Lac qui Parle County Talks Broadband

Over 30 community leaders from economic development, local government, education, business and health care met yesterday in Dawson, MN to begin a discussion on broadband deployment and use. Lac qui Parle County is in western Minnesota on the South Dakota border. The county’s communities range in size from just under 2,000 people down to towns with fewer than 100 residents. In the countryside, the farms can be large and the residents widely scattered. I was pleased to see several county commissioners and elected officials at the meeting. The group really understood the need to work on this topic at the county and regional level, rather than focus at the city level.

Existing Internet providers were well represented, including Farmers Mutual Telephone Cooperative, Frontier Communications, Farmers Cooperative Association and MVTV. Representing Blandin Foundation through Community Broadband Resources, I provided some background information on broadband technologies and the issues that rural communities are facing.

We talked extensively about the mix of existing service providers within the county and learned about some planned improvements. For example, Farmers Mutual Telephone Cooperative will have FTTP to every subscriber in its service area by the end of 2009. Frontier Communications is upgrading their backbone pipe into the region which will enable more capacity to the end-customers. They are also beginning to extend DSL services into the more rural parts of their exchange. The wireless providers talked about their ability to reach into the countryside.

People understood that this will require an incremental approach. Two first step needs emerged from the discussion – better understanding of what is available where and the need to education consumers, especially businesses, about the power of broadband and broadband applications. I look forward to meeting again with this motivated community.

Broadband or Internet news from towns around Minnesota

Yesterday we sent out the Blandin eNews. It always includes highlights of the last month from the blog. But it also includes broadband news from around the state, which I wanted to share here too.

Clearwater
With support from the Blandin Foundation, the Clearwater Economic Development Authority is assessing their community’s telecommunications environment as they are not sure if their existing services are meeting the current and future needs of their community. (http://tinyurl.com/6k92zp)

Cook County
Cook County Higher Education and the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund held a class for business owners on Web Site Magic. (http://tinyurl.com/57hjp7)

Duluth
The Duluth Public Library is reopening with an expanded computer lab of 14 computers with Internet access. (http://tinyurl.com/5bmxwa)

Iron Range
Gary Fields (who has worked with the Blandin Foundation on broadband projects) and Tim Nulty (who led the lauded effort in Burlington VT) have been hired by Iron Range Community Fibernet to make presentations to the 11 FiberNet communities to talk about their plans to develop a financial plan and move forward to design and implement fiber to the home (FTTH). (http://tinyurl.com/6pokcp)

Itasca State Park
State parks across the nation are installing WiFi. In Minnesota the effort is starting in Itasca State Park. (http://tinyurl.com/5muaxd)

Marshall
Staff members at the Prairieland Genealogical Society and the History Center at Southwest Minnesota State University are embracing technology both as a way to store information on genealogy records and a way to reach patrons. (http://tinyurl.com/6k25a5)

Minneapolis
WiFi is up and running throughout Minneapolis but the speeds are not consistent. Buying a WiFi booster from US Internet will help users get better speeds. (http://tinyurl.com/5qxbcq)

Monticello
Progress continues on FTTH in Monticello as reported by the Monticello Fiber Optic Committee in Mid April. (http://tinyurl.com/6jx4e5)

New Ulm
A young entrepreneur in New Ulm makes a living by selling hand-sewn bags online using a web site called Etsy, which specializes in handmade items. (http://tinyurl.com/55qybx)

North Dakota
Candidates in North Dakota are already taking the campaigns to the Internet with Facebook and MySpace pages. (http://tinyurl.com/6coowe)

Red Wing
The Red Wing City Council and the Red Wing Port Authority approved Lookout Point Communications to conduct a FTTH feasibility study for Red Wing (a recipient of Blandin Foundation Get Broadband funds).

Staples
Lakewood Health Systems (a Blandin Foundation Light Speed funded program) is researching a telemonitoring purchase option. Their report on patients who currently avail of some remote monitoring services indicates that the advantages are clear. (http://tinyurl.com/6g9z2t)

Twin Cities
Comcast announces big broadband service in the Twin Cities. With the new service, subscribers will be able to download at speeds of up to 50 megabits per second and upload at speeds of 5 megabits per second. (http://tinyurl.com/5pnyqw)

Waseca
The Waseca County Public Library offered a free class called Senior Surf Day, designed to teach the ins and outs of modern technology. (http://tinyurl.com/5gvmsa)

Willmar
Kandiyohi County Economic Development Commission (a recipient of Blandin Foundation Get Broadband funds) recently approved payment to Bonnema Surveys Inc. to create a web-based mapping system for all the high-speed Internet coverage areas in Kandiyohi County (http://tinyurl.com/65sp79)

Winona
Home and Community Options Inc (a Blandin Foundation Light Speed funded program) is pleased with the response of care facility staff regarding training to use e-file system and with installation of remote monitoring systems. Unfortunately cold weather has slowed the actual installation of fiber. (http://tinyurl.com/5649h7)

Broadband Discussion on Radio Program in Cook County Minnesota

Last week (or so), Blandin on Broadband blogger Bill Coleman was on WTIP radio as part of a discussion on broadband. (WTIP is based in Cook County.) The conversation also included Danna Asche (Blandin Broadband Strategy Board Member) and Jack McDonald, from Boreal Access (a North Shore ISP).

The radio program is archived online.

The program addresses broadband from the perspective of the general public. So it starts with a discussion of what is broadband and why should we want it.

The Economics of Rural FTTH

A couple of days ago I relayed that the current administrators of the Burlington (VT) fiber project felt “that Burlington Telecom will not be breaking even by June as earlier projected by previous general manager, Tim Nulty.”

Tim Nutly spoke at the Broadband Properties conference yesterday (as reported by Telephony Online). He talked about the economics of providing FTTH in rural areas.

I have to admit that I don’t know the costs involved firsthand, so I thought his explanation (and specificity) was very helpful:

Fiber triple-play deployment costs generally come in three categories: the hub, the hook-up and the pass. Building a hub is actually less expensive in rural areas because real estate costs are lower there, Nulty said. “Building a hub in a cow pasture is cheaper than doing it downtown.” Hooking up rural houses is more expensive, but not much, he said, partly because fiber costs have come down considerably. Vermont spends about $1600 per home connecting subscribers in the city and about $1800 per home in rural areas.

The biggest cost gap is in passing homes, since there’s so much more space between homes in rural areas (though rural areas have more aerial, pole-based networks, which are easier and less costly than the underground networks in cities and suburbs.) Vermont towns contain more than 100 houses per square mile, but its rural areas can contain about 12 houses per square mile. As a result, Vermont spends about $250 per home in the city on this part of the project and $1100 per home in rural areas.

However, passing homes is a small part of the overall cost of fiber deployment, Nulty said. And rural areas see higher service take rates because there’s less competition there. In rural towns due to get municipal fiber, Vermont is seeing 50% of the market presubscribe for its services, and Nulty expects that rate to reach 75% or 80% by the time funds are secured.

Catch up with broadband efforts across the US

Thanks to some easy links from the Baller Herbst email list I was able to track down updates for what’s going on with broadband efforts in various high profile communities across the country. Let me just say after perusing the playing field – it’s rough out there.

Chattanooga – Comcast files suit

Comcast of the South has asked the Hamilton County Chancery Court to stop the fiber-to-the-home project planned by the Chattanooga Electric Power Board. Last week the Tennessee Cable and Telecommunications Association tried to file suit in a neighboring County but the court said no go, since the TCTA were not the party that would be injured.

(Read more, read past blog posts on the Chattanooga project.)

New Orleans says goodbye to WiFi

Earthlink is shutting down its WiFi network in New Orleans. (The network was built soon after Katrina.) Apparently it tried to find a buyer, including asking the city to buy – but no one rose to the occasion. The network will be shut down on May 18. Subscribers will be offered other Earthlink broadband options.

It sounds as if Earthlink wants to get out of the municipal WiFi game entirely. They are currently transferring networks in Corpus Christi and Milpitas and are looking to find other arrangements for Philadelphia and Anaheim.

Utopia is falling on hard times

The Utopia and iProvo FTTH networks in Utah are running into problems with lower subscriber rates and revenue shortfalls. With less money coming in, the project wil have difficulty paying back bond payments.

Both networks are open networks, or as TCMNet put it, access wholesalers, and neither network has gotten enough retail partners, nor have the retailers done well enough to fatten either network’s revenue, either on the business or consumer sides of the business.”

(Read more, read some background)

Burlington Vermont hasn’t reached goals yet

Burlington’s city’s chief administrative officer, Jonathan Leopold, reports that Burlington Telecom will not be breaking even by June as earlier projected by previous general manager, Tim Nulty. (There seems to be some disagreements regarding the numbers and culpability here.) Revisions have been made to the business plan and the hope/plan is to compete with other providers to get the necessary subscribers and cut costs where necessarily to be solvent and eventually be in a position to pay back the $33 million it borrowed to build the system.

(Minnesota-based Christopher Mitchell was also recently mentioned in the same publication for his case study on Burlington Telecom for Institute for Local Self Reliance.

LA is going mobile – but not wireless

The Metro in LA has been studying options for providing WiFi to passengers on the Orange Line that runs through the San Fernando Valley and on the subway – but so far it’s a no go. The cost is too high and no providers have jumped at the opportunity.

FiberNet in Iron Range is back on track

Last month we reported that the project was at a crossroads. They were committed to moving forward, the method was undecided.

Well they are starting to move forward once again and have started by hiring Gary Fields (who has worked with Blandin in the past) and Tim Nulty (speaker from the Blandin Broadband Conference last fall).

Gary and Tim are going to make presentations to the 11 FiberNet communities to talk about their plans to develop a financial plan. If funded, the network would be operated jointly by the participating cities, would also offer high speed services (telephone, ultra high speed Internet, and video, including cable television) to customers in the participating communities.

Thus far the FiberNet Project has been funded primarily by the Blandin Foundation and Iron Range Resources. However, to move forward it looks as if the communities will be asked to lend 15,000 to the project to pay for completion of a bankable business plan.

For more information, visit the Timberjay article (Fibernet project takes a key step forward).

FiberNet Monticello April 2008 Update

Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall as a town funded, designed and implemented fiber into their community? Well thanks to Lynne Dahl-Flemming we got something even better – we’ve got the notes from the fly on the wall.

Monticello received funding from Blandin Foundation as part of the Get Broadband program. After an amazing referendum vote for fiber last fall, they are moving ahead in all direction. Read on to hear how it’s going. I think this account will be particularly interesting to anyone who is in a position to consider fiber in their area…

Home and Community Options, Inc

Blandin Light Speed Grant

Six Month Progress Report

Peter Walsh, Project Coordinator

April 22, 2008

 

We have just completed the first six months of our Light Speed Project and it is exciting to provide an update on the progress we have made toward our goals.

 

All in all we have made good strides in either completing or moving forward on our goal related activities.  Perhaps the biggest disappointment has been the slow progress of HBCI making the FTTH connections.  We hope that with warmer weather their technicians will be better able to complete this task.  HBCI has indicated that they will be starting to lay underground cable now that the ground is frost free and they assure us that once they get started installations will flow steadily.

 

We are very pleased with the response of our staff and their desire for additional training.  We are excited to see the ease in which our E-File system is being deployed and we have programs clamoring to be next on our installation list.  Fortunately, that decision is made by the agency Directors and they select programs on the basis of need and readiness.

 

Our remote monitoring venture is unfolding very nicely.  We have a model home in the midst of implementation with a variety of security devices working and progress being made every day.  We have most of the call escalation program completed and are designing the user interface screens.  We are testing the phone interface and find that it works well.  I am sure we will find more things that we need to adjust as we start playing out some scenarios.  

 

We are meeting monthly with a local group made up of providers of care to the elderly who are seeking ways to improve the delivery of service to seniors within the Winona community.  They are excited about our participation and we hope to find some opportunities to implement some of our remote monitoring solutions within their care population. 

 

We are grateful to the Blandin Foundation for this opportunity to implement our broadband applications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Powell, Wyoming FTTH

While conducting research on approaches to building fiber optic networks, Powell, Wyoming came to my attention. Powell’s fiber network is financed with municipal bonds and leased to a private sector provider. This approach uses the financial strength of the local government, but does not require the city to be engaged in day to day operations. As with all of the approaches, it will be interesting to see how this strategy works over the long term – only time will tell.

As communities consider broadband development strategies, technologies and financing, it can get kind of stressful. These are big decisions, made even more difficult by threats of lawsuits and uncertainties. I applaud Scott Mangold, the Mayor of Powell, for his sense of humor in dealing with some of these stressful decisions. You can see below how Mayor Mangold considers the critical issues of branding and marketing! The mayor is seeking input so feel free to send him your ideas. I am working on a few of my own ideas,,, how about POWnet?

Message from the Mayor

I got to meet some media people the other day. No, not newspaper or radio employees, the down-home folksy types that give you a tilt of their caps as you go by, but downright big city campaign people.

Well, not entirely big city. It’s a group out of Utah that is putting together the campaign for our fiber to the home project. They are bigwigs, though. They’ve worked on campaigns for big name brands which they quickly name-dropped.

“Ever hear of Norbest Turkey? We did their campaign.”

“Why, yes I have. Tasted them, even bowled them.”

“How about Sunkist? You heard of them?”

“I believe so. Even though I live in a cave in Wyoming, Sunkist seems to be a name brand I recall. Some of them are orange in color, correct?”

The name of the company is Research Enhanced Design or RED for very short. A successful company with two members of their staff holding doctorates from BYU. (the team that always beats Wyoming in football) RED showed us diagrams, graphs, test papers, and other literature that showed how they were going to market our product.

I expected more Madison Avenue lingo.

“Let’s put her up the flagpole and see who salutes it!”

“Let’s put her on the 5:15 to Newark and see where it gets off!”

“Let’s slap her on the butt and see which way she bucks!”

No glitzy, wink-wink, ‘how are ya, baby’ lingo from this ad group. Just normal matter-of-fact straight speak that evaluates the community and comes up with a solution.

I didn’t offer my campaign slogans at our initial meeting but I have a few ideas.

“The Powell Fiber Optic System. Still Fighting Terrorists!”

No, that’s no good.

“The Powell Fiber Optic System. We Like Bunnies!”

It does have that friendly bunny thing but it doesn’t really send the right message.

“The Powell Fiber Optic System. Less Calories!”

Now, I really don’t know if that is true or not so we can’t really use that. Plus, we are not really going to call it ‘The Powell Fiber Optic System’. We need to come up with a name and that is part of their job, as well. I’m sure they’re willing to take suggestions, though. If you have a thought for a name, write me at mayormangold@cityofpowell.com and I will pass it on to them. Try to think of a name that speaks of Powell and what this means to the city.

The team already dismissed my names. ‘Optimus Prime, ‘Corvette Stingray’, and ‘Internet Thingy’ all got curious looks from the experts.

They didn’t even want to put it up the flagpole.

Refinancing of UTPIA bonds

http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_8645697

This very interesting article about the refinancing of UTOPIA bonds is very interesting to me. If the article is correct, UTOPIA will sell 189 million in bonds, repay 135 million in existing bond debt and receive 20 million for new network construction. I am not a finance guy, but 189 million minus 135 million minus 20 million is 34 million. If that is going for fees to lawyers and financiers, we need to find a new way to finance municipal networks! $34 million is 18 percent of the total. If one figures $3000 per house to hook up to a fiber network (Utopia’s incremental cost is probably less), those fees would cover costs to hook up over 11,000 homes.