Regional Meeting Preview:
Theory and Practice
Theories and models are ideal; the real world is not. The FTTH Council has many members who have seen it all in their years of designing, deploying, managing, maintaining and operating networks. This includes our community leaders who have undertaken slightly more complex partnerships to deploy fiber. In Chicago, we will be hosting a session on public private partnerships and the actual deployments, focusing on how these leaders made the partnership work.
Moderated by Board of Directors member Kevin Morgan of ADTRAN, our panelists are ready to share their stories. Panelists include:
Mark Erickson, Economic Development Director of the City of Winthrop, Minnesota. In Winthrop, the communities have played a primary role, using public facilities to invest in fiber as public infrastructure. Winthrop is one of the cities and townships within Sibley County and eastern Renville that have built the fiber-to-farm network, RS Fiber. The cooperatively funded network arose when local leaders were unable to convince several private entities that building fiber in the area was a sustainable business model. After years of planning and feasibility studies, leaders broke ground in July 2015 on the network they hope will connect 10 towns and 17 townships in rural Minnesota.
Robert Wack, Council President of the City of Westminster, Maryland. Westminster is an example of another creative partnership where the city has adopted a plan to install fiber that it will fund, own and maintain throughout the city. It has also entered into an agreement with Ting, a small ISP, by which Ting will pay to lease the fiber, bring in its own equipment, and offer gigabit service to residents and business. The city plays a partial role here, treating the fiber as it does roads and bridges — having the responsibility for building and maintaining — while Ting focuses on operations and customer service.
And Jay C. Stowe, President and CEO of Huntsville Utilities will round out the panel to talk about the City’s just announced, first-of-its kind partnership with Google Fiber.
