The Case for
Municipal Fibre White Paper
August 15, 2000
Table of Contents
- Why Fibre Optic?
- Dark Fibre Supplier
- Dim Fibre Supplier – Layer One
- Dim Fibre Supplier – Layer Two
- Why Municipal Fibre
- Benefactors of Municipal Fibre
- Planning a Municipal Fibre Program
- Models
- How Much will Municipal Fibre Cost
- Important Facts
- De-regulation of the telecommunications industry is leading to many more new carriers entering the growing telecommunications market. It is imperative that municipalities have a telecommunications policy in place that clearly addresses the issues of rights of way and ownership that these new carriers will test. It has been stated that as many as 20 new telecommunications carriers will be approved for entry to the City of Winnipeg within the next 5 years. Many municipalities are choosing to address similar situations by creating or expanding their municipal utilities to include a municipal telecommunications policy and a municipal fibre optic plan.
- Municipal authorities are being asked to respond to changing environments that will require them to decide on accepting or acquiring new technologies that will improve the core competencies of its administrators to achieve or maintain equitable civic operations.
- In many cases the municipal utility that is being directed to undertake the administration of a municipal fibre network is the hydroelectric utility. Hydro organizations are especially well positioned to provide these services because in many cases they already own the necessary infrastructure and possess the necessary skills.
- Winnipeg Hydro are already doing this work for the (internal) City of Winnipeg
- Winnipeg Hydro has the expertise within the existing structure that includes technical staff for:
- Installations
- Testing
- Terminations
- Engineering
- Planning
- Business Case is good
- City of Winnipeg has one of the largest private networks in Manitoba
- Support from the consumer community (residents and businesses) is present
- Support from schools, school boards, hospitals, colleges, universities is present
- City owned conduits (rights of way) penetrate every neighbourhood
- Federal Government support present at a national level
- Communications cost savings realized by the City of Winnipeg from the existing fibre network have been substantial
- The City of Winnipeg requires increased communications capacity at an equitable cost, ownership of the network and an improved backbone can provide that capacity at the lowest possible cost
- Staff experienced in fibre optic networks
- Appropriate equipment
- Technology Experience
- Pent-up demand for Fibre Optics from Hospital, Schools, Universities and Libraries
- The City of Winnipeg already has a $5.2 Million investment in it’s communications backbone infrastructure
- Hydro has established Rights of Way
- Established Billing processes
- Marketing processes
- Cities that have done fibre to home installations have, as a rule, not made money but they are breaking even. However, surplus revenues are realized from the leasing of fibre to carriers, service providers (ISPs), and institutions.
- A Municipal owned fibre utility has the effect of increasing service provider competition and lowering service prices for all residents
- Hydro has established Cost/Price Formulas
- Excellent return on investment
- Short pay back period, in less than 3 years
- A source of continuing revenue
- Relatively small amount of resources needed due to Winnipeg Hydro involvement in fibre industry
- Established availability of fibre
- Cyber Village
- Hospital
- MERLIN
- School Boards and Schools in all Divisions, Particularly Division 1
- Post secondary schools
- Universities and Colleges
- Fibre Optic cannot be tapped into, very high security
- No interference from outside sources, immune to electrical disruption
- Fibre Optic can be extended 20 times further than copper. Less technology is needed to cover greater distances
- Speeds of data transmissions are ever increasing using new advanced Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) while fibre optic cables will continue to carry the improved transmissions
- Fibre optic is estimated to have a life span in excess of 20 years
- Fibre represents both the capacity to carry new, higher-bandwidth applications (such as digitized video) and the ability to carry basic telephone service with lower costs and higher quality and reliability
- A single fibre pair can carry over 600,000 voice circuits compared to a telephone line which can carry 2 voice circuits
- public or private e-commerce
- e-business to e-business transactions
- e-mail sorting and clearing
- data storage and processing
- billing services
- hosting for Internet Service Providers
- provision, for a fee, of access to applications; out source applications as part of a revenue stream
- Billing systems
- Tax collection
- Inter departmental communications throughout the municipality
- Overlapping and redundant data bases can be eliminated
- Communications between government and community can be vastly improved
- Municipal Payroll, central point handling
- Centralized operations point for more efficient repair and maintenance
- Provision of limitless bandwidth, systems are easily up-graded
- Ownership, Fibre optic is an asset
- Rights of Way, City has the right of way to just about every possible location, resulting in a direct cost saving over carrier provided service
- Reduced costs for communication and data transfer
- Most cost effective method of installation is overhead on poles, Winnipeg Hydro has the equipment needed to install fibre
- Federal Government is supportive of the concept, there is a potential for funding
- Municipal Fibre is less infrastructure disruptive in maintenance and installation, streets are not torn up repeatedly
- Economic Development opportunities include more competitive carriers and lower cost to business users, encouraging new industry entrants
- Winnipeg Hydro has proven capability. Administration is already in place for monitoring and billing of the new municipal service
- Social and Economic issues, more bandwidth normally equals less latency, more applications, development, and greater use
- Creates a bandwidth insensitive pricing structure due to the availability of dark (surplus) bandwidth, lowering cost to users
- Fibre Optics are not affected by electric voltage or currents, decreasing the down time of systems due to electrical failure and lightening strikes
- Maturing technologies can be used early in their development on fibre networks due to the available bandwidth and ease of setting up a test network
- Technology is not limited or dependant on the medium of fibre optics and the fibre is used merely to transmit the data in the most efficient manner
- Hospitals
- Libraries
- Schools
- Universities
- Colleges
- Utility Companies
- Police Departments
- Fire Departments
- Traffic Control
- Ambulance Service
- Public Clinics
- Government Offices and Agencies
- Employment Centres
- Public Sector Organizations
- Pay back in under 3 years
- Support from Regional and Provincial governments for related e-government services (tax collection, payroll, utility services billing, etc.) has been demonstrated in other centres
- Reduced maintenance costs for the Hydro utility on over head lines as the installed fibre monitoring system can detect problems that are pinpointed to the exact pole
- Reduced network management costs due to the integrated network systems adopted due to a wider user base, less technical support on a larger network
- Easy up-grade path, the fibre optic medium continues to be useful over time and the cost of the technology at each end, computers and switching devices, continues to decrease
- Travel costs are reduced as the network in many cases becomes self diagnostic and technicians can work from a central location
- Increased carrier competition because availability of dark fibre results in lower prices to end users due to increased competition from more carriers
- Increased applications development, local applications development industry provides economic development (e-commerce, e-banking, e-business)
- Ability to capitalize telecom costs, rather than paying on-going operational costs that will, over a relatively short time, exceed the capital cost
- Ability to create fully redundant internal communications systems
- Our major carriers are headquartered in other provinces, Municipal Fibre brings a measure of control back to the City of Winnipeg
- Increases the opportunity to be responsive to the market
- Broadens the reach into the community
- Develops a positive relationship with industry supplier; fibre optic ownership will leverage better purchasing opportunities from these suppliers
- Develops relationships with carriers often leading to alliances and partnerships that have long term beneficial effects for the municipality and the end users
- Condominium arrangements can substantially reduce the initial costs (partnerships between municipalities and industry)
- Models studied tend to indicate that the risks scale favorably with the rewards and no municipality experienced undue hardship or loss
- * Business Strategies, Feasibility Study, Business Case Analysis
- * Financial Modeling and Options Analysis
- * Marker Planning and Mapping. Identifying the Distribution Plan
- * Infrastructure Development, Operations and Maintenance Resource Allocations
- * Attain Engineering Services
- * Resolution of Rights of Way
- * Request for Information and Request for Proposal from Contractors if needed
- * Laying or pulling of Fibre to create the Backbone
- End User building criteria, method of entry, termination and identification
- * Municipal Assets and Leasing Policies
- * Move the IT component of the City of Winnipeg Corporate Services to the Municipal Fibre Branch of Winnipeg Hydro* Regulatory Services, monitoring and calculation of usage
- * Marketing
- * Retail front end, administrative offices and payment centres
- Delivery of carrier services to the home (TV, Radio, Video, Telephone, Internet, Distant Education, Interactive E-government)
- Health care service delivery and home healthcare monitoring using Home Medical Devices (HMD), Telemedicine and Telehealth
- E-government services to the home
- Geographic location
- Existing Infrastructure
- Relationships with existing fibre carriers
- Relationship with Manitoba Telecom Services
- Relationship with cable companies (GT)
- Existing customer base
- Relationship with Manitoba Hydro
- Willingness of the province to utilize the network
- Assets acquired
- Aerial, on existing poles, $3 - $6 per meter
- Buried cable in existing conduit, $7 - $10 per meter
- New trenching and laying of conduit, $35 per meter (10% of this is fibre)
- $1,000 per home is the accepted average figure for Fibre To The Home FTTH installations;
- $7,000 per kilometer, new installation, in ground;
- $5 per meter, for a 4 to 6 strands (cost of fibre optic glass strand);
- Annual maintenance budget of 5% of the capital cost; or
- $40,000 for an engineering study (for physical access issues- Internal by Winnipeg Hydro), if needed;
- Capital equipment costs can be determined by study;
- Winnipeg Hydro has established costs for fibre installs;
- Winnipeg Hydro is developing costs for fibre management.
- May 1994, North York Council (a Toronto municipality) ordered North York Hydro to proceed with a municipal fibre program
- The Ontario Provincial Government spent 9 million on ICT in 1994
- Municipal authorities in Palo Alto, Spokane, Ashland, Glasgow and Chicago are in the process of building municipal fibre networks
- Stokab (Stockholm Municipal Network) has over 30 carriers leasing fibre from them
- Toronto Hydro & Electric Company (THEC) realized a less than 3 year recovery on fibre installations
- The City of Winnipeg has one of the largest private networks in Manitoba
- Sudbury Hydro has spent $6-million on a fibre optic network known as SureNet that has now connected all city owned facilities with Internet, e-mail and data transfer.
- Scarborough Public Utility has been offering telecommunications since 1992
- In Canberra, Australia, the water and power utility is building an equal access fibre network to every home (FTTH)
- Toronto, Ontario
Municipal governments are facing several important issues related to Telecommunications and many have chosen to address these issues by developing a Municipal Fibre strategy.
Winnipeg Hydro is well positioned to become a municipal fibre contractor because:
The City of Winnipeg has a unique opportunity and advantage. The advantage is the ownership of the Winnipeg Hydro utility and the most compelling opportunity is the ability of Winnipeg Hydro to provide municipal fibre as an extension of the services they already offer to the businesses and residents of the City of Winnipeg.
It is natural for Winnipeg Hydro to become a municipal fibre provider. Winnipeg Hydro may begin now with little change in existing staff or equipment as they already have:
The reduction in communication costs between city owned buildings would be substantial. The reduction in communications cost for libraries, school and hospitals would be even more substantial and could, in the long-term, finance the utility’s Municipal Fibre expansion. In a relatively short time the revenues realized could be reinvested into the utility and the city’s fibre infrastructure. Other cities have found that pay back time is now less than three years on the investment made. Points to consider include:
Organizations that are set for near immediate use of a municipal fibre network include:
Fibre Optic is a clear glass fibre and is used in much the same way a copper cabling with the exception that fibre optic uses light impulses to transmit data as opposed to electrical charges in copper based cabling.
The advantages fibre optic has over other forms of cabling are:
Winnipeg Hydro could implement this plan as a contractor, Dark Fibre or a Dim Fibre supplier Layer One or Layer Two, who would retain ownership of the fibre and lease it to fibre users.
A Fibre Contractor installs fibre optic between physical points at the request of a user/purchaser. The contractor does not "light" (transmit signals with a laser) the fibre and does not as a rule, retain ownership. There is no CRTC involvement in fibre Contracting. *
Dark fibre is not "lit" (transmitting or receiving data). The Dark Fibre Supplier normally leases fibre to users. A dark fibre supplier may also be a Fibre Contractor. Dark Fibre Suppliers maintain the infrastructure and hold the Indefeasible Right to Use (IRU) on the fibre. As a rule, dark fibre suppliers do not fall under CRTC regulation. Consortiums are common in this category. *
Dim Fibre Supplier – Layer One
Dim Fibre has electronics (switching) at either end and can, but is not transmitting or receiving data. Dim Fibre, in most cases does not fall under CRTC regulation. The fibre is called Dim because the electronics can be self-diagnostic, polling (sending a test signal) to the other end and back over the network. Consortiums are also common in this category. *
Dim Fibre Supplier – Layer Two
Layer Two Dim Fibre has electronics (switching) at either end and allows controlled traffic (aggregated bulk data) to specific switching locations. This is sometimes called an "Ethernet Pipe" or conduit as it connects two or more locations together without having an interest in the data content. Content is routed by switching upon reaching a "de-mark" point. Layer Two Dim Fibre, in most cases does not fall under CRTC regulation. Consortiums are also very common in this category. *
ASP Application Service Provider
An Application Service Provider on a fibre network will have electronics at both ends, as well as machines (computers), that allow the transfer of data and the operation of enterprise (system) wide applications such as:
Some ASP applications fall under CRTC regulation. An assessment of each individual proposed application undertaken may require a legal opinion.
Internet Service Providers provide the end users with access to the Internet. Internet Service Providers may also offer e-mail and web space.
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Possible Placement of Winnipeg Hydro
A municipal network in reality is a public network. It is locally controlled, enhances the local economy and can quickly meet the specific needs of the municipality.
For many municipal government administrations, conservative estimates are that 10% of their expenditures are IT related (figure is rising). Direct telecommunication costs are over and above this 10%. IT related expenditures might include automated or semi-automated processes (collection, movement, compilation and processing of data) such as:
Municipally owned fibre can facilitate in solving many IT issues by standardizing the data collection and processing procedures, ensuring that the resultant databases are accessible by all departments. Other issues that may be solved are:
There are many other reasons why municipal fibre is desirable. These include:
Benefactors of Municipal Fibre
The beneficiaries of municipal owned fibre or a fibre utility range from the municipality itself (reduced operating costs) to every homeowner in the municipality’s jurisdiction if you consider the Fibre to the Home (FTTH) model (leasing fibre to carriers of data, i.e.: television, phone services, future online services).
Installations of fibre are projected to have a life span of 20 years. It is the computers and the end of line devices that are upgraded when technology improves. Fibre is simply a glass strand that can carry more data as the transmission devices improve. Therefore, the technology will improve at either end of the fibre (computers and end of line devices), as it did for "copper wire" medium.
Most benefactors will realize lower communications (data transfers) costs, that may exceed 1000% (depending on the current bandwidth requirements). The most significant of these benefactors are:
Additional benefits include:
There are many additional benefits to municipal fibre that are being recognized, they include:
Planning a Municipal Fibre Program
Some of the basic steps that the municipal fibre utility will need to address:
*
Winnipeg Hydro has developed at least a portion of this requirement*
Winnipeg Hydro is a developed and mature resource
A staged or phased approach is common among all models studied. It should be noted that Winnipeg Hydro and the City of Winnipeg have already achieved much of Type 1 and Type 2. The common Types identified are:
*
Type 1Construction of a fibre optic network that controls and monitors the electrical facilities of the municipality. This provides an internal cost saving to the utility and the municipality.
*
Type 2Expansion of the fibre network to improve internal municipal communications and accommodate the future needs for communications of the utility and the municipality. This is the introduction phase for other city departments such as libraries, signals, fire and police as well as other government related organizations such schools and hospitals. This provides a reduction in costs to the entire municipality in communication spending.
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Type 3Provision of (leasing) dark or dim fibre to carriers. This provides a revenue stream to the utility. Revenues can be used to further expand and maintain the fibre network.
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Type 4Provision of some shared services with other regional governments for their internal systems efficiency improvement. This provides a cost saving to the regional governments in communications and services costs.
Type 5
Provision of some Applications Service Provider services to carriers. Provides revenues to the utility and the municipality.
Type 6
Fibre To The Home (FTTH) is an option some municipalities are considering. There are many reasons this option may be important to a municipality in its future. They include:
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Most Effective Placement of Winnipeg Hydro
Considerations For Implementation
The Infrastructure Backbone
The basic network is called the backbone. It serves as the main framework, similar to the hydro substations that interconnect the power grid of the city and distribute the power into districts or areas. In the case of municipal fibre, this would be the interconnection of the main points of distribution.
The Distribution Network
The distribution network of a municipal fibre network would be similar to the hydro poles that are located throughout the city that distribute the power from the substations to individual service or customer connection points.
The Customer Interface
The Customer Interface is the equipment and/or software that allow the service supplier and the end user to communicate with each other or with other end users.
Additional considerations include:
How Much will Municipal Fibre Cost
The largest cost of fibre installations is not the cost of the physical fibre but of the labour to install the fibre. There is little difference between installing a cable of 24 strands and installing a cable of 864 strands. There are three ways in which fibre can be installed:
Other Budget estimates include:
$150 - $250 per kilometer, per year
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was established by Parliament in 1968. It is an independent public authority constituted under the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act and reports to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. The CRTC is vested with the authority to regulate and supervise all aspects of the Canadian broadcasting system, as well as to regulate telecommunications service providers and common carriers that fall under federal jurisdiction. The CRTC derives its regulatory authority over broadcasting from the Broadcasting Act. Its telecommunications regulatory powers are derived from the Telecommunications Act and various "special" acts of Parliament related to specific telecommunications companies.
A municipal fibre utility would need to establish the level of involvement with the CRTC that it desired (see Municipal fibre models). The CRTC, through its regulatory authority can aid, as well as deter an organization from participation in the telecommunications industry. In some cases legal action against carriers has been taken for infringement of the CRTC imposed regulations and in others the CRTC has offered legal protection to Canadian carriers under its regulatory policies. Professional legal consultation may be required for some carrier activities that a Municipal Fibre Utility may undertake.
North York Hydro in Toronto has realized an opportunity to increase revenues by contracting for fibre installations and leasing dark fibre to numerous carriers that include Sprint and the local board of education. The North York Hydro municipal fibre plan began with a small pilot project that connected two McDonald’s Restaurants with 2 km of fibre optic. The fibre cable is leased to McDonalds by a long-term lease agreement that provides continuous revenue for the utility. North York operates as a dark fibre supplier and does not provide contractor services.
- Ottawa, Ontario (Ottawa Hydro)
Ottawa has established a metropolitan dark fibre consortium that has released an RFI and a subsequent RFP. One of the main purposes of establishing this consortium is to reduce telecommunication costs throughout the municipality. Other benefits that will be realized include enabling customer fibre rings and extending educational and research facilities into the wide area, which allows for the consolidation of network servers and the elimination of border routers.
- Kanata, Ontario (consortium)
Kanata has joined with fibre contractors and several carriers in a consortium to build a municipal fibre network. Kanata has built this network to give customers empowered networking. The move has resulted in direct cost savings in telecommunications and it is expected to result in many other direct benefits to the participating organizations. Benefits include enabling fibre rings as a customer option rather than joining an existing distribution network where customers had to build their own rings for restoration or protection at either the physical or virtual layer. Additional benefits have included extending the campus LAN into the wide-area, which has allowed for the consolidation of network servers and the elimination of border routers.
- Edmonton, Alberta,
EPCOR, formerly Edmonton Power is leasing its municipal owned dark fibre to link campuses, business and other carriers. EPCOR discovered there was a increasingly competitive and deregulated environment and that outsourcing utility, municipal, and industry support services was the right approach to superior customer service and customer retention. EPCOR offers a one-stop-shop source based on extensive knowledge, a long and stable history, and a competitive approach that saves time and money.
- Sudbury, Ontario
The Sudbury Regional Network, SureNet is owned and operated by Sudbury Hydro. Sudbury Hydro first supplied dark fibre to the consortium of SureNet in 1997. Sudbury has seen an increase in economic activity in their community from the introduction of a call centre (750 new jobs) and higher growth in the telecommunication industry.
- Hamilton, Ontario (consortium)
Hamilton Hydro has joined with UTILiNK, a fibre contractor, in supplying dark fibre for the municipality and others. The excess strands installed by the consortium are leased to other carriers as dark fibre, offsetting the cost of the installation and paying for itself very quickly.
- Montreal, Quebec (consortium)
Montreal municipal authorities have joined in a consortium with some school boards, RISQ and IMS to build a municipal owned dark fibre network. By building their own fibre network the school boards have realized they can connect schools for an average of $80 per month, per school based on a 20 year amortization of the fibre. In Montreal, the estimated payback for dark fibre is between 6 months and 2 years. Not only do the school boards anticipate saving money by eliminating the monthly charge for managed bandwidth, they will also achieve substantial savings by eliminating the network servers at each individual school. With dark fibre and essentially unlimited bandwidth (currently 100 Mbps) each individual school's LAN can be extended back to the central administrative site. In addition, maintenance, backups and software updates can all be done much more cost effectively from the central administrative building. With the possibility of unlimited bandwidth the schools are able to explore new high
end applications such as video conferencing and Voice over IP.
- Vancouver, British Columbia (consortium)
The Vancouver fibre optic system will allow members of the police, fire, RCMP, ambulance services, 9-1-1 call centre and municipal public work agencies to be able to communicate effectively in daily operations and especially in the event of an emergency.
- Barrie, Ontario
BarrieNet was formed as a platform for municipal agencies to share mission critical information instantly-for instance, providing fire fighters on call with instant access to building drawing and schematics held elsewhere in the city. The long-term vision includes the access of citizens to on-line government services, or e-government.
In Spokane a unique partnership was formed between the local power utility and the Spokane school district to deliver dark fibre to the 160 schools and colleges in the Spokane area. Each school was connected with dark fibre at a 10/100 Mbps connection to a neighbourhood Gigabit Ethernet switch. The dark fibre makes this possible.
- Palo Alto, California, FTTH
Palo Alto has created a municipal owned fibre utility and is considering, through a trial, whether to offer Fibre To The Home (FTTH). Expected cost to the customer for the FTTH is $40 per month for 10mbps.
- Ashland, Oregon
The City of Ashland developed a telecommunications infrastructure plan known as the Ashland Fibre Network. The Ashland Fibre Network was conceived as a method for the City's electric utility to begin planning for and dealing with upcoming electric deregulation. By constructing the municipal fibre network, the electric utility will be able to offer Ashland residents and businesses a variety of electrical and telecommunications services, greatly enhancing its overall service portfolio. The fibre project was modeled after other projects undertaken by other municipally owned electric operations in the United States.
- Glasgow, KY, consortium
GTE, a consortium of the Glasgow municipality and other carriers, can and will provide state-of-the-art telecommunications to all locations within their service area from its present digital network. The facilities provide advanced transmission characteristics for any specified high speed data requirement. The most noticeable results of the Glasgow model is that prices for carrier services have substantially decreased. A full 53 channel CATV service is only $15 per month with cable modem services at $22 per month including the modem.
- Chicago, Illinois
The Chicago municipal fibre authority operates from a unique 161,000-square-foot, five-level facility that was designed from the inside out and supports a number of specialized systems to ensure continued fail-safe, fully redundant, operation of its municipal fibre-optic cable feeds.
- Stockholm, Sweden,
Sweden has, through an ICT Commission, adopted innovative new policies that will see the entire State interwoven with a fine-meshed fibre optic network. This network enhances the "Digital Elevation" that will tie together several "Broadband Islands" in the State, one of which is Stockholm. The Stockholm Network is a municipal fibre network known as Stokab, it is fully owned by the City of Stockholm and the Stockholm Community Council. Stokab is providing the dark fibre infrastructure over which many carriers are providing different services to cater to many categories of customers. There are currently (May 2000) more than 30 carriers utilizing the Stokab network. The Stokab network has also attracted an abundance of high-tech investments, which contribute directly to the Stokab infrastructure through leasing fees, local taxes and user fees for traffic on the network. One of the main advantages Stockholm had was its access to city owned tunnels, subways, sewer lines and electrical conduits.
- Anaheim, California
The Anaheim public utilities department has a consortium agreement with SpectraNet International (SNI), a San Diego–based telecommunications network provider, to develop a public-private telecommunications system.
- Batavia, Illinois
The Batavia Hydro utility does not have a communications system; it is now studying the cost and feasibility of installing a comprehensive broadband communications network. The city’s objective is to improve its public utility services, upgrade internal communications, and eventually provide its citizens with advanced communication capabilities.
- Braintree, Massachusetts
To improve internal communications, the city, through the Braintree Electric Light Department, installed a fibre-optic cable network between the main generation facility and the administrative offices. The system has evolved into a comprehensive fibre-optic network.
- Cedar Falls, Iowa
In response to a 1994 election in which voters approved, by a 71 percent margin, the creation of a municipal communications utility, the city of Cedar Falls has built a system that will allow it to reach every residential and business in the city with voice and data services. The city built a hybrid fibre-coax system and offers cable television, business fibre-optic links, and cable modem services.
- Harlan, Iowa
To provide enhanced electric and other utility services to city residents and provide communications services at an affordable cost, Harlan, through its municipal utility system, is developing a hybrid fibre-coax broadband communications network. Through this network, the city will be able to offer enhanced services, including satellite and local television programming, Internet access, demand-side management, telephone, and telemedicine.
- Holland, Michigan
The city of Holland, which provides electric, water, and wastewater services to 20,000 residents and businesses, has installed the first phase of its fibre-optic communication network. The purpose is to improve the city’s electric system, implement automated remote meter reading, and provide linkages to the city’s mainframe. The city also plans to incorporate schools, hospitals, and businesses into the system.
- Wadsworth, Ohio
The city of Wadsworth, located in northeastern Ohio, distributes electric, water, and wastewater services to 17,000 customers through its public utilities department. In 1993, the city made a commitment to install a communications infrastructure that would serve its telecommunications needs and provide future capabilities through new technologies. As a result, Wadsworth implemented one of the country’s most innovative and flourishing telecommunication networks.
