or residential broadband. other hand, several recent attempts to Municipalities have always been more Municipal utilities that distribute make state laws stricter were defeated. likely to become broadband providers Tennessee Valley Authority electricity Because the pendulum of public when they are already in the business have been in the forefront of combining opinion shifts constantly, a broadband of providing electric power. Citizens in smart grid and telecom applications. project that is legally or politically these municipalities are already used In some cases, such as Hudson, impossible one year may become to the idea of government-provided Ohio, the city operates a municipal
20 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 electric utility but set up the funded by the state this year do not conveniently located near municipal telecommunications utility as a separate operate electric utilities; they are all facilities. Others have made fiber entity or department. working with Westfield Gas & Electric, connections available to every premises In the last several years, as the a nearby municipal utility that is in within their borders – and often to concept of municipal broadband has the process of building its own fiber outlying areas. Most are somewhere in become more familiar, more cities network. between. The smallest network we know are embarking on broadband projects WHO ARE THE CUSTOMERS? of has seven customers, and the largest, without having previously operated a The municipal and public-private EPB Fiber Optics, has about 75,000. utility. Often, they seek experienced networks on this list vary widely in A typical deployment path is for operators to build and manage their terms of the customers they serve. Some cities to begin by installing institutional networks and provide services. The are essentially institutional networks fiber networks to serve municipal office 15 Western Massachusetts hill towns that happen to serve a few businesses buildings or utility substations, then
WHAT’S A PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP?
Throughout the broadband industry, the term public- Excluded are publicly owned networks that contract private partnership is used loosely – and no two with private retail service providers or operators (those partnerships seem to follow the same model. In the last are labeled MUNI); privately owned networks for which few years, cities have become much more proactive public entities have helped raise funding; privately about working with private providers and offering a owned networks for which public entities have donated variety of concessions and assistance to encourage access to rights-of-way, expedited permitting or offered the provision of better broadband. To keep the list to marketing assistance; privately owned networks for a manageable size, we restrict the usage to cases in which municipalities have committed to be anchor which both public and private partners make significant tenants; and privately owned networks that lease investments in the access network, incur significant backbone fibers or conduit from public entities in arms- risk and retain significant control. The investments may length, market-rate contracts. include contributing pre-existing conduit or fiber. Public financing for private networks. One of the However, as there is no accepted definition of a excluded categories – private networks for which public public-private partnership, we do not argue for our entities have helped raise funds – deserves special definition over any other. To make matters even more mention both because it fits many people’s definitions confusing, descriptions of the details of public-private of public-private partnerships and because it is a rapidly partnerships are not always precise or complete, and growing category. In these cases, a municipality obtains the agreements themselves change over time; in some capital funding that a private operator is not eligible cases, we are guessing about whether a public-private for – either grant funding or low-cost tax increment network meets our definition. financing (or “tax abatement financing,” as it is called To the best of our knowledge, then, all the network in some states) and passes it through to the private deployers identified on this list as PUBLIC-PRIVATE operator. If the funding is a loan, the private operator is obligated to repay the municipality. • Are consortia of public and private entities, public Cities entering into these arrangements take on entities that built networks and later received considerable risk (they are on the hook if revenues infusions of private capital, or private entities are insufficient to repay loans or if private operators that built networks with significant investment or do not comply with grant terms) without gaining participation by local governments ownership or control. That’s why we don’t consider • Own all-fiber networks that connect homes or these arrangements true public-private partnerships. businesses to the internet (or are actively developing However, entering into this type of arrangement can still such networks) be a reasonable choice for a municipality. Typically, an • Make available – directly as a partnership, through operator commits to build out a high-quality network one of the partners or through third-party retailers – throughout the municipality in return for access to the such services as voice, internet access or video (or are funds. The network may be a “life or death” investment planning such services) for the community, and if it succeeds and bolsters the • Are in the United States or U.S. territories. local economy, the investment can be well worth the risk.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 21 COMMUNITY BROADBAND extend fiber to commercial buildings or multiple retail service providers to wildly uneven in different parts of the business parks, add multiple-dwelling- deliver services. Another 53 have United States. unit properties and greenfield residential contracted, or plan to contract, with This census identified community developments, and finally reach single- a single third-party service provider fiber systems in 39 of the 50 states and family households and small businesses. to deliver services (in a few cases, in American Samoa. There are also The list shows deployers at various just phone or video service). Some of about a dozen fiber networks, not listed points along this path. these, such as the city of Westminster, here, built on tribal lands by tribal Building an institutional fiber Maryland, plan to transition to a full governments. Eight states account network can also be a starting point for open-access model in the future. for a large number of deployments: a path to a public-private partnership, At least 25 municipal fiber systems Massachusetts, California, Florida, as exemplified by Urbana-Champaign contract with third parties – local Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Tennessee Big Broadband, which began as a exchange carriers, other municipalities and Washington. BTOP project. or other network operators – to operate With a few notable exceptions, Sixty-three community networks, their networks. Such contracts (which municipalities that build fiber networks or 29 percent of the total, deliver fiber privately owned networks also enter are small to midsized. As broadband services only to businesses, and several into) can be helpful for municipalities improves in large metropolitan areas, others serve mainly businesses. (Some that lack experience operating smaller, more remote localities are of these deliver residential broadband telecommunications networks. increasingly left to fend for themselves. services via cable or wireless; most don’t On the other hand, like any critical serve residences at all.) TRIPLE PLAY AND BEYOND outsourcing contracts, they must be Some fiber networks that began Though some municipalities offer intensively managed. Several such as business-only, such as nDanville only internet access over their fiber arrangements have ended abruptly or in Virginia and Cedar Falls Utilities networks, many offer the triple play even resulted in lawsuits. in Iowa, eventually built out fiber of voice, video and data. Specialized to residential customers citywide. TECHNOLOGY business services are common, as are Owensburg Municipal Utilities in Community broadband networks use smart-grid applications. Broadband Kentucky and Whip City Fiber in a mix of PON and active Ethernet stimulus funding and encouragement Massachusetts recently added residential technologies. At this point, active from the Tennessee Valley Authority pilot programs to their fiber-to-the- Ethernet is used primarily for business have made smart-grid applications more business networks; the success of these customers, but in earlier years, prevalent in recent years. pilot programs encouraged them to A few open-access networks actively active Ethernet was preferred even commit to larger residential buildouts. recruit many different kinds of services. in residential networks for its ease of Others are beginning to upgrade For example, on the St. Joe Valley supporting open access. (GPON can residential cable to fiber. Still others, Metronet, providers deliver more than now support open access.) such as Chanute Utilities in Kansas, 20 different types of services, including Municipalities have been leaders gave serious consideration to building conferencing, disaster recovery and in deploying gigabit networks – out fiber to residences but failed to gain video surveillance. Enabling a wide Chattanooga EPB had the first citywide political support for their projects. variety of broadband services could gigabit network in 2010 – and now make more community networks lead the way in deploying 10 Gbps THIRD-PARTY SERVICE financially viable. networks. Fibrant and EPB were among PROVIDERS AND In conclusion, there is no single OPERATORS the first U.S. providers to announce 10 model for public broadband. Each Municipalities are more likely than Gbps residential service. project takes a slightly different private deployers to allow third parties GEOGRAPHIC approach, depending on the legal and to provide services on their networks. political landscape, the availability There are several reasons for this: State DISTRIBUTION Laws that govern municipalities’ ability of financing, the interest of potential laws or federal funding conditions partners, and the skills and assets that may require a wholesale model; local to compete as telecommunications providers vary from state to state. Some public agencies possess. Communities political support may depend on a have many options and should explore states give municipalities a free hand, city’s following a wholesale model; as many as possible before committing and others do not. Municipal electric municipalities may not have the to a plan or deciding that public expertise, resources or will to become utilities are more common in some broadband is not for them. v service providers; some municipalities areas than others, and some regions are want to offer a wider variety of services better served by private providers than than they can provide on their own. others are. Considering all these factors, Masha Zager is the editor of Broadband Forty-eight community fiber the chances of municipalities’ building Communities. You can reach her at networks either allow or plan to allow their own broadband networks are [email protected].
22 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 MUNICIPAL AND PUBLIC-PRIVATE FTTP NETWORKS IN THE UNITED STATES
NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) AccessEagan Eagan MN MUNI 2013 Active Ethernet Business Services, Businesses only Multiple Data Albany Utilities Albany GA MUNI Data Alford Municipal Lighting Plant Alford MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Algona Municipal Utilities Algona IA MUNI 2013 Active Ethernet, Data, Video, Voice GPON ALP Utilities Alexandria MN MUNI Data Businesses only Altitude Community Broadband Highlands NC MUNI 2016 Data Downtown area only American Samoa Telecom American Samoa MUNI 2009 GPON Data, Voice Anderson Municipal Light and Anderson IN MUNI 2007 Active Ethernet Data Businesses only Multiple Power Ashfield Municipal Light Plant Ashfield MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Ashland Fiber Network Ashland OR MUNI 2000 Video, Data, Voice Mainly Multiple businesses Athens Utilities Board Athens TN MUNI 2015 Data Businesses only EPB Fiber Optics Auburn Essential Services Auburn IN MUNI 2006 EPON Data, Smart Grid, Video, Voice Barnesville Municipal Utilities Barnesville MN MUNI 2009 GPON Data, Video, Voice Bellevue Municipal Utilities Bellevue IA MUNI 2006 EPON, GPON Data, Video Benton County Public Utility Kennewick, Prosser WA MUNI 2002 Business Services, Businesses only Multiple District and Benton City Data Beverly Hills Fiber Beverly Hills CA MUNI 2017 Data, Video, Voice BlakelyNet Blakely GA MUNI 2016 Data Blink (Barbourville Utilities) Barbourville KY MUNI 2017 GPON Data, Video (decided in 2010) Bowling Green Municipal Utility Bowling Green and KY MUNI 2007 EPON Business Services, Businesses only Warren County Data, Voice Bozeman Fiber Bozeman MT MUNI 2015 Data, Voice Businesses Multiple only (plans to add residential services) Braintree Electric Light Braintree MA MUNI 2008 Active Ethernet Data Businesses only Department Bristol Tennessee Essential Bristol TN MUNI 2005 GPON Data, Smart Grid, Services Video, Voice Buffalo Municipal Utilities Buffalo MN MUNI 1996 Data Businesses only Burlington Telecom Burlington VT PUBLIC- 2006 GPON Business Services, PRIVATE Data, Video, Voice BVU OptiNet (BVU Authority) Bristol VA MUNI 2003 GPON Business Services, Data, Smart Grid, Video, Voice, Calnet (Calhoun Utilities) Calhoun GA MUNI 1997 Carrier Ethernet Data, Voice Businesses only CBPU Telecom (Coldwater Board Coldwater MI MUNI 2010 EPON Data Businesses only of Public Utilities) CC Communications Churchill County NV MUNI 2004 Active Ethernet, Business Services, EPON Data, Security, Video, Voice
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 23 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) CDE Lightband Clarksville TN MUNI 2007 Active Ethernet Data, Smart Grid, Video, Voice Cedar Falls Utilities Cedar Falls IA MUNI 2006 Active Ethernet, Data, Smart Grid, GPON Video, Voice Chanute Utilities Chanute KS MUNI 2005 Data Businesses only Charlemont Municipal Light Plant Charlemont MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Charles City County Charles City County VA MUNI 2015 Data Multiple Chaska.net Chaska MN MUNI 2004 Active Ethernet Businesses only Chelan County Public Utility Chelan County WA MUNI 2004 GPON Data, Video, Voice Multiple District Chesterfield Municipal Light Chesterfield MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Plant Chicopee Electric Light Chicopee MA MUNI 2007 Data Businesses only Holyoke Gas & Electric Circa (Idaho Falls Power) Idaho Falls ID MUNI 2007 Active Ethernet Data, Voice Businesses only Multiple City of Ammon Ammon ID MUNI 2011 Data Multiple City of Blackfoot/Optix Media Blackfoot ID PUBLIC- 2016 Data Businesses only Optix Media Optix Media PRIVATE City of Celina Celina TX PUBLIC- 2017 Data Multiple PRIVATE City of Columbus Columbus OH MUNI 2016 Data Businesses only City of Cortez Cortez CO MUNI 2011 Active Ethernet, Data, Video, Voice Businesses only Multiple GPON City of Ellensburg Ellensburg WA MUNI 2015 Data Pilot project for businesses City of Ellsworth Ellsworth ME MUNI 2015 Data Businesses only GWI, open to others City of Fort Morgan Fort Morgan CO MUNI 2017 Data Allo Com- munications (in negotiations) City of Grover Beach/Digital West Grover Beach CA PUBLIC- 2017 Data Businesses only Digital West Digital West PRIVATE City of Hamilton Hamilton OH MUNI 2014 Active Ethernet, Business Services, Businesses only CenterGrid GPON Data City of Hudson Oaks Hudson Oaks TX MUNI 2017 NextLink City of Jasper and Dubois County/ Jasper and Dubois IN PUBLIC- 2015 GPON Data, Video, Voice Smithville Smithville Smithvville County PRIVATE City of LaGrange LaGrange GA MUNI 2000 GPON Business Services, Businesses only Data, Voice City of Leesburg Leesburg FL MUNI 2001 Data Businesses only City of Madison Madison WI MUNI 2015 Data Pilot project ResTech City of Maupin/LS Networks Maupin OR PUBLIC- 2017 Business Services, LS Networks, QLife PRIVATE Data, Voice open to other providers City of Mishawaka Mishawaka IN MUNI 2012 Data Businesses only St. Joe Valley MetroNet City of Mont Belvieu Mont Belvieu TX MUNI 2017 Data City of Mount Vernon Mount Vernon, WA MUNI 2002 GPON Data, Voice Businesses only Multiple Burlington and Port of Skagit
24 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) City of Ottawa Ottawa KS MUNI 2013 Data Businesses only City of Pasadena Pasadena CA MUNI 2016 Data Businesses only City of Ponca City Ponca City OK MUNI 2000 Data Businesses, residential pilot project City of San Bruno San Bruno CA MUNI 2015 Active Ethernet, New condo GPON development City of South Portland/GWI South Portland ME PUBLIC- 2014 Data PRIVATE City of Union City Union City CA MUNI 2017 Data Businesses only Multiple City of Vallejo Vallejo CA MUNI 2017 Data Businesses only Inyo Networks Inyo Networks City of Vernon Vernon CA MUNI 1999 Data Businesses only City of West Plains West Plains MO MUNI 2016 GPON Data, Voice Businesses only City of Westminster Westminster MD MUNI 2014 GPON Data Ting Ting Clallam County Public Utility Clallam County WA MUNI 2002 Active Ethernet Data Multiple District Click! Network (Tacoma Power) Tacoma WA MUNI Carrier Ethernet Data, Video Businesses only Multiple Colrain Municipal Light Plant Colrain MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Community Fiber Network Goshen, New Paris, IN PUBLIC- 2008 Data, Voice New Paris New Paris (formerly Goshen Fiber Network) Milford, Nappanee, PRIVATE Telephone Telephone Wakarusa Community Network Services Thomasville, seven GA MUNI 1999 Carrier Ethernet Data, Video, Voice Businesses (South Georgia Governmental other communities only in some Services Authority) communities Community Network System Pend Oreille County WA MUNI 2001 Active Ethernet Business Services, Multiple (Pend Oreille County Public Utility Data, Video, Voice District) Concord Light Broadband Concord MA MUNI 2014 Data, Smart Grid Conway Corporation Conway AR MUNI 2011 Data, Voice CPWS PowerNet (Columbia Power Columbia (also TN MUNI 2016 Data, Video, Voice and Water Systems) serves Spring Hill) Culver Connect Culver City CA MUNI 2016 Data Businesses only Multiple Mox Networks Cummington Municipal Light Cummington MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Plant DiamondNet (Sallisaw Municipal Sallisaw OK MUNI 2004 EPON Data, Video, Voice Momentum Authority) Telecom (voice) Douglas County Community Douglas County WA MUNI 1999 Active Ethernet Data, Video, Voice Multiple Network (Douglas County Public Utility District) Downeast Broadband Utility Calais, Baileyville ME MUNI 2017 Data Multiple To be selected DubLink Dublin OH MUNI 2015 Data Businesses only Multiple Eastern Shore of Virginia Counties of VA MUNI 2016 Data Multiple Broadband Authority (ESVBA) Northampton and Accomack ECFiber Consortium of 23 VT MUNI 2010 GPON Business Services, ValleyNet Vermont towns Data, Voice EPB Fiber Optics Chattanooga (also TN MUNI 2007 GPON, NG-PON2 Data, Smart Grid, serves surrounding Video, Voice areas)
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 25 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) EPlus Broadband (Jackson Energy Jackson (also TN MUNI 2004 Data, Smart Grid, Authority) serves part of Video, Voice Madison County) Erwin Utilities Erwin TN MUNI 2014 Data, Smart Grid, Voice EUGNet (Eugene Water and Eugene OR MUNI 2014 Data Downtown area Multiple Electric Board) FairlawnGig Fairlawn OH MUNI 2016 Data, Voice FastRoads (Monadnock Economic Rindge and Enfield NH MUNI 2011 Data Multiple WideOpen Development Corporation) Networks Fayetteville Public Utilities Fayetteville TN MUNI 2010 EPON, RFoG Data, Video, Voice FiberCom Cartersville (also GA MUNI 1998 Carrier Ethernet Business Services, Businesses only serves surrounding Data, Voice areas) FiberNet Monticello MN MUNI 2008 GPON Data, Video, Voice Arvig Enterprises Fibrant Salisbury NC MUNI 2008 Active Ethernet, Data, Video, Voice GPON, NG-PON2 FPUAnet Communications (Fort Fort Pierce FL MUNI 2000 Active Ethernet Data, Voice Businesses Pierce Utilities Authority) Frankfort Plant Board Frankfort KY MUNI 2009 Carrier Ethernet, Data, Security, RFoG Video, Voice Franklin County Public Utility Franklin County WA MUNI Active Ethernet Business Services, Multiple District Data, Voice Franklin Municipal FiberNET Franklin KY MUNI 2013 Data, Voice Businesses, (Franklin Electric Plant Board) residential pilot project GahannaNet Gahanna OH PUBLIC- 2010 Business Services, Businesses only WOW Business WOW Business PRIVATE Data Garrett County Garrett County MD MUNI Data Businesses only Get Wired Alabama (South 17 counties AL PUBLIC- 2015 Data, Video, Voice Multiple Oasis Alabama Central Alabama Broadband PRIVATE Broadband Commission/Oasis Construction) Glasgow Electric Plant Board Glasgow KY MUNI Data Businesses only Glenwood Springs Community Glenwood Springs CO MUNI 2002 GPON Data, Voice Businesses only Multiple Broadband Network Goshen Municipal Light Plant Goshen MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Grant County Public Utility Grant County WA MUNI 2000 Active Ethernet Data, Video, Voice Multiple District Grays Harbor County Public Utility Grays Harbor WA MUNI 1998 Data Multiple District County Greenlight Wilson NC MUNI 2008 GPON Data, Video, Voice GreenLight (Greenfield Greenfield MA MUNI 2017 Active Ethernet Data, Voice Businesses only Community Energy and Technology, GCET) GRUCom Fiber Optics (Gainesville Gainesville (also FL MUNI 2001 Active Ethernet Data Businesses, Regional Utilities) serves surrounding MDUs, greenfield areas) developments Harlan Municipal Utilities Harlan IA MUNI 2010 GPON Data, Video, Voice
26 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) HES (Hopkinsville Electric System) Hopkinsville KY MUNI 1999 Data EnergyNet HG&E Telecom (Holyoke Gas & Holyoke (also MA MUNI 1997 Carrier Ethernet Data, Voice Businesses, some OTT Communi- Electric Department) serves Springfield MDUs cations (voice) and surrounding areas) Highland Communication Highland IL MUNI 2010 GPON Data, Video, Voice Services Holland Board of Public Works Holland MI MUNI 1990s Data Businesses, Multiple residential pilot project Home Net (Hometown Utilicom) Kutztown PA MUNI 2002 BPON, GPON Data, Smart Grid, Video, Voice Huntsville Utilities Huntsville AL MUNI 2016 Google Fiber, open to others Independence Light and Power Independence IA MUNI 2013 GPON Data, Video, Voice Telecommunications Indianola Municipal Utilities Indianola IA MUNI 2012 Active Ethernet Data, Video, Voice MCG Islesboro Municipal Broadband Islesboro ME MUNI 2016 GPON Data, Voice GWI GWI Kent County Fiber Network (Kent Kent County MD PUBLIC- 2016 Data Think Big County/FTS Fiber/Think Big PRIVATE Networks Networks) Kitsap County Public Utility Kitsap County WA MUNI 2000 Active Ethernet Data Mainly Multiple District businesses KPU Telecommunications Ketchikan AK MUNI 2007 Active Ethernet, Data, Video, Voice GPON Lac qui Parle County Economic Lac qui Parle MN PUBLIC- 2010 Data, Video, Voice Development Authority/Farmers County PRIVATE Mutual Telephone Lake Connections (Lake County) Lake County (also MN MUNI 2010 Active Ethernet, Data, Video, Voice Consolidated serves part of St. GPON Telecommu- Louis County) nications Company LanCity Connect Lancaster PA MUNI 2015 Data, Smart Grid MAW Com- munications Lenox Municipal Utilities & Lenox IA MUNI 2008 PON Data, Video, Voice Communications Leverett Municipal Light Plant Leverett MA MUNI 2012 Active Ethernet Data, Voice OTT Communi- Holyoke Gas & (LeverettNet) cations Electric Leyden Municipal Light Plant Leyden MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E LightTUBe (Tullahoma Utilities Tullahoma TN MUNI 2007 GPON Data, Video, Voice Board) liNKCity North Kansas City MO MUNI 2007 Active Ethernet Data KC Fiber LLC Lit San Leandro San Leandro CA PUBLIC- 2012 Data Businesses only PRIVATE Loma Linda Connected Loma Linda CA MUNI 2005 Active Ethernet Data, Video, Voice Multiple Communities Program Los Angeles Department of Water Los Angeles CA MUNI Carrier Ethernet Business Services, Businesses only and Power Fiber Optic Enterprise Data LUS Fiber Lafayette LA MUNI 2007 GPON Data, Smart Grid, Video, Voice
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 27 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) MachLink (Muscatine Power & Muscatine IA MUNI 2015 Data, Video Businesses, Water) expanding to residential Marshall FiberNet Marshall MI MUNI 2017 Data Marshall Municipal Utilities Marshall MO MUNI 2005 Data, Smart Grid Martinsville Information Network Martinsville VA MUNI 2009 Business Services, Businesses only (MINet) Data, Voice Mason County Public Utility Mason County WA MUNI 2000 Active Ethernet Business Services, Multiple District Data, Voice Mayfield Village Mayfield Village OH MUNI 2012 Data Businesses only OneCom- munity Medina County Fiber Network Medina County OH MUNI 2012 Data Businesses only Multiple (Medina County Port Authority) MI-Connection Mooresville, NC MUNI 2009 GPON Data, Video, Voice Davidson and Cornelius MINET Monmouth and OR MUNI 2007 BPON Data, Video, Voice Independence Montana Economic Revitalization Butte MT PUBLIC- 2013 Business Services, Businesses only & Development Institute/ PRIVATE Data, Voice Fatbeam Morristown Utility Systems (MUS Morristown TN MUNI 2006 GPON Data, Smart Grid, Fibernet) Video, Voice Murray Electric System Murray KY MUNI 2000 Active Ethernet Data, Video, Voice Businesses only nDanville Danville VA MUNI 2007 Active Ethernet, Business Services, Multiple GPON Data, Security, Video, Voice Nelson County Broadband Nelson County VA MUNI 2015 Data Multiple Authority New Albany Net New Albany OH MUNI 2010 Business Services, Businesses only WOW Business Data New Ashford Municipal Light New Ashford MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Plant NextLight (Longmont Power and Longmont CO MUNI 2012 GPON Data, Video, Voice Layer3 TV Communications) (video) Norwood Light Broadband Norwood MA MUNI Data, Voice Businesses only NU Connect (Newport Utilities) Newport TN MUNI 2017 Data, Video, Voice Morristown Utility Services Ocala Utility Services Ocala FL MUNI 1995 Active Ethernet Business Services, Data Okanogan County Public Utility Okanogan County WA MUNI 2002 Active Ethernet Multiple District OMU Fibernet (Owensboro Owensboro KY MUNI 1998 Data, Voice Municipal Utilities) ONE Burbank (Burbank Water Burbank CA MUNI 2010 Active Ethernet, Business Services, Businesses only and Power) Carrier Ethernet Data OnLight Aurora Aurora IL MUNI 2012 Carrier Ethernet Business Services, Businesses only Data OntarioNet Ontario CA MUNI 2015 Data, Video, Voice Inyo Networks Opelika Power Services Opelika AL MUNI 2010 GPON Data, Smart Grid, Video, Voice
28 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) Optilink (Dalton Utilities) Dalton GA MUNI 2003 GPON Data, Video, Voice Orangeburg County Broadband Orangeburg County SC MUNI 2010 Active Ethernet Data (serves nine communities in the county) Osage Municipal Utilities Osage IA MUNI 2016 GPON Data, Video, Voice Pilot projects Otis Municipal Light Plant Otis MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E OTO Fiber Old Town, Orono ME MUNI Data, Video, Voice Pacific County Public Utility Pacific County WA MUNI 2000 Data Multiple District Palm Coast FiberNET Palm Coast FL MUNI 2009 Active Ethernet Business Services, Businesses only Multiple Data, Voice Paragould Light, Water and Cable Paragould AR MUNI 2017 Data, Video Parallax Systems (Richmond Richmond IN MUNI 2000 Data Businesses only Power and Light) PES Energize (Pulaski Electric Pulaski (also serves TN MUNI 2007 EPON Data, Smart Grid, System) Giles County) Video, Voice Philippi Communications System Philippi WV MUNI 2005 BPON Data, Video
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 29 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) Piqua Fast Fiber Network (Piqua Piqua OH MUNI 2013 Data Businesses only Independents Municipal Power System) Fiber Network Plainfield Broadband Municipal Plainfield MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Light Plant Port of Lewiston Lewiston and Nez ID MUNI 2016 Data Businesses only Multiple Perce County PowelLink Powell WY MUNI 2007 GPON Data, Security, TCT, open to Video, Voice others PPS FiberNet (Paducah Power Paducah, KY MUNI 2004 Active Ethernet, Data, Security, Businesses only Multiple System) McCracken County BPON Video, Voice Princeton Electric Department Princeton IL MUNI 2003 Data Businesses only IVNet IVNet Reedsburg Utility Commission Reedsburg (also WI MUNI 2003 BPON, GPON Data, Video, Voice serves nearby rural communities) Rio Blanco Broadband Rio Blanco County CO MUNI 2015 Data, Voice Multiple Colorado Fiber Community Roanoke Valley Broadband Botetourt and VA MUNI 2015 Data Businesses and Multiple Authority Roanoke Counties, some MDUs Roanoke and Salem Rochelle Municipal Utilities Rochelle IL MUNI Active Ethernet Business Services, Mainly Data, Voice businesses Rock County Broadband Alliance Rock County MN PUBLIC- 2015 Data, Video, Voice Alliance Com- Alliance Com- (Alliance Communications/Rock PRIVATE munications munications County) Rock Falls FiberNet Rock Falls IL MUNI 2007 Data Essex Telcom (for business customers) Rockbridge Area Network Rockbridge County, VA MUNI 2013 Data, Voice Multiple Authority cities of Lexington and Buena Vista Russellville EPB Smartnet Russellville KY MUNI 2010 Active Ethernet, Data, Smart Grid, (Russellville Electric Plant Board) GPON Video, Voice Sandersville FiberLink Sandersville (also GA MUNI Data serves nearby areas) SandyNet Fiber Sandy OR MUNI 2011 Data, Voice SanfordNet Fiber Sanford ME MUNI 2016 Data Businesses only GWI, open to GWI others Santa Monica City Net Santa Monica CA MUNI 2004 Active Ethernet Data Businesses, Multiple residential pilot project Scottsboro Electric Power Board Scottsboro AL MUNI Active Ethernet Data, Smart Grid Businesses only Sebewaing Light and Water Sebewaing MI MUNI 2013 GPON Data, Voice Department Selco (Shrewsbury Electric and Shrewsbury MA MUNI 1999 Active Ethernet, Data Businesses only Cable Operations) GPON Sherwood Broadband Sherwood (also OR MUNI 2004 Data Businesses only Multiple serves nearby areas) Shutesbury Municipal Light Plant Shutesbury MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Southwest Minnesota Broadband Bingham Lake, MN MUNI 2010 Data, Video, Voice Windom Windom Services Brewster, Heron Telecommuni- Telecommuni- Lake, Lakefield, cations cations Jackson, Okabena, Round Lake, Wilder
30 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 NETWORK DEPLOYER COMMUNITY(IES) STATE(S) MUNICIPAL DATE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES CUSTOMERS SERVICE OPERATOR OR PUBLIC- PROJECT SERVED BY PROVIDER (if other than PRIVATE STARTED FIBER (if other than network (all types unless network owner) owner) otherwise noted) Spanish Fork Community Spanish Fork UT MUNI 2015 Active Ethernet Data, Video, Voice Network Spencer Municipal Utilities Spencer IA MUNI 2007 GPON Data, Smart Grid, Video, Voice SpringNet (City Utilities of Springfield MO MUNI 1997 Active Ethernet Business Services, Businesses only Springfield) Data Swiftel Communications Brookings SD MUNI 2006 GPON Data, Video, Voice (Brookings Municipal Utilities) Sylacauga Utilities Board Sylacauga AL MUNI 1997 Active Ethernet Data Taunton Municipal Lighting Plant Taunton MA MUNI 2003 EPON Data Town of Mount Washington Mount Washington MA MUNI 2016 Data, Video Town of Rockport/GWI Rockport ME PUBLIC- 2014 Data, Voice GWI GWI PRIVATE Township of Lyndon Lyndon MI MUNI 2017 Data UC2B (Urbana-Champaign Big Urbana, IL PUBLIC- 2010 Active Ethernet Data, Video, Voice i3 Broadband i3 Broadband Broadband) Champaign PRIVATE UTOPIA Consortium of 16 UT MUNI 2004 Active Ethernet Data, Video, Voice Multiple cities Velocity Broadband Hudson OH MUNI 2015 Data Businesses only Wadsworth CityLink Wadsworth OH MUNI Carrier Ethernet Data Businesses only Washington Municipal Light Washington MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Plant Waverly Utilities Waverly IA MUNI 2016 Data, Voice, Video Whip City Fiber (Westfield Gas Westfield MA MUNI 2015 Data, Voice & Electric) Williamstown Cable & Broadband Williamstown (also KY MUNI 2010 Data, Video Communities serves Corinth and outside parts of Grant and Williamstown Owen Counties) Windomnet (Windom Windom MN MUNI 2004 GPON Data, Video, Voice Telecommunications) Windsor Municipal Light Plant Windsor MA MUNI 2017 Data, Voice Westfield G&E Wired Road Authority Carroll & Grayson VA MUNI 2009 Data Multiple WideOpen counties, city of Networks Galax Zing (St. Joe Valley Metronet) Mishawaka, South IN PUBLIC- 2005 Many Businesses, MDUs Multiple Bend, St. Joseph PRIVATE County
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Slow and Steady Wins the Fiber Race
Three communities find success in incremental fiber network builds.
By H. Trostle / Institute for Local Self-Reliance
ny city can improve its connectivity Holland Board of Public Works (BPW) without breaking the bank – but it takes built its first fiber optic loop in 1992 to better Aforesight, planning and relationships. manage its electric and water systems by From a small town of 6,000 to a city of more remotely operating the electric switches and than 160,000, municipalities across the water pumps. The loop was only 17 miles of country have built state-of-the-art fiber optic 48-count fiber optic line, but it provided the infrastructure with common sense, creative foundation for later development. financing and community support. Holland, For years, when a property owner wanted Michigan; Eugene, Oregon; and Erwin, to connect a building to the network, BPW Tennessee, provide blueprints for successful charged the owner the total cost of the new incremental approaches to municipal fiber build up front. This connection fee of $2,000 optic networks. limited the number of customers. Because BPW thought more local businesses could benefit HOLLAND, MICHIGAN from the network, it introduced a new cost Population: 33,543 (2016 est.) recovery model in 2013 – applying the revenues Area: 17.35 square miles it expected to earn from the new connection Claim to Fame: Tulips toward the build cost. By building out carefully at first and managing its finances well, BPW “One of our key strategies is [that]we are was able to grow the system quickly. By the end building fiber for our community. Does our of 2016, the city had at its disposal 76 miles of community want it or not? We’re not going fiber backbone with more than 150 total route to build fiber to the community if [people] miles and 288-count fiber. say, ‘You know what? We’re good.’ You Six small ISPs lease dark fiber from the city need to have that relationship with your for a monthly fee of just over $.01 per foot per community. You need to be open.” strand. The city also offers an active Ethernet – Pete Hoffswell, Holland service for large businesses. Because the network Broadband Services Manager was built out at their request, it mostly reaches large commercial customers today. On the shores of Lake Michigan, what However, in the summer of 2017, Holland began as a Dutch outpost is now a tourist town launched a new pilot project aimed at residential of 30,000 that has spent more than 20 years and small business subscribers – a GPON steadily building out a fiber network. that covers 158 buildings and 450 potential The state of Michigan placed some customers. For this service, BPW has decided to restrictions on building municipal networks in offer services directly but is still designing the 2005, but Holland was grandfathered in. The network to be open access in the future. city’s municipal electric utility had provided A municipal utility needs the community to wholesale internet service to some businesses build and maintain support for projects of this since the 1990s. kind. In this case, the Holland Fiber group urged
32 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Not just tulips anymore: Holland, Michigan, reaps the benefits of a municipal fiber network.
BPW onward. Composed of activists which then has a positive feedback county agencies and the school district and business leaders, Holland Fiber loop. There are more restaurants, on a fiber loop that had spare capacity educated the community, highlighted there’s more other activity. So, it and now leases some dark fiber in the public support and encouraged the city just keeps growing and growing downtown area to ISPs. to explore all its options. It maintained and growing. But it wouldn’t be The utility charges building owners the HollandFiber.org website as a happening without the fiber.” about $2,000 to install fiber to a centralized location where residents – Anne Fifield, Economic property. In the pilot area downtown, could learn about the potential benefits Development Planner 16 buildings are fully connected. Some of the city’s decisions. businesses have already expanded, This tangible community Just a few hours from Portland, including one that landed a contract it support encouraged the city to look Eugene is home to the University of won only because of the fiber network. at innovative ways to finance the Oregon and a center of commerce in Eventually, 120 downtown buildings project. The city eventually settled Lane County. Downtown Eugene is will have the opportunity to connect on an incremental approach and is running out of parking spots, and many to the network, and eager residents and considering other approaches for buildings have zero vacancy because of businesses are asking when EWEB will further expanding the network across the fiber network the city only recently expand beyond that initial area. the community. As it rolls out fiber, began to take full advantage of. Eugene is financing the network public excitement is building as well. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, the through connection fees, urban Eugene Water and Electric Board renewal bonds and a federal grant. EUGENE, OREGON (EWEB) built a series of underground About 50 percent of the pilot area lies Population: 166,575 (2016 est.) electrical conduits in the downtown within two urban renewal districts, Area: 43.74 square miles area and included a space for which are similar to tax increment Claim to Fame: communications lines. Now, EWEB financing zones in other states. They University of Oregon Ducks can pull microducts through this enable the city to encourage economic ancient system and quickly deploy fiber development within the zones by “It’s busier downtown. There’s to each building. borrowing against future tax revenue more stuff happening; there’s more Like many community utilities, increases. A small grant of $1.9 million business in those office buildings. EWEB installed fiber in the 1990s for came from the federal Economic They’re here because of the fiber, internal communications. It connected Development Administration.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 33 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
Eugene’s project is part of a time. Erwin’s residents wanted better limits, but Erwin has continued to larger effort to improve connectivity television service. The town considered expand beyond city limits. Its goal is to throughout Oregon. EWEB is working three types of networks: a traditional make sure the entire electrical system’s with the Lane Council of Governments cable coax system, a hybrid fiber-coax footprint, which extends to some and the Technology Association of system and a full fiber-to-the-home outlying communities in the mountains, Oregon to ensure that the city has a network. After studying the issue, the has access to the network. Erwin expects robust connection to the rest of the town decided not to build anything to finish this by the end of 2018. region. The council previously deployed immediately but to keep in mind the a dark fiber network throughout Lane fiber-to-the-home plan for the future. CONCLUSION County, using a federal stimulus grant. About 10 years later, Erwin decided These communities are vastly different The expertise and institutional memory to revisit the idea. A new study put the in population, geography and finances, of the Lane Council of Governments cost of building out fiber to the whole and each city developed its own has been helpful to EWEB in pursuing town at an out-of-reach $27.5 million incremental build strategy. Erwin is the pilot project. and estimated a 17-year payback period. the smallest but also the furthest along A priority for Eugene in coming The town’s utility took a different in ensuring that its residents have full years is to share its fiber network with approach while staying well within the access to the 21st-century economy. nearby, smaller communities to ensure restrictions the state imposed. Eugene is transforming by redeveloping its downtown, relying on a 1950s electric the entire region, not just downtown In 2012, Erwin built a fiber network conduit system and urban renewal Eugene, thrives. to support communications among the electric, water, and wastewater systems districts. And Holland found success ERWIN, TENNESSEE and connect six county schools. In by building on grassroots community Population: 5,920 (2016 est.) 2014, using that backbone, it built a support. These are only three of many Area: 3.6 square miles pilot FTTH project to see whether communities that have built networks Claim to Fame: residents were interested in a full fiber- using this incremental approach. Citywide FTTH network to-the-home system. It connected the From Santa Monica, California, first customers in early 2015, offering to Auburn, Indiana, cities across the “We’ve looked at this for many only broadband and voice services. country have developed strategies to years, and finally the time was The network most certainly piqued build out high-speed fiber networks right, and we acted. A lot of things residents’ interest – so much so that, in small phases. These networks serve go into making the decision to between connecting residents and different needs, such as providing build a fiber-to-the-home network: leasing excess capacity, the town’s business connectivity or home internet the system, the demographics, the utility found bankrolling a network service, but they all have grown over the years. In every one of these customers per mile. I just really expansion easy. About 1,200 customers communities, some citizens wanted feel like we’re in the greatest place were involved in the pilot project. to deploy more quickly. But these of all times in being able to make Each network phase paid for further decisions are made collectively, by that decision and do what’s right development. Erwin’s electric system communities or at least city councils. for our community.” owns the fiber, and the fiber optic In more than 10 years of working – Lee Brown, Erwin division leases it from the electric with communities, ILSR has seen system, as is common with municipal Utilities General Manager ambitious local activists and leaders electric utilities. The fiber division push for a citywide network and refuse Erwin, Tennessee, is not the first continues to pay its own way and is not to compromise. Sometimes that strategy place anyone would think to look subsidized by the other utilities. has led to success, but more often it has for world-class connectivity. Tucked Erwin Utilities’ fiber engineer, led to nothing. An incremental build between the Blue Ridge Mountains and John Williams, thinks the incremental may have periods of rapid deployment the Cherokee National Forest, Erwin approach helped the project succeed. followed by decades of inaction, or it relies on tourism as its economic base. “I think one of our biggest advantages can be simply a slow, steady expansion However, this small Appalachian town is the efficiency we can do on a small of an existing fiber network. Either way, built a citywide FTTH network that scale, so if we already know what we it is approximately “a gajillion” times outperforms most networks in large need to do … if we start out small, it better than doing nothing. v urban areas. The town is expanding was just an easier sell to make. It was the network to serve people outside not quite as big an investment, and city limits who are otherwise without then it gave us the opportunity to kind H. Trostle is a writer for MuniNetworks. broadband internet access. of learn as we went, too, because every org, a publication of the Institute for Like Holland and Eugene, Erwin day that goes by, you learn something Local Self-Reliance. This article is based began its fiber story around 1999, new, and make it better.” on research and interviews conducted by but this little Tennessee town wasn’t Now most residents can get a gigabit Lisa Gonzalez and Christopher Mitchell thinking about the internet at that on an FTTH connection inside city of the ILSR.
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Why Municipal Networks Should Be Disruptive
The traditional telecom model is not working. For a locality to succeed with a municipal broadband alternative, it can’t just duplicate the incumbent model.
By Jeff Christensen and Robert Peterson / EntryPoint
city considering a municipal broadband It is possible to do an excellent job building project should start by thinking a functional network (tactics) and still do the Aabout strategy, not feasibility. Today’s wrong thing (strategy) by building a network feasibility studies tend to be lopsidedly tactical. that never gets broad adoption. A feasibility Typically, studies start with handwaving toward study that leads a city to do things the right strategic issues and then dive into such tactical way but not to do the right things will result matters as assessment of the local market, in a network that cannot evolve in the rapidly network requirements, network design, cost changing future. estimates and financial projections. A strategic mindset focuses on the future, articulates a vision, embraces change, scans the external environment, invites innovation and creativity and wonders what can be. By contrast, a tactical mindset focuses on immediate needs, sets achievable goals and objectives, prefers stability, focuses internally, has a bias toward reliability and aims to improve the way things currently work.
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF DISRUPTION Any industry that fails to build its strategies around serving its customers’ interests should be disrupted. To disrupt means to redefine the way things are done. Whether cities articulate this or not, municipal broadband is about disrupting the dominant telecommunications model. Municipal broadband can – and should – redefine the technologies and business models used to deliver broadband. Many cities that have pursued municipal Source: Sales Benchmark Index Benchmark Sales Source: broadband projects have been weak on Table 1 strategic planning as they focused on tactical
36 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 implementation. Too many cities Market disruption starts from the bottom adopt legacy telecom methodologies rather than redefining the market with of the market – the part that is unattractive new technologies and a new business model. A focus on tactics makes a city to dominant industry powerhouses – and vulnerable to simply trading seats with proceeds by redefining the job to be done or the incumbent within the same broken business model. Cities can completely the problem to be solved. disrupt the dominant incumbent control business model by shifting to an emphasis on strategies – specifically, strategies that will give consumers what they want from broadband networks. investment. Technologies that will fuel district for broadband infrastructure, To create a strategy, a city should the redefinition of broadband networks in which residents pay $17.00 per give some attention to disruption will likely turn previously complex month for a gigabit fiber optic theory. For the past 20 years, Clayton tasks into “brain-dead simple” tasks. connection and $16.50 per month Christensen, a professor at Harvard Most important, cities should look for for maintenance and operation of Business School, has been writing business models that incumbents cannot the network. The city provides open about disruption and innovation. His or will not replicate because these infrastructure and allows service key ideas include the following: business models will undermine the providers to openly compete and incumbent’s strategies and objectives. innovate across that infrastructure. 1) Disruption always happens from An example of a municipal the bottom of the market. This Is there evidence that Ammon’s broadband project that checks all these model has the potential to be disruptive is the part of the market that is boxes from Christensen’s disruption and redefine broadband networks? unattractive to dominant industry theory is the Ammon Fiber Network. Though Ammon is celebrating the powerhouses. • The city of Ammon is at the official opening of its network this 2) To disrupt means to redefine or bottom of the market – it has a month, it actually launched its ISP reconsider the job to be done or the population of 16,000 and is located Cloud in September 2016 to serve the problem the customer is trying to in southeastern Idaho, far from any first phase of its rollout. Think of the solve. major metropolitan areas. cloud as a marketplace for ISPs or open 3) Redefinition of technology often • The job to be done, as described by access for a cloud world. In Ammon’s involves turning previously complex Ammon’s mayor and city council, cloud, a subscriber can change ISPs in tasks into “brain-dead simple” tasks. was to “create an open, software- 20 seconds. Point – click – subscribe. 4) Redefinition of the business model defined fiber optic infrastructure Point – click – unsubscribe. No generally drives disruption even with the goal of reaching every customer service calls, no waiting, no more than the introduction of a new address over time.” truck rolls. technology. • From a technology perspective, Since the municipal network In addition to paying attention to the Ammon network is the first went live, ISP prices in Ammon fell Christensen’s theories, cities should look municipal network to implement a from $44.95 to $9.99 per month for for case studies that may be helpful as software-defined network (SDN) a 100 x 100 Mbps ISP connection. they develop their strategies. To start that is virtualized and automated, The timeline is shown in Table 2. with, cities should become familiar delivering networks on demand In the first phase of its network with successful municipal broadband while moving services to the cloud. implementation, Ammon achieved a projects, particularly those from the • For its business model, Ammon 70 percent take rate, and that number part of the market that is unattractive implemented a local improvement continues to climb. to dominant industry powerhouses. Underserved and unserved communities are forced to become creative in embracing technologies TABLE 2: ISP PRICES ON and business models that ultimately THE AMMON FIBER NETWORK will redefine the way broadband networks operate. The “job to be ISP DATE SPEED PRICE done” in municipal broadband must ISP 1 September 2016 100 x 100 Mbps $44.95 be different from the primary job of ISP 2 October 2016 100 x 100 Mbps $39.99 incumbent-controlled broadband, ISP 2 July 2017 100 x 100 Mbps $9.99 which is to maximize return on
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 37 COMMUNITY BROADBAND Wealth can be understood as a function of the providers can be provisioned in less than 24 hours for a monthly fee number of rewarding choices an individual can of $50. We predict that prices will continue make. The lack of choice and control over high to fall, speed will continue to rise prices and poor service makes customers angry. and service quality will continue to increase. Additionally, residents are not forced to sign up, and taxpayers are not taxed to build the network. Table 3, which shows basic data A WEALTH OF CHOICES It is another thing to be unable to do about the Ammon Fiber Network and What Ammon and EntryPoint have anything about it because there is no its competition, illustrates how the done together has significance beyond option to move to something better. network restores choice to consumers. the falling prices for ISP services. The lack of choice and control over In summary, cities should focus on Rory Sutherland, advertising high prices and poor service is what the unique value municipal broadband and social media expert, argues makes customers so angry. can provide that traditional broadband that wealth is a function of the Rideshare companies such as Uber incumbents won’t or can’t provide. If number of rewarding choices that an and Lyft understand the value of a a city defines the problem it is solving individual has the power to make. business model that moves control to as a “fast internet” problem, that city New technologies and business models the customer. Customers who want to will then be willing to accept any that are valuable allow people to do get from point A to point B know what solution to that problem. That is not to meaningful things that were previously the cost of the ride will be before they say that fast internet is not important. not possible. request a ride and can compare this cost Ammon and EntryPoint argue that Under the dominant to alternative modes of transportation. if the big problems with internet telecommunications model, customers Customers also know they can rate access can be solved, fast internet will happen naturally. Ammon’s answer to have a poverty of choices. An internet the driver if the car is not clean or the the question of value from municipal search on the “most hated companies driver is not polite. broadband has been to focus on giving in the United States” shows a dominant The Ammon model, which runs customers the solutions they seek telecommunications provider listed as on EntryPoint’s cloud orchestration through robust infrastructure owned No. 1. A search on companies with the platform, restores choice for by the city on behalf of residents and an worst customer service in 2017 shows choice-starved customers. Because open marketplace for services. v several telecommunications companies customers of the Ammon Fiber high on the list. Network can easily change ISPs, real Is this anger and dissatisfaction competition can take hold and create Jeff Christensen is president of solely a function of poor customer a dynamic marketplace for ISPs that EntryPoint, and Robert Peterson is service, or is something bigger going fundamentally changes the value its chief technology strategist. You can on? It is one thing to be on the customers get from ISPs. The barriers contact Jeff at [email protected]. receiving end of poor customer service. to entry are lowered as new service Learn more at www.entpnt.com.
TABLE 3: AMMON FIBER PHASE 1 DEPLOYMENT DATA
Residential take rate 70% Number of ISPs signed up to provide services 4 Infrastructure allocation per homeowner $3,000 Infrastructure finance term 20 years Monthly infrastructure expense (fiber optic connection) $17.00 Monthly maintenance and operations expense (1 Gbps connection) $16.50 Monthly ISP - best value (100/100 Mbps) $9.99 Total monthly cost $43.49 Incumbent monthly ISP offering (50/5 Mbps) + data caps $75.00+
The Ammon model restores choice and control for choice-impoverished consumers.
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Huntsville Becomes a Gig City
Huntsville Utilities in Alabama is pioneering a new model for community broadband. So far, all the signs look good.
By Masha Zager / Broadband Communities
untsville, Alabama, long called “Rocket According to a 2016 presentation by City” for its association with the space Jay Stowe, former president and CEO of Hprogram, is on its way to becoming Huntsville Utilities, the utility concluded that “Gig City,” thanks to its municipal fiber providing fiber to the home directly would be network. With a population of about 195,000, too expensive and, more important, too risky Huntsville wasn’t overlooked by broadband because “it was not a business that we are in.” providers, as some smaller towns and cities were. So in December 2014, the city issued a request But private broadband offerings weren’t robust for information seeking one or more partners to enough to support the city’s tech sector, which provide high-speed internet services through the now includes a burgeoning biotech industry in utility’s fiber network. addition to the traditional space industry. And In February 2016, the city and Google with the highest concentration of engineers in Fiber announced that Google Fiber had signed the United States, Huntsville has a sophisticated a 20-year lease on Huntsville’s dark fiber and and demanding broadband market. would offer triple-play services to all Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, announcing a residents and small businesses – about 105,000 Gig City initiative, said conversations with addresses altogether. The news made a splash, the city’s Economic Development Advisory not because Huntsville was the first city to use a Council convinced him of the increased need wholesale model – at least 100 other municipal for ultra-high-speed connectivity and big data networks do – but because Google Fiber was portals. He noted, “If Huntsville is to remain the first high-profile provider to sign on with a a technological leader in this hyperconnected municipal network. global world, we must be able to offer broadband Typically, retail providers that deliver services access that can accommodate the growing on municipal networks are small and have demands of business, research institutions, little or no infrastructure of their own. Large entrepreneurs, residents and public safety.” incumbent U.S. providers, which are vertically At the same time, Huntsville’s municipal integrated, have declined to use networks they utility, which had maintained a fiber network don’t own, expressing concern about being since 1999, was planning a major network blamed for service glitches they can’t control. expansion to better manage its electric grid. Google Fiber, a competitive provider that now The expanded network would support energy offers services in parts of 18 metropolitan information services, real-time pricing, areas, has substantial fiber assets and began SCADA, substation control and other fiber- as a vertically integrated provider. (It does use centric requirements. Adding extra fiber strands existing fiber to deliver services to some MDUs would not add significantly to its cost, so the in Atlanta and San Francisco.) Huntsville was city decided to leverage this asset for the benefit the first city in which it committed to provide of residents and businesses. services over fiber owned by a public entity.
40 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Huntsville, Alabama, has been the Rocket City for years. Now it’s a Gig City.
A WIN-WIN community. Huntsville and its leaders Huntsville follows a third, middle- FOR GOOGLE AND THE CITY are building a community energized by ground strategy: It builds fiber to The deal enabled Google Fiber to start gigabit speeds. We are now able to help the curb, installs a multiport service serving Huntsville faster and at a lower make their vision a reality. This city- terminal (MST) that can serve several cost than if it had built out the network led, long-term investment will allow customers, and lets service providers itself. At the Broadband Communities both Google Fiber and future providers build and own the final drops to the Summit in April 2017, John Burchett, to more easily deliver ultra-fast internet customer premises. This way, it can head of public policy for Google Access to Huntsville residents.” fund the network through electric and Google Fiber, said, “It’s a win-win From the utility’s point of view, rates without borrowing (all the for us and the city. There’s less capital locking in a 20-year revenue stream infrastructure is used to operate the up front for us, and the builds are from the fiber asset enabled it to speed electric distribution system), it controls much faster because they already have up its network deployment. The network the buildout schedule to the various neighborhoods, but it does not have to access to poles and rights-of-way and will be built out in three years at a cost get involved in customer connections. can do the make-ready faster than we of about $70 million; the build might Google Fiber – or another provider can. They have crews they can deploy. have been slower if the network were – markets services to customers, secures We’ve found they are able to build used only for utility and government permission for drops and installations, much faster than we can.” purposes. And, of course, the city gets plugs its cables into the MSTs and gets Burchett added that other gigabit service for all its residents. customers connected. communities could use the same or THE HUNTSVILLE MODEL Daniel Kaufmann, a lawyer from similar approaches to attract Google or Bradley Arant Boult Cummings who Leasing excess fiber from a utility other providers. He said, “The more that helped the city negotiate the lease, grid network has become common. communities can put in dark fiber, the explains that the utility sets rate more it speeds the whole thing up. At However, Huntsville’s model has structures that apply to all lessees this point it’s almost all about time. The several unique features. (its only other legal option would be sooner you can light up a person, the Municipalities that lease fiber to to open the network to competitive more the numbers start making sense.” third-party providers generally use one bidding, which would be impractical). Recently, a Google Fiber of two models: They own only the fiber Thus, Google Fiber pays the same rate spokesperson explained to Broadband ring, or they own the entire network. as any other retail service provider Communities, “By working with Even where a third party builds the offering the same type of service. A Huntsville Utilities and the city of connections to the premises (as in point-to-point fiber lease, such as a Huntsville, we’re able to bring more Rio Blanco County, Colorado, whose provider might want to serve a financial people access to ultra-high-speed network was profiled in the November- or research institution, would fall under internet, and we’ve been able to further December 2016 issue), the municipality a different category and pay a different the city’s vision for a more connected usually ends up owning all the fiber. rate, as would a low-volume lease.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 41 COMMUNITY BROADBAND Huntsville Utilities invested in its network and phone services, with a choice of 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps speeds. It primarily so it could manage its grid better. announced a second neighborhood in September. Customers began A small additional investment makes possible signing up immediately, and many are gigabit services for all residents and businesses. already receiving services. A Google Fiber spokesperson told Broadband Communities, “We have been extremely pleased with the response in Huntsville. The service has been well-received, and Exclusive contracts are illegal – “You – in other words, on the number we are encouraged as we consider other can’t give a special privilege to any one of potential customers. Kaufmann service areas in the market.” citizen,” Kaufmann says – which means explains that the value of a network for Eschewing the “fiberhood” that, as the city is not the ISP, multiple service providers depends not on route approach that Google Fiber made ISPs must be allowed on the network. miles but on how many customers famous, Huntsville Utilities decided to As of now, no other providers have they can connect. The cost to the prioritze its build based on construction leased fiber from the utility. However, utility, however, depends largely on the needs rather than customer demand. the city is eager to attract additional number of route miles, so to develop It started in North Huntsville because providers, and it took account of the a price per port, it had to calculate the that area needed the least make-ready potential for multiple providers both number of ports it was likely to install work on its poles. This enabled Google in the contract with Google Fiber and per mile of fiber. (The provider also Fiber to start delivering services as soon in the network design. Tom Reiman, pays for space in fiber huts and for as possible. However, Cantrell notes, CEO of The Broadband Group, which miles of backbone fiber, costs that will the city was excited to be able to bring helped the utility plan the network and change little over the years.) gigabit service to North Huntsville, an negotiate the contract, says that Google Yet another difference is this: area that would benefit economically Fiber’s control over drop cables does Although most fiber owners employ from those services. not equate to control over customers. A indefeasible rights of use (IRUs) for Google Fiber is also bringing customer unhappy with Google Fiber long-term fiber leases, Huntsville chose fiber to a number of community could switch to a competing provider, not to use that method. Kaufmann organizations in Huntsville. The if there were one; the utility could says, “An IRU gives an ownership Google spokesperson told us, interest to the tenant. Under our state easily install another terminal, and the “In Huntsville, our community competing provider could easily install statute, the better course of action is for impact efforts are focused on three a drop cable. the utility to own the network. As it’s priority areas: digital inclusion, However, Reiman adds, although operating an electric system, it needs STEM education, and supporting the network can support a second to be in sole control of the network. … entrepreneurs and nonprofits. We high-volume provider from a technical The utility’s customers are going to be pursue partnerships that support these standpoint, the chance that a second dependent on the network’s working, three efforts – giving nonprofits the provider would want to serve the so it didn’t want multiple owners.” whole city is “economically remote.” tools they need to increase their digital He expects to see additional providers GOING LIVE presence and create more efficient carve out niche markets – multiple- Huntsville Utilities started its fiber workstreams so they can focus on their dwelling-unit properties or enterprises expansion shortly after signing the missions. Each organization and its or schools – but would be surprised contract with Google Fiber. According needs are different. In certain cases, we if Google Fiber had a competitor for to Stacy Cantrell, vice president of will provide tools and services – such general residential service. engineering, it is already building as a free computer lab for the kids at According to Stowe, in the future, out the second of its six phases, with Harris Homes for Children.” the utility might lease fiber in other a goal of completing the final phase LESSONS LEARNED parts of its electric service territory, and by October 2019. To allow Google other broadband providers might want Fiber to market and install drops Building out fiber to an entire to serve customers in those smaller cities. continuously, Huntsville is turning over city in three years is an ambitious the network in small segments as they undertaking, and Huntsville Utilities CONTRACT PRICING are ready rather than waiting for the faces several challenges – among other Huntsville’s pricing model also has completion of each phase. things, at the time it started the project, unique aspects. Variable revenue, rather In May 2017, Google Fiber it had no separate fiber department and than being based on route distance announced that residents and small had fallen behind on pole maintenance. (dollars per foot of fiber), is based on business owners in North Huntsville Six major contractors (some of whom the number of terminal ports available could sign up for internet, video have subcontractors) are performing
42 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 various design and installation tasks, utility. Sometimes there’s no way to homeowners to make sure any overseen by TBG Network Services, a escape doing the same work twice damages are noted and repaired. subsidiary of The Broadband Group. – for example, if you move facilities From his perspective as project TBG Network Services leads all aspects on a pole to make room for two new adviser and overseer, Reiman offers an of the construction oversight, build attachers and a third one puts in a optimistic assessment of the Huntsville metrics and turnover to Google Fiber. request a month later, you may have model and its future: “The Huntsville Based on her experiences during the to replace the pole and waste the or utility lease model completely first year of the project, Cantrell offers first make-ready. changes the metrics of competitive some thoughts for other municipalities • Encourage the locating team to broadband investments. Unlinking to keep in mind: develop good relationships with terrestrial infrastructure funding from contractors so contractors will call • The quality of GIS data is crucial the delivery of world-class, high-speed the team to answer any questions. because that data forms the basis for internet access addresses the challenges Some utility lines will inevitably be the design. Clean up the GIS data that have failed so many important cut, but good working relationships well before you get started on a fiber initiatives. Investing in more ‘single can minimize these problems. project. industry use’ fiber is perhaps not • Continual field inspection is • Be prepared for the incumbents solving the universal access objectives necessary to train contractors about to jump into action as soon as a of municipal broadband. We believe building to standards. Don’t wait municipal project is announced, this model is both replicable and and don’t be surprised if they get until the job is complete and then relevant in many future markets.” v started faster than you can. Make hand them a long list of problems sure you have well-defined processes to fix. Having inspectors in the and enough personnel to handle the field also helps validate invoices Masha Zager is the editor of Broadband locates, pole attachments and other and construction progress, and Communities. You can reach her at events that create work for your inspectors can interact with [email protected].
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Topics in Community Broadband
Q&A with Cheri Beranek, CEO of Clearfield learfield’s fiber management equipment CB: Clearfield College, which we offer at no is used in many community broadband cost, is a technical program run by some of Cnetworks, and the company is known our application engineers, who have built for working closely with small deployers – networks for telcos, cable companies or municipalities, telcos and others – to solve the military. specific problems. Recently, Broadband We also have a program in which we Communities had an opportunity to speak sit down with municipalities and draw a with Cheri Beranek, CEO of Clearfield, about small subdivision – say 288 homes – and current challenges and strategies for municipal show them how we would build an optimal fiber deployments. Following are highlights of network. We pay engineering firms to that discussion. provide models as proofs of concept for the municipalities to work through viability and BROADBAND COMMUNITIES: What’s feasibility studies. Then they can work with driving the current boom in municipal fiber consultants to develop more specific plans deployments? and learn what they’re doing without having CHERI BERANEK: We’re seeing broad interest to put out a lot of money up front. from municipalities that are not getting the service they believe their communities BBC: How does a municipal build differ from a deserve – and require – for quality of life or telco build? economic development that will let them CB: Really, building a network isn’t very compete in national and global markets. different for a municipality and a private BBC: What challenges do they face? enterprise. Municipalities sometimes get CB: There are many obstacles keeping them caught up in the idea of having to treat from making the leap forward from the everyone equally, but we encourage them “kicking the tires” stage. Two examples to think about it the way a private business are financial obligations and technical would, by proving it out first. They’ve competency. Even broadband service received the idea of stepping stones really providers that are currently operating well. They’re much more viable entities if telephone or cable networks are not they can take it slow and prove it out. In experts in this climate, and novices in the fact, as long as a municipality owns the marketplace are definitely looking for help rights of way and controls the permitting and assistance. They’re being cautious; process, it has an inherent advantage. they’re not just jumping in with both feet. The difficulty isn’t so much how to build Clearfield actually views municipalities the network but how to operate it with all as similar to telephone companies, especially the nuances – and that information is more if they already operate utility infrastructure. difficult for us to offer. Those that do are the best structured to build and operate networks. BBC: Is that why so many municipalities are exploring public-private partnerships? BBC: What does Clearfield offer in the way of CB: Yes. The limitation for private carriers “help and assistance”? is that there’s only so much capex to
44 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 go around, so they will deploy came back with a recommendation If you can separate the network networks in the most profitable of “No” because the municipality builder from the operator, that communities. But if the localities would not get the take rates to be expands the pool of operators can do the financing, manage the viable. … Sometimes a municipal beyond utility providers. Cities are rights of way and permitting, and network is appropriate, and good at building infrastructure then open up the networks for sometimes it’s not. There has to be a and at tax financing – those are private operation, we believe that responsible assessment of how these advantages they can leverage. By can be the best of both worlds. networks can be profitable. We work with national carriers, laying separate fibers, they avoid too, and we see that they want BBC: How can municipalities encourage the other challenges of open access. to dictate the terms of these competition on their networks? Providers don’t have to share fiber, partnerships. Municipalities have CB: Personally, I believe that putting and they have autonomy. to stick to their guns a little bit. separate fibers in the same trench The biggest challenge is with When a private carrier wants to be is the best model because it allows video service, because without scale the sole provider on a municipal providers to have control over their it’s difficult to be competitive. … planning. The most expensive part network, that’s the line that needs There are two ways to deal with it: to be defined. That’s the challenge of the build is connecting homes … Either be a renegade and work with in front of us. but even there, a city can lay 1-inch over-the-top video, or be transparent There will be different models conduit in the ground all the way for partnerships, but there still to the premises and allow multiple about programming costs and help have to be general standards. providers to use it. Service providers create a consumer backlash. A lot For example, Seattle did a study can lay pushable fiber or additional of municipal providers find they about whether it should have a microduct inside the conduit to can’t compete without a bundle that municipally funded network and leverage the city’s deployment. includes video.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 45 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
How FTTH Helps Communities The FCC asked, in a recent inquiry, The town owns LeverettNet, a educational operations. whether communities that have last-mile, gigabit, fiber-to-the-home The availability of LeverettNet also wireless access of 10 Mbps/1 Mbps network it constructed to connect all improved the business climate in town, should be considered well-served in residents to the internet. The town allowing existing businesses to expand terms of broadband. Though this contracts with third parties to provide and new businesses to open. Further, new approach could “solve” the rural network operator, internet service the availability of high-speed broadband broadband problem at the stroke of a provider and maintenance services, the improved real estate and rental markets. pen, communities have not responded costs of which are borne by subscribers. In short, the deployment of advanced positively. The town of Leverett, Prior to construction of telecommunications technology through Massachusetts, submitted the following LeverettNet, Leverett residents had a public-private broadband partnership comment to the FCC (edited slightly): only limited internet access via satellite transformed the Leverett community. and DSL, both of which impose severe “Advanced telecommunications” Leverett is a rural community limits on connection capacity and – as the statutory definition states – in Western Massachusetts, with a speed. These limits constituted a serious “enables users to originate and receive population of nearly 2,000 in about impediment to public safety – police, high-quality voice, data, graphics, and 800 households in 22.7 square miles, fire, and highway – as well as to the video telecommunications.” In our approximately 88 persons per square town school and library. LeverettNet experience, the emphasis on “originate mile. greatly enhanced public safety and and receive” has special importance for businesses – home-based and telecommuting – that work with large data, graphics, and video transmissions. Leverett Congregational Church, Mobile access, especially as subject to one of the historic buildings in Leverett throttling of download speed, limited upload speed and data caps, cannot provide sufficient internet access to sustain information entrepreneurs. (Photo credit: John Phelan) John credit: (Photo A telecommunications system deserving the label “advanced” provides symmetrical speeds so that uploads and downloads receive equal treatment. A system that prioritizes download, though it may currently suffice for consumers of information, will not serve those who produce information. Information producers working in Leverett, including CGI services, authors, software engineers, graphic artists, etc., require symmetrical high-speed internet access. Indeed, LeverettNet makes it possible for these entrepreneurs to work in Leverett at all. In short, an equation of mobile and fixed telecommunication technologies fails to recognize needs of information producers and restricts future development of information work and businesses. Encouragement and support of network technologies adequate to the needs of information producers have special significance in ensuring economic and demographic viability of rural areas like Leverett, where “brick-and mortar” businesses cannot be sustained.
46 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Fort Morgan, Colorado, Launches Fiber Project “The city government has always operated on exceptional potential customers. That shouldn’t be a hard sell. Businesses, customer service,” says Brent Nation, water resources especially, “are just dying to get hooked up to something and utilities director for Fort Morgan, a city of 11,000 in faster than what they have right now,” Nation says. The city northeastern Colorado. That’s why the city council didn’t like will prioritize connecting business districts, to the extent that what it heard when it began renegotiating its cable franchise that makes sense from a construction standpoint. However, agreement in 2015. Citizens were unhappy – and vocal – Nation points out that many businesses are as concerned about the poor quality of the service and the low internet about the connectivity their employees can get at home as speeds that incumbent providers offered. they are about the connectivity to their offices. “So many Fortunately, Fort Morgan had options. An institutional people want to telecommute,” he says. fiber network was already in place, started about 15 years ago The city hopes to have its first customers online in six to under a state program called the Beanpole Project. By 2015, eight months. “I’m getting very excited about this as we start the network reached all the city offices and utility substations, to see the finish line,” Nation says. “I hope it will go along as providing gigabit speeds internally. In addition, the city smoothly as it has so far.” v was one of the first to vote to exempt itself from Colorado Senate Bill 152, a 2005 law that prevents municipalities from creating their own broadband networks; that vote authorized it to take matters into its own hands. It had even studied the feasibility of providing broadband to residents. During the cable franchise negotiations, the city council heard about the fiber-to-the-home network that Longmont, a larger city about 80 miles away, had installed, and dispatched
Nation to meet with and learn from the Longmont team. After visiting Longmont, attending trade shows and researching fiber optics, Nation recommended that Fort Morgan build a citywide fiber-to-the-home network. The city engaged Manweiler Telecom to begin designing the system in 2016, and in 2017, it budgeted $2.3 million for the backbone phase of the project, which is now complete. However, unlike Longmont, which operates its own network, Fort Morgan preferred to contract out to a private provider. While it built the fiber backbone, it issued an RFI looking for a private partner. Its preferred model is similar to Huntsville’s (see p. 40), in which the city owns the infrastructure up to the property lines, and the private partner installs the drop cables and provides services. However, Fort Morgan expects to have only a single private partner under a time-limited contract.
A FAST-MOVING PROJECT Six companies responded to the RFI, and in August, the city announced it would begin negotiations with Allo Communications, a company that provides FTTH services in Nebraska. Negotiations are still ongoing. If the city can’t reach a satisfactory arrangement with Allo or another company, it is willing to become the network operator and ISP, Nation says. Like Huntsville, Fort Morgan plans to allocate funds from its debt-free electric utility to pay for the entire network (or whatever portion of it is not funded by the private partner). The city council could opt at a later date to pay back the electric utility, but because the network is used primarily to manage the electric grid, it isn’t required to do that. Once Fort Morgan has a contract with a service provider, it will work with the partner to promote the network to
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Engaging the Community
Generating community support for a broadband project is critical for its success.
By Bob Knight / Harrison Edwards
mericans love their internet. They want community activists, veterans and senior to be connected at home, at work, groups. Identify the groups that make your Ain stores, in their cars, on farms and community tick. Remember, stakeholders even in the subway. They want to connect the can become your champions! things they use – cars, appliances, roadways and 2. Identify stakeholders’ concerns and pacemakers – to the internet, too. The future issues. Doing this helps you know how depends on it. Continuous connectivity breeds broadband deployment will specifically innovative technologies that can make life benefit each group. How will you know better, safer and more fruitful. what they’re thinking? Just listen. Are you Why, then, is there public resistance to speaking at people or are you listening? Find broadband deployment? out each stakeholder group’s pain points and Communities tend to object to broadband projects because they don’t want their tax hopes. A strategic communications plan is dollars to fund them; they are fearful of seeing based on that information. more wires, boxes and cells in their towns and 3. Create a message map. This is where neighborhoods; and they feel like pawns with the rubber meets the road. Now that you’ve no say in what will happen. heard what your stakeholder groups have to Simply put, communities need to be say, create messages and marketing tactics educated about broadband projects to achieve that will resonate. The success or failure of buy-in and political will. But educating a the project can hinge on communicating the community is not so simple. Engineering right messages. consent requires perseverance and a strategic 4. Choose your tools. There are many communications plan, but the payoff is big. marketing tools – meetings, press releases, Public support puts wind in the sails of ads, social media, digital marketing, events broadband projects, as officials and regulators – and they all work. Which tools you are influenced by the people they answer to – should use depends on your overall strategy. the public. Remember to lead with your strategy, Though each strategic communications plan not with your tactics (tools). Too many needs to be tailored to its specific community communities take tactical approaches, such and circumstances, certain basics should be as producing a one-off event or issuing a followed, no matter whether the deployer is press release, and ignore the bigger picture. a private company, a government entity or a Then they wonder why they have trouble public-private partnership. driving broadband projects forward. 1. Identify your stakeholders. The “public” 5. Promote continual, two-way is a broad term that includes multiple conversations. Do you have a project subgroups. Stakeholders may be public website? A Facebook page? Do you have key officials, business leaders, educators, parents, details and FAQs that are easily accessible?
48 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Do you measure social sentiment? firms have sophisticated analytics and all require some form of public Do you provide enough information to measure these things. If your approval, how public officials look upon about the project in a timely fashion? tactics are not working, then it may your project will be influenced, in large The key is to keep people engaged. be time to sharpen the message or part, by the people they answer to – the 6. Counter opposition messaging. update it altogether. Build on what’s public. How you engage the public can This is a biggie. Every project has working well, and revise what isn’t. make or break a project. naysayers. Whenever public funding 8. Share Your Success! Once you’ve Remember, most community is considered, public rights of way sold the project internally and things members don’t focus on digital are in play, or there are obvious are moving forward, let the world infrastructure or the need to compete winners and losers, there will be know. By upgrading your digital in the new economy. They focus opposition. And the opposition infrastructure, you are positioning on what’s important to them. By can have some sharp, effective your community for tremendous engaging the community, you help messaging, so be prepared. Tell your economic, social and civic success. bridge the community’s interest story positively, and arm yourself When you share the news, you with the very digital infrastructure with facts. In times of trouble, ask will reach those who may want to you seek to grow or create. The right these questions: Is your message collaborate with your community or, strategic communications plan and its clear? Is your message timely, better yet, invest in your community. execution will provide education and especially in the social media era? Chattanooga, Tennessee, is an awareness to help move your project If you are gun-shy about speaking example. Since launching its forward. Community stakeholder to the media to tell your story, are citywide gigabit-speed network, the engagement will build demand and you prepared to allow others to city has attracted $11 billion worth generate strong political will and tell it for you? You can be sure that of economic development to its support. Deployment will improve if the opposition is well funded, downtown. That could be you! With one aspect of communication, but it will work with sophisticated a fiber network, your community before that happens, another kind of communications teams to sabotage is now attractive to companies such communication has to take place. v your chances of success. as Amazon, which is seeking to site 7. Continually measure, evaluate offices in communities with high- Bob Knight is executive vice president and adjust. Set a timeline and speed broadband. Don’t keep your and chief operating officer of Harrison project benchmarks. Ask yourself success a secret! Edwards, a strategic communications whether your messages are landing. Essentially, deployment of high- firm based in Armonk, New York, that How’s your social media sentiment? speed broadband depends on two specializes in economic development, Is your project receiving positive things: funding and regulatory approval. government, health care and fiber/ media coverage? Is your project Because many projects these days small-cell deployment. Contact Bob at moving forward? Communications involve some form of public financing [email protected].
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Planning for Poles
Too many fiber network projects fail because deployers make unrealistic assumptions about pole attachments. Don’t let that happen to your project!
By Ken Demlow / NewCom Technologies
very potential fiber project has many In some projects we have seen, would-be critical steps, and each step has many attachers just assumed that attaching their Eimportant details. Before construction cables would be easy and inexpensive. They starts, there can be months of activity – relied on aerial costs in the construction surveys, current provider analysis, meetings, estimates for their business modeling and needs analysis, peering option exploration, funding commitments. When it came time to data gathering, cost estimation, vendor input, do the project, they ran into problems. financial modeling, operational decisions, open Here are some examples: access decisions, legal opinions, political will determination, funding options and more. • One municipality built its aerial costs on Doing the work necessary in each step is poles owned by a cooperative. For several important to the success of the project. reasons, the cooperative wasn’t allowing However, one subject has been overlooked anyone to attach new cables to its poles. in so many projects NewCom has seen that it So the municipality planned on about 90 needs to be highlighted: poles. Yes, poles. percent aerial construction and found that In the good old days (not that long ago), at most 10 percent would be possible. The if someone needed to attach communications project was never started. cables to someone else’s poles, the process • Another provider wanted to run fiber in was usually quick and informal, and the an area that had a very high rock table. communications company could start attaching Therefore, it saw aerial construction as its cables fairly quickly. There weren’t many necessary. The local electric utility, which attachers, and the pole owners knew what was owned the majority of the poles, developed on their poles already, so a handshake (and a very stringent process and attachment maybe a piece of paper) was exchanged, and guidelines. The process included having to communications cables went up. model every pole in pole modeling software. That still happens in some places – but not The costs to attach became very high – nearly as often as it used to. including having to replace a significant percentage of the poles. • A municipality, in its financing and business models, counted on using poles that belonged to several other owners. In Pole owners may not allow new attachers the detailed design stage, it found out there at all, or they may impose onerous, just wasn’t room on many of the poles. The municipality’s options were to replace poles expensive requirements. or go underground. It had not factored any
50 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 of those costs into its plans. When it reran the numbers, it didn’t think the project was feasible. • A municipality found it had more pole owners to deal with, crossings were more expensive and approvals took longer than anticipated. The project succeeded but was more time-consuming and costly than expected. From the pole owners’ perspective, the process isn’t as simple as it used to be. They have aging infrastructure. More companies are requesting to attach cables to their poles. In many cases, they are forced to develop a consistent, thorough process for deciding who can attach cables. All those things cost money and require additional personnel. Typically, pole owners have contracts with existing attachers. This causes problems in large projects when existing attachers must move cables to allow for a new attacher. Sometimes, coordinating crews of six different attachers can add months to a schedule. In one case, a community decided to pass a one-touch law that assigned one contractor to do all the attaching and moving. The municipal electric utility (which owned With the growth of telecommunications the poles) then revealed that some of networks, some utility poles are its contracts stipulated that only the becoming overcrowded. attacher’s union crews would move their attachments. Which takes precedence, a city council vote or a contract with the municipal utility? The courts are sorting • Analyze the route as part of the relevant pole owners and crossings. that out. feasibility study, and make sure Gather the following critical details: Easements are another consideration. there is real documentation that can – Is the pole owner willing to add Pole owners have easements for placing be used later. This documentation attachers? poles for their own use. However, should specify which parts of the – Is there room on the poles to their easements do not cover cables or route will likely be overhead and attach new cables? attachments of other owners. Therefore, which will likely be underground. the attachers or providers are responsible For aerial segments, identify the – Are there requests from other for negotiating easements – not the pole poles and their owners. Having potential attachers that could owners. Even a municipal or cooperative this information in a format that take the space you need? electric company that wants to deliver can be used later can save time and – What is the pole owner’s broadband services may find it can’t money if the project moves forward. attachment process? What do the legally use its own poles for this purpose In our experience, GIS is one of pole applications look like, how without negotiating new easements. the most usable formats for storing long do they take to review and Based on experience in many information during early phases. how stringent is the analysis? projects across the United States, Because GIS makes changing and – What fees does the pole owner NewCom recommends taking the adding data easy, the original map charge? following actions before beginning a can be used throughout the project. – What is the timeline for fiber project: • In the route analysis, identify the attachment?
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 51 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
– How many poles might need to one-touch attachment? In be so important to the project costs be replaced? some projects, the time it that failing to perform this analysis • Make sure the costs associated with takes to coordinate all the can render your project financially attaching cables are defined and current attachers moving their unfeasible. It is much better to know part of your financial forecasts. attachments on each pole can these impacts during the feasibility Some questions to consider include be a concern. If a one-touch study than when everything else is done rule would be beneficial, there and you want to start construction. – Will you be responsible for could be issues such as existing Hoping that pole owners will still doing the pole analysis. If so, contracts with attachers, union operate as they did several years ago is how much will that cost? rules about who can do that quicker, easier and less costly up front. – What are the pole owner’s work and so forth. But that approach can add significant attachment guidelines? Will they • Make sure you have the proper costs later and cause financial problems add significant costs? – eating up cash that wasn’t budgeted – Does the owner require pole easements. Hiring an easement for or even making the project modeling? If so, does it require expert to give you some idea of unachievable. v using specific software? what will be necessary can be an – Can the poles be accessed for important step in making sure this survey, analysis and construction? is properly accounted for in your Ken Demlow is national business – Who pays if a pole needs to be feasibility study. development manager for replaced (either because of an Doing all these tasks in advance of NewCom Technologies, which performs existing problem or because your or as part of your feasibility study is engineering services and network data fiber overloads it)? very important. The answers to these management for the telecommunications – Is the project big enough questions can significantly affect the industry. Contact Ken at kdemlow@ to warrant a discussion of project’s feasibility. Pole issues can Newcomtech.com.
52 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Did you like this article? Subscribe here!
COMMUNITY BROADBAND
Feasibility Studies for Municipal Broadband
What communities should do during the planning phase of a broadband project – and what they can save for later
By Lori Sherwood / Vantage Point Solutions
hen it comes to developing and public funds or seeking private investment to expanding municipal broadband support a municipal network, municipal leaders Wnetworks, there is no one-size-fits-all must understand the problem or problems a model. Proper planning is crucial to the success network might solve. of any network deployment. However, not all broadband planning is equal; some planning ELEMENTS OF A FEASIBILITY STUDY processes may even be counterproductive. A feasibility process should focus on the Many communities borrow planning outlines following seven elements. Note that not all from requests for proposals (RFPs) that other these activities may be necessary for every communities have issued and that address needs planning study – this process can be streamlined specific to the original community. This results depending on the needs of the community, in their spending time and resources on tasks existing community assets and any prior that do not match their values and priorities. planning work that has been completed. Worse, this one-size-fits-all approach to 1. Reaching Out to Stakeholders planning can lead a feasibility process into a cycle Identifying all the key stakeholders in of never-ending discussions, research requests a community and ensuring that they and multiple partnership solicitations. Not every are included in the process from the plan will (or should!) result in a full municipal very beginning is critically important. network deployment, but a poor feasibility study Outreach can be accomplished through will inevitably halt even a good, viable potential individual or group meetings and should project in its tracks. Understanding feasibility include representatives from K–12 schools, study best practices will help a municipality of universities, the library system, public any size complete a proper feasibility study. safety agencies, the health care and business As your community considers undertaking communities, active community groups, a feasibility study, the fundamental question to elected officials and others. This outreach keep in mind is this: What problem or problems is critical to uncover potential assets and are you are trying to solve? Are you trying to financial resources and to gauge the current bring broadband to parts of your community and future needs in the community. that are unserved or underserved? Do you have a digital equity and utilization problem? Are 2. Understanding the Existing consumers in your community dissatisfied with Infrastructure their current internet provider? Are you trying A community may or may not have assets to solve all these problems? Before committing that could be used to deploy a broadband
54 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 network. Municipalities that needed to accurately identify all whether a municipal broadband own electric utilities are often at existing infrastructure, and this is system is feasible and demonstrating an advantage for developing a more cost effective and better done the validity of the feasibility study. broadband network because they can during the engineering phase. leverage and utilize existing public 4. Engaging With Potential infrastructure to offset deployment 3. Conducting Market Research Providers costs. Municipalities without If a community has one or more Identifying and engaging any and in-house utilities often struggle to existing providers, another all potential provider-partners is leverage private infrastructure either important question is whether it can an important step in determining because it isn’t available to be leased realistically support a new provider. municipal network feasibility. This or does not exist at all. In other words, if the community is engagement often occurs through It may be tempting, in the early considering a residential network, informal discussions. In this effort, stages of a planning study, to try to are enough residents interested communities should not hesitate map all existing assets. However, this in switching providers that a to look beyond the traditional is often an exercise in frustration, municipal network could obtain incumbent providers to local as incumbents do not generally sufficient subscription numbers telephone companies, cooperative volunteer maps of their infrastructure (“take rates”) to meet the realities utilities, ISPs and others. This will or promise to lease the infrastructure. of operational demand? The answer help identify any potential providers Creating a comprehensive map can to this question can be determined early in the process and gauge the be very costly, and the money is only with market demand research. likelihood that a private sector wasted if the existing assets are not If the answer is no, a fiber-to-the- partner may be willing to contribute available to be leveraged. home network is not viable. The financial resources. To assist in this The planning phase should take a data gathered through this research step, some communities have issued high-level snapshot of existing assets. is critical for understanding the requests for information (RFIs) to However, boots on the ground are residential marketplace, concluding solicit proposals from interested
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 55 COMMUNITY BROADBAND
providers. This process, though, in the feasibility process before cost their feasibility studies – and the can be costly in terms of time and analysis, business planning and plans, lacking the details available resources and may lead to delays in financing evaluation can take place. later in the process, inevitably end up sitting on a shelf. Although a completing the feasibility process. 6. Conducting a Cost Analysis and See the sidebar for more information community should not undertake Business Plan a network deployment without a about RFI best practices. A thorough cost analysis will provide comprehensive business plan, it critical information regarding 5. Determining a Model and can create a high-level cost analysis network capital expenditure Network Design without many later-stage details estimates, financial forecasts, in place. A community should apply all the pro formas and more. However, data gathered in this process to a municipality should develop a 7. Evaluating Financing and actively explore different models comprehensive business plan only Funding Availability and potential network designs. For after it selects a model. Developing Money! Money! Money! Finding a example, if a market demand survey multiple business plans during the partner willing to completely fund finds that an FTTP network is not planning phase is far too costly, and a new network is very unusual. It is if a community is going to work viable, then a different network also uncommon for a community with a private partner, any business to obtain federal or other grant model and design will be necessary. plan should be conducted with the funds (unless the community is Fundamental questions must be partner to ensure accuracy. an internet service provider, plans answered about network ownership, Communities, with good to become one or partners with management and operation. All intentions, often commission one) to finance a network build. these questions must be explored business plans in the early stages of Thus, a community should know how much, if any, funding (bonds, general funds and so forth) it can contribute to a network build. This will help determine a model as well – particularly if the answer is “little TO RFI, OR NOT TO RFI? PROS AND CONS to nothing.” Though sometimes Recently, many communities have issued RFIs seeking proposals from uncomfortable, the funding providers that may be interested in establishing public-private partnerships question must be tackled head-on. (PPPs). Though the RFI process can assist in drawing out interested parties, it Keep in mind that broadband can also create substantial delays that can stall or derail a project. planning is a collaborative, dynamic For example, RFIs that are overly broad and open-ended make it process with multiple phases. difficult for vendors to know how to accurately respond. On the other Communities should not enter hand, RFIs that are too narrow or demand too much may be difficult into the planning phase with a for vendors to satisfy. As a result, vendors are likely to submit proposals predetermined conclusion but rather with an openness to creative that are completely different from one another, making them difficult to partnerships, solutions and models. compare and evaluate. There have been many instances in which, based Community leaders should maintain on information learned through a lengthy evaluation and interview realistic expectations and avoid process, a community has had to cancel an original RFI and start over by the temptation to spend money reissuing a new RFI with a revised scope. on Band-Aid solutions. Network In addition, putting together a proper bid for a PPP takes a considerable solutions – and the feasibility studies amount of time and effort on the part of a vendor. Vendors understand that that guide them – should be tailored an RFI process does not necessarily lead to an RFP or a contract. If an RFI is to the unique needs, priorities perceived solely as an information-gathering exercise, a vendor may not and values of each community. want to invest in developing a serious proposal. In this case, an otherwise Conducting a feasibility process that interested provider may be deterred from submitting a proposal. asks the right questions of the right One thing to keep in mind is that PPPs are very difficult to establish, parties will direct a community particularly for smaller communities. In many cases, a PPP will not be a down the right path – and provide viable option for a community, particularly if there are multiple existing the right solution. v incumbents or if the financial projections do not enable the provider to profit and generate a return on the investment. Before investing the time and money in an RFI process, consider holding informal meetings Lori Sherwood is director of broadband with potentially interested local and national providers. Gather as much development for Vantage Point Solutions, information as you can before starting the RFI process. And remember – a broadband and telecommunications the key word is “partner.” A community that pursues a PPP needs to enter engineering and consulting company based the RFI process willing to be a partner. in Mitchell, South Dakota. Contact Lori at [email protected].
56 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Did you like this article? Subscribe here! Don’t get left behind Make the GIG+ Leap Consumer demand for bandwidth is unprecedented. Are you ready?
Consumers are asking more from their service providers than ever before. Will you be able to support the growing demand for this critical service? Progressive communities are deploying Gigabit services to stay a step ahead of bandwidth demand, drive economic development and deliver an unmatched Contact us at broadband experience for customers. calix.com/gigabit to see Calix is the leading enabler of gigabit communities in North how we can help you America with thousands of communities deployed by customers deliver gigabit services who are already benefiting from making the “gig” leap. to your community. COMMUNITY BROADBAND SPOTLIGHT
Companies Whose Offerings Support Fiber for the New Economy
ADTRAN Calix www.adtran.com/broadband www.calix.com
Broadband transforms communities, rebuilds urban centers, revitalizes schools, stimulates economic growth and delivers innovative residential and business services. Uniquely open Calix is a global leader in platform innovations for access and interoperable fiber optic–based access architectures networks and a leading provider of fiber access platforms and enable service providers to expand their addressable markets cloud services. Municipalities and utilities worldwide leverage and support the scale needed to unify gigabit services across Calix fiber access expertise to become the broadband service residential broadband, cloud connectivity and infrastructure providers of choice to their subscribers. Visit www.calix.com backhaul applications. for more information. Learn more at adtran.com/broadband Charles Industries Advanced Broadband Supply www.charlesindustries.com www.advancedbroadbandsupply.com
Charles Industries designs and manufactures fiber enclosure solutions for today’s flexible, adaptable optic networks serving the new economy. Charles’ indoor and outdoor cabinets, terminals, hubs, shrouds and handholes improve productivity, quality and profitability by offering a multitude of enclosure solutions that support the many different deployment Advanced Broadband Supply is FTTX Central, stocking all options available to service providers. With the flexibility your fiber connectivity needs with hardline and drop fiber, several drop enclosures for outside plant and MDUs, various to accommodate many different fiber types, adapters and types of PLC splitters, fast connectors, fiber rosettes, patch splicing methods, Charles’ innovative enclosure solutions panels, ODFs, cleaning supplies, tools and test equipment. are relied on to meet demanding deployment schedules, In addition, we have all your HFC and DOCSIS products in lower labor and material costs, and provide years of reliable stock. We have all your fiber network products from HFC to protection of mission-critical equipment placements. GPON, including cable modems, amplifiers, optical nodes and much more. We are here to simplify the purchasing process with prompt and professional service. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
58 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Clearfield COS Systems www.SeeClearfield.com www.cossystems.com Clearfield is the COS Business Engine, Fiber to the Anywhere continuously developed company – with a Fiber since 2007 and used to to the Anywhere product operate more than 100 platform. Rather than a open access networks, predetermined, scripted is now available in an solution, “Solve for inexpensive cloud X” is the Clearfield hosted version perfect promise of a product for municipal networks as design methodology well as operators of multiple networks. This proven business that addresses your unique requirements while providing the and operations support system also supports single-provider lowest total cost of ownership. networks, but it is built from the ground up to manage Offering a streamlined, practical approach when it the complexity of multiple providers that offer any kind of comes to the distribution, consolidation, management services on a joint network infrastructure. It comes with a and protection of fiber, Clearfield’s line of panels, frames customizable online marketplace in which subscribers can and cabinets, optical components and full range of fiber browse the assortment of providers and services and easily optic assemblies and patch cords are designed for scalable order online. To make the operator efficient and to create deployment, craft-friendly operation and unsurpassed happier ISPs and subscribers, COS Business Engine enables performance. self-service by allowing ISPs access into the system to edit Clearfield’s FieldShield fiber delivery system delivers a their service offerings, and provides subscribers with their simple, fast fiber pathway through all points of the network own “My Pages” where they can manage their services. In to provide a total end-to-end solution. FieldShield pushable this comprehensive solution, provisioning is simplified, and fiber, microduct, terminals and last-mile drop technologies wholesale billing is solved by auto-generated billing reports. are saving providers time and money with labor-lite designs that reduce labor and skill at installation and at the pre- GLDS engineering stage. www.glds.com Since 1980, GLDS has Corning helped small operators look www.corning.com/opcomm big by providing reliable, Corning is one of the full-featured billing and world’s leading innovators management software at in materials science. For affordable prices – including more than 160 years, cloud-based services that we have applied our operators can use with unparalleled expertise little server investment. in specialty glass, Partnering with major ceramics and optical equipment suppliers worldwide, GLDS supports FTTH, physics to develop IPTV, DOCSIS, OTT, LTE, TVE, cloud service, wireless, products that have satellite, mobile payments and legacy delivery systems. It created new industries has installed solutions for more than 400 small to mid- and transformed size broadband operators, including FTTH, cable, satellite people’s lives. Our Optical Communications division delivers and wireless operators that range in size from startups to connectivity to every edge of the network, from optical fiber, providers with more than 400,000 customers. GLDS has cable, hardware and equipment to fully optimized solutions offices in Carlsbad, California; Beaver Dam, Wisconsin; for high-speed communications networks. Visit us at www. and Kaunas, Lithuania, but it operates in 49 U.S. states and corning.com/opcomm. 45 countries worldwide. Key products include BroadHub (formerly WinCable) for customer management and billing, and SuperController for multiservice automated provisioning. WinForce tech, a mobile workforce management platform, empowers field techs with tools previously available only to office staff. Available in native Android and browser-based platforms, WinForce tech is fully integrated with BroadHub.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 59 COMMUNITY BROADBAND SPOTLIGHT
MaxCell Pavlov Media www.maxcell.us www.pavlovmedia.com/ MaxCell conduit Founded more than 20 maximization years ago, Pavlov Media solutions will help is the largest private you deploy your fiber provider of broadband network efficiently services in the off-campus while maximizing student housing space. your network infrastructure: The Champaign, Illinois- based company provides • MaxCell Edge features a new patented fabric design a variety of IP services, including broadband, leasing office and 1250# VisGlide rope in each cell, both of which support and cable television. Currently, Pavlov Media serves reduce pulling tension when installing cables. With its nearly 200 communities in 43 states and Canada, and by the new orange color, MaxCell Edge is more visible in your end of this year, the company will support 145,000 beds. network. The company is the only MDU provider that offers a • MaxSpace is a patented no-dig service that safely removes national network backbone with 15 data centers and fiber existing innerduct from around active fiber optic cables optic services. Additionally, Pavlov Media is directly peered with virtually no load on the cables and no interruption with more than 170 content providers, which gives its of service. Up to 90 percent of conduit space is recovered, communities direct access to the most popular content and allowing up to nine more cables to be placed in a conduit improved performance. that was once considered to be full. Pavlov Media has put several properties in direct • MaxCell is the only flexible fabric innerduct system connection to its fiber optic networks in across the country, designed to conform to the shape of cables placed within. including Champaign, Illinois; Statesboro, Georgia; Network operators that use MaxCell can increase their Starkville, Mississippi; and Lubbock, Huntsville and Waco, cable density by as much as 300 percent. Texas. The direct connection provides gigabit internet capability and removes bandwidth circuit issues that are often Visit www.maxcell.us for more information. experienced through third-party providers. The company continues to expand its national backbone, National Information Solutions Cooperative (NiSC) including recently launching new locations in Los Angeles www.nisc.coop and Texas, and it plans to add fiber optic services in several additional communities. National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) is an information technology organization that develops, Preformed Line Products implements and supports www.preformed.com software and hardware solutions for our members/ customers. We deliver advanced solutions, services and support to more than 820 independent telephone companies, Since 1947, Preformed Line Products has produced products that perform better, last longer and are easier to install. You electric cooperatives and other public power entities. can count on Preformed Line Products to provide high- NISC is an industry leader whose information technology quality solutions that meet the rigorous demands of today’s solutions include billing, accounting, operations, automated modern communications networks. We serve all segments of mailroom services, third-party integration and many other the communications industry, including telecommunications solutions. With facilities in Mandan, North Dakota; Lake network operators, cable television and broadband service Saint Louis, Missouri; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Shawano, providers, corporations and enterprise networks, government Wisconsin, NISC and its subsidiaries employ more than 1,100 departments and agencies and educational institutions. professionals in the four locations. Additional information PLP offers such innovative product solutions as the can be found at www.nisc.coop. COYOTE family of fiber optic splice closures, organizers and trays and the ARMADILLO family of copper splice closures and accessories. The reliability of our full line of fiber optic, copper, demarcation, bonding, strand and cable solutions, combined with our knowledgeable sales team, training and technical support services, make Preformed Line Products the connection you can count on.
60 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Spectrum Community Solutions Thermo Bond Buildings www.Spectrumcommunitysolutions.com www.thermobond.com
Spectrum Community Solutions is dedicated to the multifamily industry. By providing customized Wi-Fi, TV and voice solutions, we partner with multifamily housing In business for four decades, Thermo Bond Buildings has professionals to enable them to exceed their goals and provided buildings for thousands of companies, including enhance their businesses. Spectrum Community Solutions eight of the 10 largest market cap companies in the United integrates superior entertainment and communications States. We manufacture turnkey FTTH and ILA buildings products with dedicated 24/7 customer and technical and are quickly becoming the nation’s leader in modular data centers. We offer lightweight, metal and concrete solutions in support, helping property owners attract and retain more virtually any size to support your equipment. Our lightweight residents and increase property value. buildings feature composite fiberglass aggregate siding or a With scalable fiber connections that serve enterprise-grade variety of architectural finishes. For applications that require managed Wi-Fi, each resident can stream video, download a hardened facility, Thermo Bond’s precast concrete buildings music, upload photos and more from their portable devices are naturally resistant to bullets, vandals and fire. We offer everywhere on the property. We also provide tools that enable either standard or fully integrated buildings built to your property managers to evaluate the performance of their specifications. Our experienced technicians and licensed network amenities and leverage access to the amenities to electricians can lower your overall site costs by engineering, drive improved operational and financial efficiencies. procuring and installing your specialized equipment. We also factory test all equipment to ensure quality and Synergy Fiber reliability. Thermo Bond provides quality workmanship, www.synergyfiber.com friendly customer service, flexible integration capabilities and dependable, on-time delivery.
XFINITY Communities www.xfinity.com/xfinitycommunities
Synergy Fiber, established in 1998, has the industry XFINITY Communities provides your property and experience and knowhow to offer you an excellent return on residents with a better network, better entertainment and your investment. We are MDU technology experts and have better service. With fiber-based custom network solutions, a one-of-a-kind interactive TV experience with XFINITY an impressive portfolio of managed properties. X1, and our new dedicated property support, we provide an Our proprietary, industry-leading network has the end-to-end service that simply translates to better living. Our physical infrastructure required to deliver tomorrow’s Advanced Communities Network (ACN) – a fiber network communications services today. We use the most up-to-date solution that provides your properties with gigabit speeds – technology for all the services provided and we can easily can help attract new residents while giving existing residents adapt our resources to accommodate the unique needs of your what they want. Plus, at Comcast, we’re driven to create the property. We provide a dedicated product and commit to a best entertainment and online experiences for your residents 99.999 percent uptime for dedicated fiber and 99.99 percent – from X1 to the fastest in-home Wi-Fi, and more. And or greater uptime for distribution and core. just as you strive to give your residents a superior customer We help clients by providing a solution that is scalable and experience, we are dedicated to doing the same with new carrier neutral. You can rest easy knowing that you are not property-focused community account representatives (CARs), just relying on Synergy but following best practice network round-the-clock live support and a network monitored 24/7 guidelines that are readily available and documented. for consistent, reliable service. With XFINITY Communities, it just keeps getting better. v
Did you like this article? Subscribe here! OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 61 THE LAW
The Connect America Fund Reverse Auction
The FCC’s Connect America Phase II reverse auction gives competitive providers a shot at getting USF support to build broadband networks in unserved rural areas where incumbent providers have chosen not to build. The process is complicated – at best.
By Douglas Jarrett / Keller and Heckman LLP
n August 4, 2017, the FCC released accepted by ILECs under the 2015 statewide its public notice and technical offers – more than $1.5 billion per year – Oguidance outlining the structure expires. If the auction meets expectations in and procedures for the Connect America Fund terms of competitive bidding and deployment Phase II (CAF II) reverse auction (“the auction” of broadband networks, a reverse auction may or “Auction 903”). Up to $198 million per year be used to disburse that $1.5 billion in annual for 10 years of ongoing support (“the budget”) funding. for fixed broadband networks will be available Finalizing the auction principles took years, in the auction. as consensus among commissioners proved Auction 903 has generated extensive interest difficult to achieve. The FCC projects that the among diverse groups because it is open to auction will be conducted in 2018, as the online entities such as rural electric cooperatives, bidding system is now under construction. wireless internet service providers and Aspects of the proposed bidding procedures municipalities, not only to incumbent local may be modified based on comments filed in exchange carriers (ILECs). response to questions posed in the public notice, The areas included in Auction 903 are but the core components will be the previously principally those in the 2015 statewide adopted weights for broadband transmission offers declined by the price-cap ILECs and areas included in qualified, non-winning, speeds and latency; a single, multiple-round category 1 bids under the FCC’s rural reverse auction; and the budget. broadband experiments, subject to the FCC’s In the auction, bidders will compete against final determination of eligible census blocks, all other bidders looking to secure funding as discussed on page 63. The funds declined (“cross-area competition”) and against other by Verizon for New York state are being bidders placing bids for the same areas (“intra- distributed in conjunction with an auction being area competition”). administered by New York. Subject to several This article outlines a complicated, multistep important distinctions, the auction procedures process but does not address every aspect or will track those followed in the 2012 mobile permutation of the auction’s principles and broadband auction and those for the next mobile procedures. It is an introduction to the bidding broadband auction, referred to as MF-II. procedures as currently envisioned and to key The outcome of Auction 903 will set an concepts. The public notice and the technical important precedent. In four years, the funding guide total approximately 60 pages, and the
62 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 FCC will release at least one more RESERVE PRICES certifications required for all FCC public notice or decision prior to the The reserve price, or miminum bid, for applicants, and asks whether the entity auction. The FCC has conducted one each area will equal the average cost to is affiliated with other entities bidding in webinar already, will likely conduct provide broadband and voice services to the auction or is part of a joint-bidding others and may conduct a mock the unserved locations in each block of consortium. An applicant must also auction. In addition, prospective the census block group. There are two demonstrate its experience in operating bidders must familiarize themselves sets of census blocks: high-cost areas, for broadband or other networks, including with the buildout requirements and which the average cost exceeds $52.50 electric distribution networks, and show the rules governing the rates they can (the amount end users are expected that it has obtained a commitment from charge for broadband and voice services to pay) but is less than $198.60 per a qualified financial institution to issue made possible by support payments location, per month, and extremely obtained as winning bidders. a letter of credit (LOC) in an amount high-cost areas, for which the average equal to the funds the entity obtains as a CENSUS BLOCKS AND cost exceeds $198.60. The reserve price winning bidder. The LOC amount will for extremely high-cost locations is CENSUS BLOCK GROUPS increase each year as funds are disbursed capped at $146.10 per location per Census blocks and census block groups until the entity’s network is built out. At month ($198.60 minus $52.50). A are the geographical units upon which that time, the LOC can be terminated. separate program, the Remote Areas Auction 903 will be built. The FCC Each prospective bidder must also Fund, will support service to extremely selected census block groups as the disclose the kind of network it plans minimum bidding area. Census blocks high-cost areas for which there are no to deploy in terms of the transmission in which no service provider offers winning bids under Auction 903. speed tiers and latency measures set 10/1 Mbps fixed broadband service will be eligible for funding. The FCC will QUALIFICATIONS AND out in Table 1. To demonstrate that it release the final list of census blocks at SHORT-FORM APPLICATION will use the funds to serve all high-cost least three months prior to the auction, All applicants looking to bid in Auction and extremely high-cost locations, based on data from the latest Form 477 903 must file a short-form application each bidder must disclose a reasonably reports. Bids might not be placed for all with the FCC in advance of the auction. detailed network design and a business areas, and some areas for which bids are This form elicits information on the plan. The FCC staff will review these placed likely will not receive funding. bidder’s identity, includes the customary network and business plans and
CAF AUCTION 903: SUMMARY
• This auction will award $1.98 billion over 10 years to • Bids are weighted to favor networks with high connect underserved areas in which price-cap carriers bandwidth, high data caps and low latency. declined to build broadband, as well as some areas • Applicants have some flexibility to change the areas originally listed in the Rural Broadband Experiment. they bid for in each round. • The auction is open to all types of entities, public • If bidding areas overlap, the FCC has some flexibility and private, that have experience operating to reduce the sizes of bidding areas to eliminate networks and can meet other requirements. Bidding overlaps. consortia are allowed. • The second-price rule dictates that the winning • The minimum bidding area is a census block group, bidder actually receives the support payment bid but bidders can propose to serve multiple and by the runner-up. This saves bidders from having extended areas. to guess what others are going to bid. In addition, • The auction is a reverse auction, in which the bidders receive information to let them know how winning bidder is the one that requires the lowest close the budget is to clearing. amount of support funds. Bidders start high and • If two bidders bid equal amounts in the clearing bid lower in each round until the aggregate support round to serve the same area, bidding continues requested fits within the overall budget. for that area on an intra-area basis until a winner • Bidders cannot propose to receive more than the emerges. average connection cost for each census block (less • The successful bidder for each area must complete in extremely high-cost locations). a long-form application and obtain eligible • Bidders must demonstrate basic technical and telecommunications carrier status. financial competence.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 63 THE LAW Competitive providers can now win CAF support to Auction 903 bids, assigning the highest weights to bidders proposing to build broadband in high-cost rural areas networks having the lowest broadband transmission speeds and high latency where price-cap incumbents declined to build. technologies. Networks based on the highest transmission speed tier and the low latency category, typically fiber-based networks, will be given can request additional information bidding and because of the likelihood zero weights. (Having a lower weight if it identifies gaps. The staff’s final that multiple package bids could cover is an advantage.) Table 1 shows the performance tiers and latency categories. assessment will determine whether the same areas (overlapping bids). the applicant qualifies to participate The auction is described as a KEY CONCEPTS AND in the auction. multiround descending clock auction. BIDDING PROCESS Each applicant’s short-form Bidders must understand the bidding The weights, the budget and the application must disclose the state or procedures and the FCC’s criteria for likelihood of package bids with states in the which it plans to bid. There selecting winning bids to determine overlapping areas add complexity to is no restriction on the number of states their bottom-line bid amounts. The this descending clock auction. The and no maximum number of areas in auction is structured to incentivize FCC uses declining percentage bidding which an applicant can bid, although bidders to bid in each round. A bidder to normalize bids among entities whose the FCC asked whether a maximum can place bids for areas for which it did proposed networks have different should be established. An applicant is not bid in earlier rounds prior to the weights. In each round, the percentage not required to disclose the areas in clearing round, subject to a maximum of the available reserve price per area which it plans to bid. This short-form switching percentage. will decline at a defined decrement, application information will not be As in other auctions, the FCC will tentatively set at 10 percent, which the available to the public. allow multiparty bidding groups and FCC can also adjust between rounds. consortia, but applicants must disclose Entities can bid at the lowest BIDDING BASICS all members of a group in the short- percentage of each decrement – the A bidder can bid for a single area or form applications. Affiliates under so-called base clock percentage – or multiple areas. It can submit a separate common control will be subject to any intermediate point between the bid for each area, one or more bids for the same disclosure requirements. To base clock percentage and the previous multiple areas (referred to as package minimize collusion, only one party round’s base clock percentage. For bids), or a combination of single-area to a joint bidding arrangement or one example, if the base clock percentage and package bids. A bidder’s single-area affiliate can bid in a state. is 80 percent and the previous round’s and package bids cannot include the base clock percentage is 90 percent, same area. Package bids must be limited TRANSMISSION SPEED TIERS a bidder can bid anywhere from 80 to areas in a single state. As discussed AND LATENCY WEIGHTS percent to 89.99 percent. A bidder’s below, the FCC adopted rules for In February 2017, the FCC determined percentage bid is referred to as its package bids to prevent all-or-nothing the weights that would be added price point.
TABLE 1: WEIGHTS ASSIGNED TO PROPOSED BROADBAND NETWORKS
PERFORMANCE TIER SPEED USAGE ALLOWANCE WEIGHT Minimum 10/1 Mbps 150 gigabytes 65 Baseline 25/3 Mbps 150 gigabytes or U.S. median, whichever is higher 45 Above Baseline 100/20 Mbps 2 terabytes 15 Gigabit 1 Gbps/500 Mbps 2 terabytes 0
LATENCY THRESHOLDS WEIGHT Low ≤ 100 ms 0 High ≤ 750 ms and mean opinion score of 4 25
64 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 After each round, the bidding system Bidding continues for multiple rounds, with calculates the dollar value of each area bid. This is referred to as the implied bids declining in each round until the aggregate support amount. The weights and the bidder’s price point are the variables in across all areas fits within the overall budget cap. calculating the implied support amount for each bid. The FCC’s explanation, slightly paraphrased: For a given area and a given tier and Thus, in an area in which one Because of the likelihood that latency combination, the implied bidder proposes a network design with package bids may include some, annual support amount in a bid varies the maximum weight combination, but not all, areas included in single- with the price point and is calculated the opening clock percentage is set at area bids or in other package bids, using the following formula: 190 percent. If all bidders in an area the FCC adopted a mechanism to propose networks with the lowest prohibit “all or nothing” bids that implied support = min R, PP - (T + L) R { ( 100 ) } weight combination, the opening clock could limit competitive bidding or where percentage for that area is 100 percent. inadvertently exclude areas from the • R denotes the area’s reserve price Thus, the implied support amount for auction. Thus, all package bids must • T denotes the tier weight the bid that has the highest opening include a minimum scale condition: • L denotes the latency weight. clock percentage in an area declines a percentage of the sum of all implied For example, if two bidders propose more quickly in successive rounds than support amounts for the areas in the networks with different tier and latency the implied support amount for bids package. When placing a package bid, combinations and bid the same price that propose lower-weight networks. a bidder agrees to provide service (at point for an area, such as the base the specified performance tier and clock percentage, the implied support ACTIVITY AND SWITCHING latency) to all areas in the package or for the entity bidding the highest tier PERCENTAGE to a subset of areas determined by the and low latency combination (lowest Auction 903 is structured for bidders minimum scale percentage. The FCC weight) will have a higher implied to bid in each round. This is achieved is considering setting a minimum scale support amount. by setting an activity metric. A bidder’s percentage at 80 percent, requesting At the end of each round, the activity equals the implied support comment on what this percentage bidding system sums up the highest amounts for all areas for which it bids should be. implied support amounts for each area during a round. A bidder’s activity The subset of areas awarded to a (or the implied support amount for declines in each round. To provide package-area bidder may not correspond the only bid in an area) to determine some flexibility, a bidder can bid in to the bidder’s priority of preferred whether the total clears the budget – areas in which it did not bid in prior census block groups. Table 2, adapted that is, whether the aggregate of rounds, up to the switching percentage, from the FCC’s technical guidance implied support amounts for all bids which is tentatively set at 10 percent of document, illustrates this point. is at or below the budget of $198.0 the bidder’s activity. However, a bidder Areas in package bids are assigned million x 10. If not, bidding continues cannot bid in a round if it did not bid per the principles outlined below to the next round and so on until the at all in the previous round. for single-area bids, subject to the budget clears. The round in which qualification that the uncontested PACKAGE BIDS the budget clears is referred to as the areas in the package bid must meet the clearing round. Recognizing that most bidders will minimum scale percentage. Unassigned The opening clock percentage for prefer to provide service to large areas in a (partial) winning package bid each area is another key concept. For geographical areas, such as a county, are carried forward to the next round each area, it is equal to highest opening the FCC adopted a set of rules for for single-area bidding. Potential bidders clock percentage of any bidder for package bids, or bids for more than one can gain a fuller understanding of how an area: the area reserve price (100 area in a state. The areas in a package areas in package bids are assigned by percent) plus the tier and latency bid do not have to be contiguous. A reviewing the examples in the FCC’s weights. Recall that the weights for a bidder can bid any combination of technical guidance document. minimum-tier, high-latency network single-area and package bids in a state, equal 90 (the maximum weight but it can place only one bid per area. A THE CLEARING ROUND combination), and the network design bidder can reduce the number of areas As noted above, the clearing round with the gigabit tier and low latency in a package bid from one round to the is the bidding round in which the (the lowest weight combination) next, but it cannot increase the number budget clears. In earlier rounds, bidders equals zero. of areas in the package. engage in cross-area competition
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 65 THE LAW
TABLE 2: EXAMPLE OF MINIMUM SCALE BIDDING AFTER THE CONDITION RULE CLEARING ROUND After the clearing round, all bidding is A bidder develops a package bid for areas 1, 2, 3, and 4, the FCC sets the intra-area. If only one bidder bid at the minimum scale condition at 80 percent, and the bidder places a bid in a round base clock percentage for the round, its for which the base clock percentage is 75 percent. bid is assigned; the support payment is equal to the previous round’s base clock AREA RESERVE TIER LATENCY IMPLIED percentage. The lowest bid below the PRICE WEIGHT WEIGHT SUPPORT AT THE clearing price point is also assigned. If 75% PRICE POINT contested (two or more bidders at the 1 $120 15 0 $72 base clock percentage), bidding goes to 2 $140 15 0 $84 the next round. If no bidding occurs in a round in which the previous round 3 $160 15 0 $96 was contested, the bidding system will 4 $200 15 0 $120 randomly select the winner among the bidders from the previous round. No The sum of implied support amounts for the whole package is $72 + $84 + $96 switching is allowed after the clearing + $120 = $372. For a subset of areas to be assigned, the total implied support round. Areas not included in bids amounts must be at least 80 percent of $372, or $297.60. The bidder can be assigned during the clearing round will assigned areas 2, 3 and 4, because the sum of the implied support amounts is not be funded during Auction 903, $84 + $96 + $120 = $300, or more than 80 percent of $372, but not areas 1, 2 except areas in the carried-forward bids. and 3, because the sum of the implied support amounts is $72 + $84 + $96 = For package bids during and after $252, less than 80 percent of $372. the clearing round, the same rules apply; in addition, the minimum scale percentage must be satisfied. against all other bidders for a portion price rule, the support amount equals INFORMATION PROVIDED of the budget. During these rounds, the clearing price point or the bid of the TO BIDDERS each bidder receives feedback from the second-highest bidder. Thus, the actual The bidding system provides bidding system for each area in which payment will be higher than the implied information to bidders during each it is bidding and, between rounds, the support amount of a winning bid. round; the information provided in extent to which current bids exceed Bids are first assigned to bidders rounds prior to the clearing round is the budget. (This feedback is described that bid at the round’s base clock different from the information provided more fully below.) The rules governing percentage if there are no other bids for during and after the clearing round. the assignment of bids and the amount the area or if all other bids are at higher Prior to the clearing round, bidders are of support awarded varies depending price points. Then, bids are assigned apprised of their activity and the number on whether a bid is assigned during or in areas in which one or more bids are of areas bid. After the clearing round, after the clearing round. above the base clock percentage but the data provided includes the annual support the bidder has received, data on In the clearing round, the bidding below the clearing price point. The implied support for its carried-forward system lowest bid below the clearing price point is assigned. The support payments bids and the areas still being bid. • Determines which bids can be Prior to the clearing round, each are calculated under the second-price assigned bidder is provided between rounds with rule – the winning bidder that bid at • Calculates the clearing price point, the aggregate cost (sum of all implied the base clock percentage receives a the highest price point in the support amounts per bid area) for all support payment equal to the clearing round at which the aggregate cost bids in the round. This gives the bidder price point. If two bidders are below for assigned areas and the dollar an idea of how close the budget is to the clearing price point, the support value of bids under the second- clearing. For each area bid by the entity, payment equals the higher bidder’s price rule is less than or equal to the number of bids at the base clock price point. the budget (the clearing price point percentage (0, 1 or greater than one) is In areas in which two or more determination) provided. After the clearing round and entities bid at the base clock percentage, each subsequent round, the feedback • Calculates the support payments bidding continues to the next round. includes the bidder’s areas assigned and based on the second-price rule. These are referred to as carried forward the support amounts, areas assigned to The second-price rule is used bids. Bidders that bid above the other bidders and the number of bids at to encourage truthful bidding, per clearing price point in the clearing the base clock percentage for the areas economic theory. Under the second- round cannot continue to bid. bid in the previous round.
66 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 POST AUCTION LONG-FORM winning bidder constructs its network participation that prospective bidders APPLICATION PROCESS AND to provide service to all locations before should evaluate fully. The best SUPPORT PAYMENTS or as it satisfies the six-year buildout perspective may be that complexity is To obtain support payments for its requirement, as certified by USAC. in the eye of the beholder. Based on the winning bids, the successful bidder Again, prospective bidders should fully involvement of various interest groups must complete a long-form application. understand these requirements prior to in developing the rules for Auction 903, The required information includes the auction. electric cooperatives, major satellite additional financial and technical The other significant requirement operators, ILECs, rural cable operators certifications that the bidder can fund is that a winning bidder must submit and wireless internet providers want its proposed network and provide proof of its eligible telecommunications to participate in this auction even service with the support being provided, carrier (ETC) designation, as required though only $198 million out of the will provide service at the speed and under Section 214 (e) (2) of the $4.5 billion high-cost program’s annual latency measures it proposed, and Communications Act, from the budget is being offered. If this interest will price the service at or below the relevant state commission(s) within translates into meaningful auction FCC’s benchmark rates, which are 180 days after the FCC’s public notice participation and broadband networks based on prices for services offered in announcing the winning bidders or are built in unserved rural areas, the urban areas. Prospective bidders should from the FCC if a state does not grant time and resources will have been review these requirements in detail. ETC designations. well spent. v Winning bidders must also submit the LOC from the qualified financial CLOSING THOUGHTS institution from which it obtained the Reverse auctions have captured the Douglas Jarrett is a partner with Keller LOC commitment letter for each state imaginations of policymakers and and Heckman LLP, an international law in which it is a winning bidder. The pundits. These bidding procedures firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. LOC must be maintained until the and related rules set a high bar for Contact Doug at [email protected].
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Clean Up Your Act
Fiber networks are more reliable when the installation is kept clean.
By Mike Jones / MicroCare Corp.
odern societies have an apparently limitless desire for greater Mconnectivity. From Facebook to video on demand to mobile cloud computing, the demand for digital data appears to be infinite and insatiable. Broadband access has become a crucial link in every aspect of people’s lives, affecting jobs, medical care, security and even the congestion on the highways. Because of the utility, ubiquity and affordability of broadband data, end users are demanding. They expect uninterrupted data services. Reliable, trouble-free fiber optic The fiber end face is where the rubber meets the networks are the key to the interconnected road. Only perfectly clean end faces can enable fiber future. Maintaining all that fiber can be networks to achieve their maximum potential. problematic, but cleaning fiber is the single most important task a tech in the field can accomplish to ensure that a fiber network achieves its design goals. the cost of cleaning in their budgets and quotes. According to numerous industry sources, And end users should demand proof of cleaning properly cleaning fiber connectors can from installers, including, both sides of every eliminate 80 percent or more of all network end face, every time a fiber is installed, tested problems. Cleaning is critical to the long-term or reconfigured. reliability of any network and at the heart of the CONTAMINATION AFFECTS profitability of a successful fiber deployment. SIGNALS Field technicians must be taught the Contamination is defined as anything on proper procedures to clean fiber. They must be an end face that should not be there and is provided the right tools. Managers must include removable. It includes fingerprint oils, lint from clothing, moisture, exhaust fumes, outgassed plasticizers from protective dust caps, plastic particles from connector wear and simple dust. Each type of contamination causes different Properly cleaning fiber connectors can problems, but all types must be removed. eliminate 80 percent or more of all Consider fingerprint oils. This thin liquid contains numerous compounds, salts and fluids network problems. that can create air gaps between end faces. The
68 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 Translucent liquid contamination is particularly troubling for fiber networks because the fluid changes the refractive index of the fiber, which can spray different optical frequencies unpredictably.
air gaps cause insertion loss (the signal • Inserting a connector into or weakens) and back-reflection (the signal removing it from an adapter during is diverted back to its source). mating Light is made up of different • Removing the protective end cap wavelengths. If a fiber end face is coated from a connector with oil, the contamination changes the • Connecting the fiber to test index of refraction engineered into the equipment multiple times. fiber. This will change the path of the To eliminate static during cleaning, signal through the fiber. The changed iNEMI, IPC and other organizations path is known as chromatic aberration. strongly recommend “wet-dry” If the contamination is very severe, the cleaning with the use of a static- refraction angle can change enough for dissipative fluid. the signal to be completely lost. This Most field techs carry optical inspection scopes The components of a fiber connector is particularly acute in wavelength- to examine end faces, but interferometers are made from nonconductive materials division-multiplexed fiber systems, offer a richer, more detailed look at the such as plastic, ceramics, glass and contamination in all three dimensions. which use different colors of light to Photo courtesy Promet Optics epoxies. This means there is no path load more channels into the fiber. The for the electrostatic charge to dissipate, higher the frequency of the light, the so a charge remains on a connector greater its sensitivity to changes of the end face indefinitely, sometimes even refractive angle. This means that fast between two terminus end faces. At a for months. Even if the central contact modern networks are more vulnerable microscopic level, the two end faces are zone initially was clean, an electrostatic to contamination. jammed together with a great deal of charge can cause dust to migrate from pressure. A rigid chunk of dust between the outer regions of the ferrule toward DON’T LET THE DUST SETTLE the two end faces can pit or scar the the ferrule apex in the contact zone. Dust can have a huge impact on end faces beyond repair. The dust particles will be locked tightly network reliability. The environment Once dust has found its way onto a to the ferrule surface as if the end face is loaded with airborne dust that can fiber end face, it can become locked in were a magnet. play havoc with fiber end faces: plant place by static. Static can be generated Introducing a static-dissipating pollen, exhaust particulate and skin on an end face in several different ways, cleaning fluid creates a conductive path particles are just a few sources. Like oil, but the most common is simply wiping that makes it easy to physically wipe these microscopic particles create air an end face with a dry wipe while away dust and other debris. The most gaps between end faces. This can result cleaning. This creates friction, and the effective cleaning process to solve the in back-reflection, signal attenuation, friction creates static. Other activities static problem is using a nonflammable, instability in the laser system or even a that can produce a static charge include high-purity, optical-grade cleaning complete system shutdown. • Using foam swabs to clean an end fluid. Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) Dust also can scratch the surface face purchased from the local pharmacy is of the fiber if particles are trapped • Cleaning with only compressed air not a suitable fluid.
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 69 TECHNOLOGY Technicians should be trained to clean fiber Another key point to look out for is the packaging of the cleaning fluid. effectively and provided with the equipment Make sure it is hermetically sealed to prevent cross-contamination. Refillable that works best for the job at hand. They should pump bottles are simply not up to the clean every end face, every time. task and will contaminate the fiber even more. Also make sure always to clean both ends of a connector pair just before mating. Don’t forget to clean new CHOOSE THE RIGHT FLUID Water trapped in the alcohol slows jumpers and patch cords; even protective Although IPA may be your cleaner the drying process. This means more end caps do not guarantee cleanliness. of choice, it is not the way to go. time is needed to evaporate the liquid If a stick is used to apply cleaning Traditionally used to clean fiber, IPA from the end face. Some techs and fluid, use one stick per end face to avoid contains hygroscopic molecules that engineers may use canned air to speed cross-contamination and rotate sticks in absorb moisture from the air. This is the cleaning and drying of the fiber, only one direction. “Clicker” cleaning especially apparent with the old-style but all this does is increase the static tools are extremely convenient and pump bottles that often are used in the charge and push the debris around the quick. They are a good option for light field. These bottles rarely are cleaned, area being cleaned. contamination; however, out in the field, adding another source of cross- When choosing a cleaning fluid, where high contamination is likely, the contamination. ensure that it is fast-drying and best option is cleaning fluid and wipes. nonflammable, has a low surface EDUCATION IS KEY tension and dissipates static. Fast Education is key to prevent network drying time is especially important failure caused by contamination. for cleaning fiber, as it keeps moisture Technicians need to be trained to clean from being attracted to the fluid and fiber effectively and provided with the therefore stops contamination. Using equipment that works best for the job a specially designed fiber cleaning at hand. Make no assumptions about fluid and a lint-free wipe will achieve the cleanliness of end faces even if optimum results. the fiber and its connectors are new. Expecting a patch cord from the factory to be pristine is unrealistic. Clean and inspect every end face, every time. Find a cleaning method that is quick and effective, and it will future- proof your fiber installations. Seek the help of an experienced vendor that specializes in fiber cleaning and can advise you which method will work best for you. Modern, proper cleaning procedures save time and money because they make a network more reliable. Expensive warranty claims and repair visits will be significantly reduced. Don’t cut corners. Do the job right the first time, and clean!v
Many field techs are provided cheap paper Alcohol is no longer suitable for cleaning Mike Jones is vice president of MicroCare wipes to clean their end faces, but these can modern fiber optic networks. A much better Corporation, which develops critical cause static and leave particulate on the choice that will lower network maintenance cleaning products and processes for end faces. A cheap paper wipe (top) is easily costs is a nonflammable, water-free, companies that demand perfectly clean ripped, and many fibers are released, but a fast-drying fluid packaged in a sealed, stronger, cleaner fabric wipe is much stronger, nonrefillable container. Here, a lint-free fabric parts. Contact him at MikeJ@MicroCare. resists shredding and is less likely to leave wipe is dampened from a convenient pump com and visit www.microcare.com to fibers on the end faces. bottle dispenser. learn more.
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OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 73 UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation (Requester Publications Only) PS Form 3526-R
1. Publication Title: Broadband Communities Magazine 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders (4) Requested Copies Distributed by 2. Publication Number: 0745-8711 Owning of Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Other Mail Classes Through the Mortgages, or Other Securities: USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail®). 44 53 3. Filing Date: 10-01-17 Barbara DeGarmo, 2727 Palisade Avenue, 16-H, Riverdale, NY 10463 c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation 4. Issue of Frequency: 7 times a year Robert L. Vogelsang, 1208 Second Street, Rosenberg, TX 77471 (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3), and (4)). 9,719 9,821 W. James MacNaughton, 7 Fredon Marksboro Road, Newton, NJ 07860 d. Nonrequested Distribution – (Comp 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 7 copies sent by mail and outside Jeff Maxwell, 1660 S. Hwy. 100, Suite 590, Minneapolis, MN 55416 6. Annual Subscription Price: Free to Qualified; the mail). Convergent Communications, 4529 E. Broadway Road, Suite 100, $24.00/Year for Non-Qualified; $125/Year for Foreign (1) Outside County Nonrequested Phoenix, AZ 85040 Copies Stated on PS Form 3541. 0 0 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication (2) In-County as Stated on Form 3541. 0 0 (not printer): Broadband Properties, LLC, 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, 12. Tax Status: Has not changed during preceding 12 months TX 77471 (Fort Bend County) 13. Publication Title: Broadband Communities Magazine (3) Other Classes Mailed through the USPS®. 0 0 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters of General Business 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: SEPTEMBER 2017 (4) Nonrequested Copies Distributed Office of Publisher (not printer): Broadband Properties, LLC, 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: Outside the Mail (Trade shows, etc) 650 450 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471 (Fort Bend County) e. Total Nonrequested Distribution (Sum 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Address of Publisher, Editor, Average No. No. Copies of of 15d (1), (2), (3), and (4)). 650 450 and Managing Editor: Copies Each Issue Single Issue f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and e) 10,369 10,271 During Preceding Published Nearest g. Copies not Distributed (See CEO: Barbara DeGarmo, Broadband Properties, LLC, 12 Months to Filing Date 2727 Palisade Avenue, 16-H, Riverdale, NY 10463 Instructions to Publishers #4, (page #3) 549 380 a. Total Number of h Total (Sum of 15f and g) 10,918 10,651 Publisher: Nancy McCain, Broadband Properties, LLC, Copies (Net Press Run): 9,581 9,839 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471 i. Percent Paid and/or Requested b. Legitimate Paid and/or Request Circulation (15c divided by f times 100) 93.73 95.62 Editor-in-Chief: Masha Zager, Broadband Properties, LLC, Distribution (By mail & Outside the Mail) 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471 (1) Paid/Requested Outside-County 16. Publication of Statement of Ownership for a Requester Editor at Large: Steven Ross, Broadband Properties, LLC, Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form Publication is required and will be printed in the October 2017 1909 Avenue G, Rosenberg, TX 77471 3541. (Include advertiser’s proof issue of this publication. and exchange copies). 9,675 9,768 10. Owner(s): 17. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: (2) Paid In-County Subscriptions Stated Nancy McCain, Publisher Date: September 29, 2017 Barbara DeGarmo, 2727 Palisade Avenue, 16-H, Riverdale, NY 10463 on Form 3541 (Includes advertiser’s Robert L. Vogelsang, 1208 Second Street, Rosenberg, TX 77471 proof and exchange copies). 0 0 I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and W. James MacNaughton, 7 Fredon Marksboro Road, Newton, NJ 07860 (3) Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading Jeff Maxwell, 1660 S. Hwy. 100, Suite 590, Minneapolis, MN 55416 Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and information on this form or who omits material or information requested Convergent Communications, 4529 E. Broadway Road, Suite 100, Other Paid or Requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and Phoenix, AZ 85040 Distribution Outside USPS®. 0 0 imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).
74 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | OCTOBER 2017 ADVERTISER INDEX / CALENDAR
NOVEMBER 2017 ADVERTISER PAGE WEBSITE 2 SHLB – Broadband4All Universal ADTRAN 9, 58, 72 www.adtran.com/broadband Service Symposium National Union Building Advanced Broadband Supply 39, 58 www.advancedbroadband Washington, DC supply.com 202-263-4626 www.shlb.org/events/conference AT&T 72 www.att.com/fiberproperties 7 – 9
Broadband Communities Magazine 73 www.bbcmag.com Fiber For The New Economy Broadband Communities Economic Development Conference Broadband Communities Renaissance Concourse Atlanta Airport Summit Outside Front Cover Flap-1, www.bbcmag.com/ Atlanta, GA 31, 43, 45, 52, 55, 67, 73, 74 2018s/ 877-588-1649 • www.bbcmag.com
Calix 57, 58 www.calix.com/gigabit FEBRUARY 2018 13 – 15 Charles Industries 58, 71 www.charlesindustries.com FTTH Conference 2018 Feria Valencia Clearfield, Inc. 59, 73, Back Cover www.SeeClearfield.com Valencia, Spain +43-664-358-95-16 Comcast (XFINITY Communities) 35, 61 www.xfinity.com/ www.ftthconference.eu xfiitycommunities MARCH Corning 13, 59, 72 www.corning.com/ 11 – 15 flexnap/bbc OFC – Optical Networking & Communication Conference COS Systems 47, 59 www.cossystems.com & Exhibition San Diego Convention Center Finley Engineering 72 www.finleyusa.com San Diego, CA 855-326-8341 • www.ofcconference.org GLDS 29, 59 www.glds.com APRIL Maxcell 53, 60 www.maxcell.us/edge/ 21 – 24 American Planning Association Conference Multifamily Broadband Council 73 www.mfbroadband.org Ernest N. Morial Convention Center New Orleans, LA NiSC 7, 60, 72 www.NiSC.coop 312-431-9100 www.planning.org/conference OFS 73 www.ofsoptics.com MAY Pavlov Media 3, 60 www.pavlovmedia.com 1 – 3 Broadband Communities Summit Preformed Line Prouducts 17, 60 www.preformed.com Renaissance Hotel Austin, Texas Spectrum Community Solutions 877-588-1649 • www.bbcmag.com (Charter Communications) 5, 61, 72 www.SpectrumCommunity Solutions.com JUNE 4 - 6 Synergy Fiber 61, Inside Back Cover www.synergyfiber.com 2018 Fiber Connect Gaylord Opryland Thermo Bond Buildings. LLC 11, 61 www.thermobond.com Nashville, TN 202-367-1173 • www.fiberconnect.org
OCTOBER 2017 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 75 THE GIGABIT HIGHWAY FCC Should Focus On Broadband Experience
In its annual assessment of the state of advanced telecommunications capability, the FCC should forget about speed and focus on the capacity to provide an excellent broadband experience.
By Heather Burnett Gold / Fiber Broadband Association
ince 1996, the Federal Communications Providers are also preparing for the fiber future. In a recent Commission has been required by Section 706 of the survey of 172 rural broadband providers, NTCA – The Rural STelecommunications Act to release an annual report Broadband Association found that 82 percent had developed that assesses the state of advanced telecommunications long-term fiber deployment strategies, a notable increase from capability in the United States and to adopt measures to 74 percent in 2015. Sixty-six percent of respondents planned further deployments. The FCC’s approach has remained to be able to provide fiber networks to half or more of their largely the same over the past two decades: It measures the customers by the end of 2019. market based on broadband speeds. After all, providers have The market has evolved to the point that all-fiber always sold broadband based on speed. connectivity is everyone’s new broadband benchmark, and Times, however, have changed. The Fiber Broadband it is time the FCC got on board. In comments to the FCC, Association recently proposed a different approach that could the Fiber Broadband Association urges the FCC to adopt an fundamentally change the way the FCC assesses broadband “all-fiber” metric – examining whether customers have access health in the United States. We recognize that consumers to all-fiber networks – to assess the United States’ advanced and broadband providers have moved beyond speed and that telecommunications. broadband experience is now the measure for success. Given For the FCC to accurately assess access to broadband that everyone understands that the best broadband experience technology, speed cannot be the primary metric. The FCC comes from all-fiber networks, the path forward is clear: The should measure by the technology that can actually provide FCC should focus on fiber. high-performance, future-proof broadband service: fiber. Fiber gives U.S. consumers the broadband experiences Robust fiber networks are essential to adequately meet they want – the whole package, not just impressive speeds. community and enterprise needs, and they have what it takes Sure, fiber provides the fastest symmetrical speed, but more to move the United States’ digital potential to the next level. important, it enables the most reliable, high-quality, low- For that to happen, Americans must first have access to fiber. latency service possible. It’s also built to last. Unlike copper The Fiber Broadband Association’s comments to the FCC and coaxial cable, which require periodic replacements and also urge the FCC to take steps to encourage and enable repairs, fiber is future-proof. Consumers want the broadband faster deployment of all-fiber networks. Tackling barriers to experience fiber can provide, and they’re willing to pay for it. entry and excessive regulation will accelerate deployment to People are willing to pay, on average, 8 percent more to rent all consumers throughout the United States and fast-track a and 2.8 percent more to buy an apartment equipped with fiber. healthier, better, sufficient – read, all-fiber – state of broadband. Consumers aren’t the only ones with their eyes on fiber. As the FCC considers the comments it received and prepares this year’s Section 706 report, all of us at the Fiber Wireless providers also understand how important fiber is; Broadband Association will continue to advocate for the that’s why they use it to link their cell sites. As Kyle Malady, benefits of fiber – and fiber will continue to provide top-notch Verizon’s senior vice president and chief network officer, access to broadband. v recently said, “Fiber is basically the nervous system of the networks of the future.” It’s no wonder that providers across the country – from AT&T, Comcast and Cincinnati Bell to Heather Burnett Gold is president and CEO of the Fiber i3 Broadband, Chariton Valley Telephone and Shentel – are Broadband Association, a nonprofit organization whose mission increasing their spending on fiber networks and touting fiber’s is to accelerate deployment of all-fiber access networks. You can capability to attract and retain customers. contact her at [email protected].
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