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BROADBAND COMMUNITIES
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www.broadbandcommunities.com
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MARCH/APRIL 2017
RURAL BROADBAND
No Municipal Utility? No Problem
Until recently, most municipal fiber networks were built by existing municipal utilities.
Experience with outside plant, billing and customer service gave them a head start
toward providing broadband. But today, cities without utility departments are forging
new paths to build and operate broadband networks.
By Bruce Patterson / City of Ammon, Idaho; Jeremy Pietzold / City of Sandy, Oregon; Robert Wack / City of Westminster, Maryland
F
or a local government contemplating
a municipal broadband project, the
complexity and variety of models can be
bewildering and daunting. Add in the generally
unfamiliar terrain of telecom terminology, the
rapidly changing landscape of data services and
the regulatory uncertainty in some states, and
it's no wonder many municipalities are waiting
on the sidelines to see how the game plays out.
Every community is unique, but those
determined to forge ahead should look at
models that best approximate the characteristics
of their community. Enough communities have
undertaken fiber builds and deployed gigabit
services that good data is now available.
Some high-profile community broadband
success stories, such as Chattanooga, Tennessee;
Lafayette, Louisiana; and Wilson, North
Carolina, had pre-existing electric utilities that
provided stable bases from which to deploy fiber
networks. Electric utilities have several inherent
advantages, such as ownership of poles, an
existing customer base, dual use of fiber for grid
management and pre-existing customer service
infrastructure.
at takes nothing away from their success –
THREE MODELS FOR COMMUNITY BROADBAND
Sandy, Oregon Ammon, Idaho Westminster, Maryland
Population 10,000 14,500 18,000
City owns fiber and OSP Yes Yes Yes
City operates network Yes Yes No
City provides retail services Yes No No
Retail Open Access
(multiple providers)
No Yes **
Debt financing Yes
(revenue bond)
No Yes
(general obligation bond)
Incumbents Frontier, Wave CenturyLink, Cable One Verizon, Comcast
** Currently, Ting is the sole provider on the Westminster Fiber Network, but it is contractually required to migrate to a structurally separated model
and bring on additional retail service providers.