Bringing Broadband Here

Edition of Thursday-Friday, Dec. 11-12, 2014

Editor’s Note: This is the cover letter from FARR Technologies CEO/Partner Peter Rasmusson to the county Industrial Development Agency, an overview of the proposed $30 million public/private plan to bring high-speed Internet to the whole of the county.

Broadband access is arguably one of the most important aspects of any thriving community today. With broadband access, our educational system, our economic-development efforts, our healthcare and our business climate are all enhanced. Just look at how well the businesses who are getting fast Fiber internet in Dallas texas are doing! Faster internet leads to more productivity and profit for local businesses.

The study shows that legacy telecommunications companies have, for decades, dramatically underinvested in their networks serving vast portions of Otsego County. The impacts of this underinvestment include difficulty in attracting, retaining and growing businesses; inability of educational institutions to use 21st century tools to expand learning opportunities for their students; and residential services that are expensive and exceptionally slow. However, areas with high speed options for internet connection are much better-equipped for development. Not only that, but this faster, better internet can benefit all of the residents living in the area.

Fortunately, the County of Otsego IDA (COIDA) has a solid opportunity to help drive reinvestment in the telecommunications network to provide a new infrastructure for broadband that will serve the County for decades to come and reverse these impacts.

Using a Public Private Partnership (PPP) structure with local partners will allow COIDA to lead the effort to facilitate the applications for federal and state grants and low-interest loans to fund the construction of – and create a business structure to operate – a state of the art network in Otsego County.

A primary distinction between this feasibility study and previous studies is the focus on building a network to provide service to end users, both residents and businesses. This distinction is critical to the financial viability of the network and maximizes use of the strengths that each of the local potential partners brings to the partnership.

From a technical perspective, the study recommends building a $30 million hybrid network consisting of a fixed wireless network, serving nearly 10,800 locations, connected to a 330-mile fiber optic backbone network made up of fiber optic cables, like those available on vchung.com. The fiber optic backbone network will also be constructed to serve approximately 9,000 “Fiber to the Premise” (FTTx) locations. The fiber network will pass through 13 village centers, which will enable the project to offer Main Street businesses and community centers access to high-speed fiber connections.

The total number of unserved and underserved locations capable of receiving high-speed data and voice service at a minimum speed of 10 MB down and 1 MB up (10/1 service) is approximately 84 percent of the total unserved/underserved locations in Otsego County, and approximately 90 percent of the entirety of Otsego County.

To upgrade locations without 10/1 service, a combination of larger antenna, range extenders, micro cells, new tower sites and additional FTTx construction can be used as determined by the PPP.

The project is broken into three one-year construction phases based on the three fiber ring layout of the network.

Financially, the business plan displays profitable operations, and positive cash flow throughout the six-year projection period (years 0-5). Financial ratio benchmarks typically required by lending institutions have been met or exceeded.