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Municipalities
Shovel-Ready Broadband Projects Set to Go
The US Conference of Mayors released a report on urban
infrastructure projects that are “ready to go” as part of
an economic recovery package – more than 15,000 projects
that meet local needs, can be funded through existing federal
channels, can start quickly when funding is received, and
can generate significant numbers of jobs. These 15,000 projects
include a number of special-purpose fiber optic networks,
mostly for public safety and traffic control, along with several
community WiFi projects. (Some of the municipal fiber projects
will be able to serve as the backbones for FTTH rollouts
in future years.)
In addition, there were three requests to build broadband
networks:
• The city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, requested $10 million
to install a citywide broadband network for both community
and municipal use, creating 40 jobs.
• The city of Miami, Florida, requested $28 million to build a
municipal broadband network that would create 560 jobs.
• The Austin Independent School District in Austin, Texas,
requested $15 million to provide access for low-income students
to broadband communications from their homes, a
project that would create 40 jobs.
The full report is available at www.usmayors.org/main
streeteconomicrecovery/documents/mser-report-20081219.pdf.
LUS Fiber, the new telecommunications division of Lafayette
Utilities System in Lafayette, Louisiana, began serving
customers in February. The company will continue rolling out
service in a phased fashion over the next two years.
The municipally owned utility is offering television, Internet
and phone services to residents and businesses of Lafayette;
triple play services start at $84.85 per month. In addition to
competitive pricing, LUS Fiber is introducing innovative features
including a TV Web portal and a 100 Mbps peer-to-peer
intranet. The TV Web portal, available to all digital TV subscribers,
allows consumers to connect to the Internet through
their TV set-top boxes. The peer-to-peer intranet allows LUS
Fiber customers to communicate and share files with each other
at 100 Mbps, even if their connections to the public Internet are
at lower speeds.
Another municipal utility inaugurating telecom services
after a long planning and construction period is the Tullahoma
Utilities Board (TUB) in Tullahoma, Tennessee. TUB
is launching triple play services over its new fiber-to-the-home
network, LightTUBe. Customers of the electric utility were
given the opportunity to sign up for television, Internet and
telephone services beginning in the fall of 2008. Internet connections
are available at speeds up to 100 Mbps downstream/30
Mbps upstream, and high-definition television service is available
as an option.
The city of North St. Paul, Minnesota, is planning a referendum
in February to approve the construction of a fiber-tothe-home
network, which it is calling PolarNet, and which it
hopes will “provide an answer to the question of what distinguishes
North St. Paul from other communities in Minnesota
as a place to live, work or play.” The project has been more than
five years in the making, and will require issuing $18.5 million
in general-obligation bonds. A majority vote is required
in order to issue the bonds, extend the existing fiber backbone
FTTH subscribers in Lafayette, LA,
will be able to communicate at 100
Mbps within the network, whatever
their Internet access speeds.
to homes and offer Internet and video services; a 65 percent
supermajority is needed in order to provide telephone services.
If the referendum passes, the city plans to begin building in
the spring and start offering services to customers in late fall
2009, possibly through a private-sector partner. The network
will serve schools and businesses as well as residences.
In Glenwood Springs, Colorado, the city government has
been considering extending its municipal fiber optic network,
which currently provides connectivity to businesses, to some
or all residential neighborhoods. After a referendum in April
2008 demonstrated public interest in residential FTTH services,
the city has been conducting due diligence to determine
how to proceed. In a recent meeting, the city council agreed to
go forward with a market assessment as a next step.
In Red Wing, Minnesota, the city council accepted a fiber
feasibility study produced by two consultants. The study
concluded that a fiber infrastructure was needed to support the
communications needs of the city and county offices and the
school system, and that extending the network to local homes
and businesses would be financially feasible and would boost
economic development. The city council asked staff to move
forward with a due diligence process, and it is considering a
referendum on FTTH as a way of gauging public support and
likely take rates for services. The referendum will be legally required
if the city decides to offer telephone services, and in any
case will provide information needed by potential funders.
In another sign of the financial recovery of UTOPIA, the
FTTH network operated by a Utah municipal consortium,
one of the member cities, Centerville, is reported by local press
to be considering an expansion of the network. The city’s redevelopment
authority proposed a loan/lease investment in the
network to bring high-speed services to Centerville’s business
community. BBP
January/February 2009 | www.broadbandproperties.com | BROADBAND PROPERTIES | 17