BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.
Issue link: https://bbcmag.epubxp.com/i/138991
COMMUNITY BROADBAND for its expansion.) In Washington state, though each public utility district builds and operates its own network, most or all belong to the Northwest Open Access Network (NoaNet), a coalition of public utility districts that linked their fiber optic networks together to achieve economic feasibility in underserved areas. NoaNet offers long-haul transport and last-mile access to wholesale communications providers throughout the Pacific Northwest. MUNICIpAl UTIlITIES Municipalities are more likely to become broadband providers when they are already in the business of providing electric power. Citizens in these municipalities are already used to the idea of government-provided utility services. Many public power utilities were set up in response to the failure of the private sector to deliver adequate services, and residents accept that government might set up public communications utilities for the same reason. In most cases, citizens have had positive experiences with their municipal utilities and are prepared to buy additional services from them. In addition, public power utilities already have back-office operations, such as billing and customer service, that they need for providing telecom services. Finally, public power utilities are increasingly building communications networks for smartgrid applications; once they begin planning these networks, they often realize the networks are suitable for purposes such as business or residential broadband. Municipal utilities that are Tennessee Valley Authority distributors have been in the forefront of combining smart grid and telecom applications. In some cases, such as Wilson, N.C., the city operates a municipal electric utility but set up the telecommunications utility as a separate entity or department. A few cities, such as Salisbury, N.C., do not have municipal electric utilities. WhO ARE ThE CUSTOMERS? Cities often begin by installing institutional networks to serve municipal office buildings or utility 24 substations, then extend fiber to commercial buildings or business parks, add multiple-dwelling-unit properties and greenfield residential developments, and finally reach single-family households and small businesses. Te list shows deployers at various points along this path. Tirty-eight of the municipal networks, or more than a quarter of the total, deliver services only to businesses. Several others deliver fber-based services to businesses and deliver residential broadband services via cable or wireless. A few that began as business-only networks, such as Gainesville Regional Utilities in Florida, now serve MDU or greenfield developments as well. Cedar Falls Utilities in Iowa, which originally served businesses with fiber and residences with hybrid fibercoax, has built out fiber to the home throughout its service area. However, other municipal providers that once planned to follow a similar path, such as Ashland Fiber Network, have been stymied by lack of funding. BIg CITIES ENTER ThE gAME Traditionally, most municipal fber deployers have been small to mid-sized cities or groups of cities outside major metropolitan areas – large enough to carry out complex undertakings but small enough to be poorly served by private carriers. Chattanooga, which made fiber available to about 170,000 premises throughout the Chattanooga metropolitan area, was the largest city to deploy FTTH. Tanks to the Gig.U project, which has forged alliances between universities and their surrounding communities, the list now includes two large cities: Seattle and Chicago. Seattle considered building out FTTH for many years, and last year it leased excess city-owned fber to Comcast to improve service to businesses in a poorly served commercial district. A few months later, it embarked on a more ambitious public-private venture, Gigabit Seattle, in which it will lease additional excess fber to a private deployer, Gigabit Squared. | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com Gigabit Squared will build out fber to the home in 14 neighborhoods throughout the city and also provide wireless coverage in areas beyond those neighborhoods. Te University of Washington will use the network to test new applications for health care, education and other public services. According to Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, within two months after the December 2012 announcement of Gigabit Seattle, 3,300 citizens had signed up for services, more than 135 businesses had expressed interest in signing up, numerous apartment owners had requested services and many citizens had asked whether the network could meet the needs of home-based businesses they were planning to start. Gigabit Chicago is another new public-private venture involving Gigabit Squared. Tis project, which will begin in Chicago's Mid-South neighborhood, will include funding from Gigabit Squared, the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago, Cook County and the University of Chicago. It will eventually cover more than 79,000 households and 10,000 businesses. North Carolina Next Generation Networks is a regional partnership composed of Cary, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Durham, Raleigh and Winston-Salem, supported by their local universities – Duke, NC State University, UNC Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University/Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, along with their associated chambers of commerce – that seeks to bring ultra-highspeed broadband to the Research Triangle, an area of about 2 million people. Tis Gig.U-related project is evaluating responses to its request for proposals but, as of press time, had not announced a selection (and thus is not included on the list). Even some cities that are not directly involved in building fber networks have begun to be proactive about improving broadband for their communities. For example, New York City's ConnectNYC program is contributing $12 million over two years (some of it from a state grant) to help businesses get fber-connected. | May/June 2013