Regional Broadband Strategic Plan · 2017. 4. 13. · Regional Broadband Strategic Plan ECCOG Board approved April 5, 2017 Mid-State Consultants, Inc. ... improving cellular service

East Central Council of Governments

Regional Broadband Strategic Plan ECCOG Board approved April 5, 2017

Mid-State Consultants, Inc.

1475 North 200 West Nephi, Utah 84648

(435) 623-8601 www.mscon.com

OHIvey PO Box 1356

Sandy, Utah 84091 (801) 599-4866

www.ohivey.com

East Central Council of Local Governments

128 Colorado Avenue PO Box 28

Stratton, Colorado 80836 (719) 348-5562

www.eccog.com

http://www.mscon.com/

http://www.ohivey.com/

http://www.eccog.com/

Page 1

20 March 2017 Version 1

OVERVIEW

For a regional broadband strategic plan, we look at the questions:

• What is the current state of broadband in the region?

• What would we like it to be?

• How do we close the gaps?

When we look at the current state of broadband for Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, and Lincoln

Counties, we use research, service provider interviews, stakeholder interviews, and surveys to

evaluate availability, abundance, affordability, reliability, and sustainability.

• Availability does not necessarily address capacity. When we look at availability, we

identify services delivered over a broadband technology – that is, fixed wireless, DSL,

DOCSIS, or fiber. Typically, in an evaluation of availability, we do not consider cellular or

satellite broadband solutions. Cellular and satellite may represent an adequate

alternative to more traditional broadband services. In some cases, subscribers with

access to fixed wireless or wireline services may choose a cellular or satellite alternative.

However, because of cost, capacity, and usage limitations, we prefer to limit our

investigation of availability to fixed wireless or wireline services.

Current State - Availability

We find that availability is unequal through the region with some areas having no

service and others having choices of multiple broadband options. The majority of

Page 2


addresses have a single fixed wireless or wireline broadband choice with some having

no broadband solution and others two or more solutions to choose from.

Goal - Availability

o Every address in the region should have access to at least two broadband

options.

• When we look at abundance, we are looking at capacity. The objective is for broadband

subscribers to, as the national broadband plan suggests, access the “…highest quality

Internet services…”1

Current State - Abundance

In some areas, the local incumbent providers have chosen to deploy fiber to the

premises providing an abundance of broadband capacity. Other areas are limited to DSL

or fixed wireless services. While still other areas have no fixed line broadband service

available at all.

The needs of business are not being met even in many of the population centers.

Goal - Abundance

o Every address in the region should have access to at least one broadband service

that offers the FCC minimum definition of broadband (currently 25/3 Mbps).2

This is the low end of the goal. 2016 average US broadband speeds have climbed

to 55/19 Mbps.

o Business zoned areas should have access to at least one data package that meets

or exceeds 100 Mbps download speeds.

• Affordability is measured both in actual cost (that is, the amount paid each month) and

value (that is, the cost per Mbps).

Current State - Affordability

In most serviced areas packages range $35 to $45 per month range are available.

Packages range from $0.75 to $23.33 $/Mbps/month. On average, for a $35 to $45 per

month residential package, subscribers will pay:

1 See http://www.broadband.gov/about_broadband.html. 2 On 4 Feb 2015, the FCC found that “…having ‘advanced telecommunications capability’ requires access to actual download speeds of at least 25 Mbps and actual upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps…” In FCC 15-10, “2015 Broadband Progress Report and Notice of Inquiry on Immediate Action to Accelerate Deployment”. Viewed at https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-10A1.pdf.

http://www.broadband.gov/about_broadband.html

https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-10A1.pdf

Page 3


• Wireless: $12/Mbps/month

• DSL: $18/Mbps/month

• Cable: $9/Mbps/month

• Fiber: $2.50/Mbps/month

Subscribers willing to buy more bandwidth (and pay higher monthly fees) usually pay

less per Mbps.

Goal - Affordability

o Every address in the region should have access to at least one data package that

meets or beats the US average price per Mbps month. The US average cost per

Mbps has dropped to $0.85.

o Every address in the region should have access to at least one data package for

less than $50 per month. The US average cost for broadband service is about $47

per month.

• Reliable broadband is there when you want to use it. Broadband outages result from

any number of events. The most damaging event is when the middle mile (or backhaul)

is degraded or completely cut off. Middle mile disruptions can largely be avoided

through path diverse redundant routes.

Current State - Reliable

Stakeholder interviews suggest reliability is a key concern – especially in larger

communities like Burlington and Limon.

Goal - Reliable

o All service providers in the region should have path diverse redundant middle

mile connections.

• Broadband development in rural areas is difficult – not only to implement, but also to

maintain. Anything that is done in the region to improve broadband must be

sustainable.

Current State - Sustainable

Sustainable broadband development depends on residential and business adoption.

Throughout the region, business leaders and economic development teams expressed a

need for more capacity, better pricing, and more reliability.

In the residential marketplace, we found three prominent attitudes towards adoption:

Page 4


1. The internet does not offer enough value to justify the cost: at home we don’t

subscribe, we find our cellular data package provides sufficient service, or we

subscribe to a fairly low cost, low bandwidth package.

2. We’d love to subscribe or to have better bandwidth but we don’t think service is

available at our home. Sometimes this understanding, or misunderstanding,

occurs even in serviced areas.

3. We find the internet to be very important and we will subscribe to the fastest

affordable package available.

Of these attitudes towards adoption, the idea that the internet is important and that

there is an intent to subscribe best supports broadband development sustainability.

Goal - Sustainable

o Availability, abundance, affordability, and reliability goals should be achieved

without putting significant tax dollars at risk and in such a way that participating

private sector providers can maintain reasonable profits.

• Of course, other factors also affect broadband development. In particular, we found

that many residents choose to access broadband services through cellular carriers

(either using mobile devices or cellular sharing devices like MiFi). Agriculture – especially

farm implements and irrigation systems – depend on cellular services. Because of this,

improving cellular service should be considered in regional and local broadband

development plans.

Goal - Other

o Broadband development should contribute to better cellular service and

coverage.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Having identified the current state and proposed goals, how can we close the gaps?

Four general paths present themselves for broadband development ranging on a spectrum

including a traditional subsidized private sector status quo, public incentives (broadband

friendly policies) and penalties, public-private partnership (or wholesale) public infrastructure,

and full public sector market entry or a public sector retail offering. Each of these paths have

many possible iterations and the paths are not generally exclusive of each other.

Page 5


Status Quo Public Incentives Wholesale Public Entry

Retail Public Entry

Characteristics Current incumbent private sector providers are engaged in broadband development efforts. A status quo model continues to rely on the public sector to meet the desired broadband development goals.

Public incentives continue to rely on private sector development but strive to make that development easier by offering incentives. Incentives range from broadband friendly policies to making certain assets (like antennas, space in public buildings, rights of way, etc.) available to private sector broadband developers.

Some public sector entities choose to build infrastructure and to make it available to private sector providers to offer service. This can be targeted infrastructure connecting key locations or it can be more ubiquitous. The wholesale arrangement can provide dark or lit assets.

Some public sector entities choose to build infrastructure and provide service over that infrastructure.

Infrastructure Private sector ownership

Private sector ownership with some potential public sector sharing

Public sector ownership often augmented by private sector extensions

Public sector ownership

Services Private sector retail services

Private sector retail services

Private sector retail services

Public sector retail services

Public and Private Role Summary

Full private sector development

Private sector emphasis with public sector participation

Public sector emphasis with private sector participation

Full public sector development

Policy Benefit Policy benefits are ceded to the private sector. The private sector may contribute to advancing policy objectives but doing so is not their primary objective.

Policy benefits are largely ceded to the private sector. Incentive and penalty programs can be crafted to shape private sector behavior in order to better achieve policy objectives.

The public sector retains control of policy objectives.

The public sector retains control of policy objectives with the exception the development of a robust marketplace. Public sector retail entry may undermine the marketplace.

Public Financial Implications

Potential lost economic development opportunity.

Incentive programs may have some minimal government cost.

Infrastructure development is capital intensive. A wholesale-retail split may slow cost recovery.

Infrastructure development is capital intensive.

Page 6


Status Quo Public Incentives Wholesale Public Entry

Retail Public Entry

Market Conditions

The region’s broadband marketplace is insufficient to inspire significant broadband development from the private sector.

Incentives may make the region’s market more appealing to private sector service providers.

In order to best achieve all proposed broadband development goals within the rural market, some public entry may be required. A wholesale-retail split has proven viable in a similarly situated market in Rio Blanco County. To better sustain a wholesale-retail split model, some market aggregation with extra-regional projects may be needed.

A public sector retail entry requires significant operational capabilities. Without a sufficient market or a complementary public service (like a power utility) no communities in the region have sufficient potential markets to sustain a public sector retail entry.

Colorado Examples

Most areas in the state depend on status quo private sector development.

SECOM has secured certain public sector contracts in southeast Colorado. The security associated with these contracts has made it easier for SECOM to continue to expand broadband services. Centennial is using existing infrastructure to encourage private sector providers to improve broadband.

Rio Blanco County has built a ubiquitous wholesale-retail split network. The SCAN network in southwest Colorado and the middle mile effort in Region 10 are examples of targeted wholesale builds.

Longmont is engaged in a retail public sector entry.

Table 1: Broadband Development Options

The current state of broadband in the region and the desired broadband development

objectives suggest the need for a fairly aggressive public sector wholesale model. However, a

public sector wholesale model requires significant willingness from elected officials and their

constituents and staff expertise (either developed internally or outsourced). As a general rule,

the region’s public sector jurisdictions currently have neither the appetite nor the expertise for

public sector entry in broadband development.

Therefore, based on the current state of broadband in the region and our understanding of how

key stakeholders and policy makers would like to see broadband develop, we have created a

set of recommendations as found below. These recommendations represent a selection of

strategies from across the spectrum described above. Before presenting the full summary of

recommendations, there are two we would like to particularly emphasize:

1. Develop a Sustained Education Effort

Page 7


A key finding in the East Central Colorado region is significant number of subscribers

using cellular plans as their only broadband access. Sometimes this is through necessity

(that is, they have no fixed wireless or wireline choices); however, many times

subscribers simply choose to use their cellular plans rather than subscribing to more

traditional broadband services. Further, we found that a significant number of

subscribers are generally satisfied with their current level of service regardless of the

inadequacy of the service (for example, we found a library with a 3 Mbps download that

was satisfied with their connection; we also found a number of professionals with

download speeds below 10 Mbps at their homes who were content with their service).

2. Ensure Service Providers have Access to Path Diverse Middle Mile

Between Colorado Communications Transport (CCT), CenturyLink, EAGLE-Net and other

providers, the region has significant available middle mile assets. However, not all

service providers take advantage of available middle mile path diversity and

redundancy. All providers should. This could be accomplished with only minimal capital

expenditure by encouraging CenturyLink to connect to the CCT, EAGLE-Net, or some

other network; encouraging EAGLE-Net to connect to CCT or CenturyLink; and closing a

gap that exists between the CCT and SECOM middle mile networks.

CenturyLink’s proposed merger with Level 3 may help resolve much of CenturyLink’s

lack of path redundancy. Western Kansas is not a CenturyLink territory. Therefore, there

is no compelling reason for CenturyLink to carry traffic east of Burlington. Level 3 has

fiber just east of Burlington that follows a different path to Denver. With some capital

expenditure, CenturyLink could tie service for eastern Colorado to the Level 3 fiber east

of Burlington and create a much more reliable network. We must keep in mind,

however, that the merger is not yet approved and the ability to take advantage of the

synergies it creates will not occur until some time after the merger is complete.

General Strategy

Most of the region is supported by one or more local private sector service providers. The

private sector providers have generally indicated they believe they are doing all they can

reasonably do to develop broadband in the region and they have expressed an interest in

continued improvement. The regional broadband strategy should be to implement policies,

marketing and education, and targeted infrastructure to support the region’s service

providers.

We recommend using this strategy to focus on two primary goals:

Page 8


1. At least two providers offering packages sufficient to meet the FCC’s minimum

definition of broadband at every address in the region.

This goal directly addresses availability and abundance.

The FCC’s minimum definition of broadband may not always represent abundant

bandwidth. Nonetheless, it represents a benchmark upon which to base conversations

of abundance.

This goal indirectly addresses affordability. One purpose of having at least two providers

available to each address is to exert the price control mechanism of competition. While

wireless and wireline services are not directly comparable, they do represent potential

replacement technologies for the consumer.

2. Redundant and path diverse middle mile infrastructure to key population centers

throughout the region.

This goal directly addresses reliability.

Neither of these goals are realistic with the current sustainability environment in the region.

The residents and business owners in the region demonstrate a commendable understanding of

the advantages and disadvantages of living in rural east central Colorado. The people of the

region enjoy the incredible benefits of small towns and agrarian inspired principles and bear the

lack of urban amenities with admirable stoicism. That is, they enjoy what they have and they

“get by” with what is absent. In many ways, this ability to “get by” is an incredibly admirable

trait. We do not intend to denigrate it in any way. However, a 2015 series of commercials from

DIRECTV3 capture some of the problems it presents. In the commercials, the “Settlers” are

satisfied with what they have and see no need to subscribe to DIRECTV. In many ways,

residents of the East Central Region display characteristics that allow them to be satisfied with

what they have. Unfortunately, that satisfaction reports poorly on feasibility studies and

business plans as public and private sector entities look to develop broadband improvements.

In order to sustainably achieve the primary goals, residents and businesses need to learn they

don’t have to “get by” with inadequate access to abundant broadband. To that end, we

recommend a sustained education effort to help increase demand for broadband services.

Strategies that can be used to achieve the primary goals include:

Sustained Education Effort

A sustained education effort should have two primary goals:

1. Develop an appreciation for the value of broadband services

3 See https://youtu.be/ASyhJ0lRIU0 and https://youtu.be/6MOAtlVfo1w for example.

https://youtu.be/ASyhJ0lRIU0

https://youtu.be/6MOAtlVfo1w

Page 9


2. Provide information about available broadband options (and what can be done if the

current options are inadequate)

We recommend three primary education paths:

1. Online Presence. The region should develop a “broadband education and resource” web

presence. Each jurisdiction within the region should link to the region’s web presence. A

social media presence can be difficult to maintain but it may represent a worthwhile

effort.

The online presence should initially focus on the difference between merely adequate

broadband – that is service that allows basic web browsing and access to email – and

more abundant bandwidth – that is service that makes available the highest quality

Internet services.

2. Event Presence. It is difficult to get people to come to an online presence or real world

events that they are not already interested in. To that end, the region’s jurisdictions

should participate in existing events like county fairs, back to school nights, and other

public gatherings.

3. Classroom Opportunities. Relevant uses of online services represent a key driver for

broadband adoption. To that end, the region should support classroom opportunities

that drive broadband usage. Classes should focus on activities that may interest

residents and businesses like genealogy and family history, using video conferencing for

personal and business, using “cloud” services for your household or business, etc.

In order to be effective, this education effort should be sustained through time. The region

should conduct periodic surveys to measure the effect of the education effort and to identify

needed adjustments to the message. Public sector efforts should be designed to support and

coordinate with private sector marketing and education efforts.

Of course a sustained education effort requires expending resources. Professional services are

required to design an effective online presence; materials need to be printed; booths at fairs

may cost; space for classes may need to be rented; course material needs to be developed.

Much of the cost may be offset by contributions. The individual counties may donate booth

space at the fairs; classes may be conducted in libraries or in other public spaces; students and

instructors from high schools and Morgan Community College may be recruited to prepare

course material. We recommend that the Department of Local Affairs consider funding the

region’s education efforts. Other potential funding mechanisms might be an Enterprise Zone

contribution project, private enterprise contributions, economic development funds, or other

funds.

Policies

Page 10


• CRS Title 29 Article 27 (also known as “Senate Bill 152”) places restrictions on municipal

broadband development. Many Colorado communities are engaging in “opt out”

initiatives designed to restore local control regardless of chosen broadband

development paths.

• The various counties and communities should implement a “dig once” or “open trench”

policy and other broadband friendly initiatives. A sample “open trench” policy” is

included in the appendix.

• Broadband mapping requires constant attention. Private companies are not required to

disclose their infrastructure assets, service levels constantly change, old assets are

retired, and other changes occur. Rather than trying to maintain its own broadband

map, the region should work with the Governor’s Office of Information Technology

(GOIT) to develop information sharing mechanisms where the region provides GOIT with

information and GOIT responds to the region’s broadband information needs.

• Develop online services and otherwise encourage broadband utilization. It is important

for public entities to demonstrate the value of broadband.

Middle Mile

Middle mile infrastructure is fairly abundant throughout the region. However, the available

middle mile networks are not interconnected and some of them lack path diversity. This creates

an environment where even though multiple middle mile options exist into a community like

Burlington, a failure of a given subscriber’s provider’s middle mile will create an outage for that

subscriber. If the various providers were to cooperate to create interconnectivity, reliability

could be greatly enhanced.

An opportunity for path diverse and abundant middle mile infrastructure exists in the recent

creation of Colorado Fiber Network as a joint effort between CCT in the northeast, SECOM in

the southeast, Jade Communications in the south central portion of the state, FastTrack in the

southwest, and Strata in the northwest. The Colorado Fiber Network is on its way towards

creating a highly reliable abundant middle mile environment throughout all of rural Colorado.

Currently, the Colorado Fiber Network has no connection between CCT in the northeast

(extending as far as Hugo) and SECOM in the southeast (extending as far as the intersection of

Highways 40 and 94).

Last Mile

Generally, service providers in the region are working to improve broadband. Service provider

led broadband development focuses first on those efforts that meet the needs of the service

provider. Often the service provider’s needs and the public policy needs of the community

align. The various communities in the region should work with their service providers to provide

Page 11


support to help meet public policy goals. Some mechanisms the communities may use to

support private sector broadband development include:

• Increased Public Entity Usage and Awareness

Public entities and other community anchor institutions are important broadband

customers in the region. First, they function as “anchor tenants” for broadband

providers. Next, they set the example in the region. If the patrons of public institutions

and other community anchor institutions see that broadband is important to the

institution, they may see its relevance in their own businesses and households.

• Aggregate Purchasing

Typically, the more broadband capacity one buys, the lower the Mbps cost. Insofar as

reasonable, communities should aggregate their community anchor institution

broadband purchases. In many instances this may require some linking infrastructure.

This linking infrastructure can be built by the community or provided by private service

providers.

• Targeted WiFi Implementations

Providing WiFi in certain public areas increases the visibility of broadband adoption and

helps spread the message of broadband relevance.

• Targeted Infrastructure Builds

In order to support broadband purchasing aggregation and in order to improve business

cases to align private and public sector needs, communities may need to invest in

targeted infrastructure builds. These builds may be used to connect disparate middle

mile networks to improve reliability, to extend fiber to cell towers to increase capacity,

to build towers to support extending fixed wireless services, or for other purposes.

• General Infrastructure Builds

Some communities may support their local providers with more general infrastructure

builds. By providing publicly owned open access infrastructure, public entities enable

broader service deployments and may accelerate broadband development.

CONTENTS

Overview ......................................................................................................................................... 1

Contents .................................................................................................................................... 11

Tables ........................................................................................................................................ 14

Figures ....................................................................................................................................... 14

Page 12


Broadband Primer ......................................................................................................................... 16

What is Broadband ................................................................................................................... 16

How is Broadband Delivered .................................................................................................... 18

Middle Mile ........................................................................................................................... 19

Last Mile ................................................................................................................................ 20

How Do we Measure Broadband Quality ................................................................................. 21

Broadband Infrastructure ......................................................................................................... 22

Where are We Now and Where Do We Want to Be .................................................................... 29

Economic Vitality and Quality of Life ........................................................................................ 29

Education .............................................................................................................................. 32

Healthcare ............................................................................................................................. 34

Agriculture ............................................................................................................................ 35

Current State of Broadband in East Central Colorado .............................................................. 37

Survey and Interview Results ................................................................................................ 51

How Do We Close the Gaps .......................................................................................................... 54

Broadband Development Options ............................................................................................ 54

General Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 57

The Counties ................................................................................................................................. 63

Cheyenne County ...................................................................................................................... 63

Recommendations ................................................................................................................ 64

Elbert County ............................................................................................................................ 65


Kit Carson County ...................................................................................................................... 67


Page 13


Lincoln County .......................................................................................................................... 69


Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 71

County Summaries with Stakeholder Interview Summaries .................................................... 71

Cheyenne County .................................................................................................................. 71

Elbert County ........................................................................................................................ 73

Kit Carson County .................................................................................................................. 74

Lincoln County ...................................................................................................................... 81

Survey Comments ..................................................................................................................... 86

Service Provider Summaries ..................................................................................................... 94

Agate Mutual Telephone Cooperative ................................................................................. 94

Bijou Telephone Cooperative ............................................................................................... 94

Centurylink ............................................................................................................................ 95

Comcast ................................................................................................................................. 96

DirectLink LLC ........................................................................................................................ 97

Eagle Communications .......................................................................................................... 98

Eastern Slope Rural Telephone Association (ESRTA) ............................................................ 98

Fairpoint Communications .................................................................................................. 100

Jab / Skybeam / Rise Broadband ........................................................................................ 101

MHO Networks ................................................................................................................... 101

Plains Telephone Cooperative ............................................................................................ 103

Rebeltec .............................................................................................................................. 103

Federal Projects ...................................................................................................................... 106

Broadband Initiatives Program ........................................................................................... 106

Page 14


Colorado Department of Education - Bridging Colorado’s Digital Divide ........................... 106

Connect America Fund ........................................................................................................ 107

EAGLE-Net ........................................................................................................................... 108

Model Open Trench/Dig Once Ordinance .............................................................................. 110

Terms and Acronyms .............................................................................................................. 121

TABLES

Table 1: Broadband Development Options .................................................................................... 6

Table 2: Last Mile Technology Summary ...................................................................................... 28

Table 3: Simultaneous School Assessment Tests by Bandwidth .................................................. 33

Table 4:East Central Colorado Current State Findings Overview ................................................. 39

Table 5: Data Package Pricing ....................................................................................................... 48

Table 6: Survey Status Quo Option Comments ............................................................................ 88

Table 7: Survey Incumbent Incentives and Penalties Comments ................................................. 89

Table 8: Survey Broadband Friendly Policies Comments ............................................................. 91

Table 9: Survey Government Infrastructure Comments .............................................................. 92

Table 10: Survey Other Solutions Comments ............................................................................... 93

FIGURES

Figure 1: High Level Internet Diagram .......................................................................................... 19

Figure 2: DSL.................................................................................................................................. 23

Figure 3: Typical DSL Loss Impact ................................................................................................. 24

Figure 4: Fixed Wireless ................................................................................................................ 24

Figure 5: Broadband Use for Current K-12 Applications .............................................................. 32

Page 15


Figure 6: Distribution of Farms and Value of Farm Production by Internet Use .......................... 36

Figure 7: ECCOG.KMZ Screenshot of Wireline Providers.............................................................. 40

Figure 8: ECCOG.KMZ Screenshot of Fixed Wireless Providers .................................................... 41

Figure 9: AT&T Data Coverage Map.............................................................................................. 42

Figure 10: T-Mobile Data Coverage Map ...................................................................................... 43

Figure 11: Verizon Data Coverage Map ........................................................................................ 43

Figure 12: Viaero Data Coverage Map .......................................................................................... 44

Figure 13: Northern Cell Coverage ............................................................................................... 45

Figure 14: Southern Cell Coverage ............................................................................................... 45

Figure 15: CCT Middle Mile Fiber .................................................................................................. 49

Figure 16: Colorado Fiber Network............................................................................................... 50

Figure 17: Reported Satisfaction with Broadband Service ........................................................... 52

Figure 18: Desired Broadband Improvements.............................................................................. 53

Figure 19: Survey Results - Broadband Development Actions ..................................................... 56

Figure 20: Desired Improvements ................................................................................................ 60

Figure 21: Proposed CCT to SECOM Connection .......................................................................... 61

Figure 22: ECCOG.KMZ Cheyenne County Screenshot ................................................................. 63

Figure 23: ECCOG.KMZ Elbert County Screenshot ........................................................................ 65

Figure 24: ECCOG.KMZ Kit Carson County Screenshot ................................................................. 67

Figure 25: ECCOG.KMZ Lincoln County Screenshot ...................................................................... 69

Figure 26: ESRTA Service Area Map .............................................................................................. 99

Figure 27: MHO Service Area ...................................................................................................... 102

Figure 28: EAGLE-Net Network ................................................................................................... 109

Page 16


BROADBAND PRIMER

The purpose of this Regional Broadband Strategic plan is to answer the questions:

• What is the current state of broadband in the region?

• What do we want broadband to look like?

• How do we close the gaps?

Before we can answer those questions, we need to take a little time to understand what

broadband is, how it’s delivered, and how we measure broadband quality. We’ll tackle that in

this first section. Then we’ll get to more specific information about the East Central Colorado

Council of Governments area.

WHAT IS BROADBAND

As early as 1958 the Bell System implemented their dedicated line Data-Phone service which

allowed high-speed transmission of data over regular telephone circuits. The first “Internet”

was built in 1969 between UCLA, the Stanford Research Institute, UC Santa Barbara, and the

University of Utah. Email was introduced in 1972. In 1986, Al Gore sponsored the

Supercomputer Network Study Act and the groundwork was laid to move the Internet from a

defense and research tool to a commercial platform. In 1990, Tim Berners-Lee brought the first

web server online. In December of 1991, Paul Kunz brought the first US web server online at

the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

As the Internet got started, it was in the “slow” lane. From the first data connections in the late

50s through the development of the commercial Internet in the 90s, data was typically passed

on dedicated lines or using dial-up modems to connect at 56 Kbps (.056 Mbps). In about 2000,

broadband technologies started becoming widely available. First, ISDN services offered data

speeds of up to 128 Kbps (.128 Mbps). Shortly on the heels of ISDN came DSL with data speeds

Page 17


above 1 Mbps. Cable companies also started implementing DOCSIS standard technologies

which allow for two-way data transmissions on coaxial systems at multiple megabits per

second.

Today broadband speeds are delivered over the airwaves via fixed and mobile wireless, using a

variety of DSL technology, over cable companies’ coaxial networks, and at the speed of light

over fiber optic cabling.

The literal definition of broadband has to do with the range of frequencies across which data

signals travel. But for most people, broadband consists of two primary characteristics:

1. It is faster than dial-up service and

2. It is always on and doesn’t interfere with voice calls.

The definition of adequate broadband speed is constantly shifting and will continue to for the

near-term. As data capacity increases, application developers build services that take advantage

of the new speed. As applications require more data transfer capacity, broadband network

owners look for ways to increase speeds. On their Broadband.gov web site, the FCC states:

Broadband provides access to the highest quality Internet services—streaming media,

VoIP (Internet phone), gaming, and interactive services. Many of these current and

newly-developing services require the transfer of large amounts of data that may not be

technically feasible with dial-up service. Therefore, broadband service may be

increasingly necessary to access the full range of services and opportunities that the

Internet can offer.4

We like to joke that broadband is Internet access that is faster than whatever you have now.

But in some senses, the joke is real. As we look at improving broadband in east central

Colorado, we want to come to a strategic plan that has potential to improve broadband for

everyone. Those that have no broadband today would be greatly served to get a one or two

Mbps wireless link; but those speeds would not “provide access to the highest quality Internet

services.” To get the highest quality Internet services, subscribers need access to data speeds

closer to the 20 or 30 Mbps range. Even at 20 to 30 Mbps many businesses and some

residences find their broadband speeds to be inadequate. They struggle with their connectivity

and hope for improvements that will lift them to above 100 Mbps. To attract data centers, call

centers, and other data intensive businesses, 100 Mbps service is inadequate. Economic

development may demand improving broadband to the 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps) range or better.

Even at these faster speeds, if the network isn’t reliable, if it doesn’t have diverse paths, or if

costs are too high, communities are at a disadvantage when trying to attract and retain 21st

4 Broadband.gov. “What is Broadband?” FCC. http://www.broadband.gov/about_broadband.html.

http://www.broadband.gov/about_broadband.html

Page 18


century businesses. While the economic development director unable to attract a call center

and the jobs it represents to her town and the potential subscriber outside the range of any

broadband service have very different problems, they both have broadband development

needs.

HOW IS BROADBAND DELIVERED

The Internet is sometimes called the “information superhighway”; it can be understood using a

road analogy. Like the road system, the Internet has “highways” and “surface streets”. On the

information superhighway, the highways are called “middle mile” infrastructure and the surface

streets are called “last mile”.

Of course surface streets and highways come in many varieties. Highways range from multi-

lane interstate freeways to two-lane state highways. Surface streets can be major collector

roads, neighborhood streets, or even driveways. The broadband road system has just as much

variety as the streets. Because of this variety, we may sometimes need to break last mile

infrastructure into distribution level infrastructure (collector roads), access level infrastructure

(neighborhood roads), or drop level infrastructure (driveways). We may need to talk about “off-

ramps” or add/drop points on middle mile infrastructure. We may need to layer Internet access

by local, regional, and national/international Internet service providers.

To complete the analogy, we need one more piece. Just like the road system tends to channel

vehicle traffic towards large population centers where multiple roads (and other transportation

options) come together, broadband networks channel data traffic towards “peering points” or

“internet exchange points” (IXPs). Peering points are data centers where national and

international broadband networks (called Tier 1 Networks) converge. At these peering points,

Internet traffic can easily cross from one major network to another and, for the user, viewing a

web page from South Africa can be just as easy as watching a movie hosted on a server in South

Carolina; sending an email to your grandkids in Denver can be just as easy as video

conferencing with a client in Dusseldorf.

Page 19


Figure 1: High Level Internet Diagram

“Figure 1: High Level Internet Diagram” depicts how these pieces interrelate. The black route

lines at the bottom of the diagram (from the “Internet users” cloud) represent last mile

infrastructure. The black route lines in between the local and regional ISPs (the pink and green

clouds) and between the national and international networks (the purple, orange, and blue

clouds) represent middle mile infrastructure.

MIDDLE MILE

Sometimes called “backhaul”, middle mile paths provide extra-regional connectivity. It is

important to have sufficient capacity, path diversity, logical redundancy, and reasonable pricing

on middle mile paths.

The preferred transport medium for middle mile infrastructure is fiber optic cable. Good quality

fiber cables lend themselves to extraordinary data capacity. Commonly available systems can

divide a single fiber pair into up to 80 channels carrying 10 Gbps each or 800 Gbps total. More

advanced systems can create more channels at faster speeds. In 2011 NEC demonstrated an

experimental system with 370 channels each with a capacity of more than 270 Gbps for a total

line speed on a single pair of fiber of 101 Tbps (101,000,000 Mbps). The limiting factor is the

connecting technology; the technology does not yet exist that will saturate a fiber pair. Thus

the deployment of fiber infrastructure can be expected to survive many connecting technology

turns, multiple generations of subscribers and an extended return on investment.

Page 20


Because of its phenomenal capacity, fiber is the preferred medium for middle mile

infrastructure. Licensed microwave links offer a reasonable lower cost middle mile alternative

to more expensive fiber optic deployments. Licensed microwave links typically provide 1 Gbps

speeds. Multiple channels can be “bound” to provide speeds of up to 4 Gbps.

Because middle mile infrastructure is extra-regional, it is difficult for individual communities to

influence the quality of their middle mile environment. Local jurisdictions can wield influence

on middle mile quality by working to persuade private carriers to provide robust, high capacity,

reasonably priced backhaul. Communities can also work to aggregate demand to increase their

purchasing power and then use that increased purchasing power to influence carrier behavior.

As a region, the east central Colorado area can work together to influence carrier behavior and

implement middle mile solutions.

LAST MILE

As noted above, when we talk about last mile infrastructure, we may need to talk about

distribution, access, or drop architecture.

Distribution

Middle mile paths usually terminate at a facility or location from which data connectivity is

distributed in a local area. In the traditional circuit switched telecommunications world, this

facility is called the central office and this term is still used by many carriers. Others call this

“meet me” point a colocation facility, a point-of-presence (POP), or a data center.

Distribution paths are usually developed in a ring architecture out from the meet me point to

provide path diversity and redundancy. Some intra-regional distribution paths may connect

disparate communities and others may provide paths through a community itself.

Distribution architecture is fundamental to enabling demand aggregation. This level of

architecture is seldom highlighted by those incumbent providers who work to disaggregate

demand in order to maximize profit or for other business or technical reasons.

Sometimes distribution architecture is considered “middle mile” and other times it is

considered a portion of the “last mile” network.

Distribution architecture can be fiber, wireless (licensed or unlicensed), or copper based (DSL

on twisted pair or Cable). Many incumbent providers are replacing legacy copper distribution

architecture with fiber (sometimes called fiber to the node) to enable higher capacity

connections. New implementations of distribution architecture are typically fiber or licensed

point-to-point wireless.

Page 21


Many communities engaging in broadband development focus on distribution architecture. It is

a fairly straightforward task to build distribution infrastructure to connect the disparate

community anchor institutions within a community. This distribution infrastructure path can

aggregate the demand from the multiple community anchor institutions. The increased

purchasing power that aggregated demand affords can be used to influence backhaul provider

behavior and pricing. Some communities also elect to offer services (either directly or through a

third party provider) to businesses and other locations along their distribution ring or municipal

area network path.

Some communities extend distribution paths to neighboring jurisdictions – thusly increasing

aggregation opportunities and extending capabilities.

Access

Access level architecture extends the network from the distribution network into the

community making it available to potential subscribers. Access architecture can originate at the

POP or at designated locations along a distribution path.

Access architecture can be fiber, wireless (usually unlicensed), or copper (telephone or cable).

Improving access architecture by developing fixed wireless assets is a very low cost alternative

to deploying or upgrading wireline infrastructure. Deploying new or improving existing wireline

access architecture is a capital intensive proposition. However, without improved access level

architecture, the benefits of any broadband development may be limited to very localized

areas.

Drop Level

Drop level architecture extends access level infrastructure into the subscriber’s premises.

HOW DO WE MEASURE BROADBAND QUALITY

We describe the broadband environment in the region with five characteristics: availability,

abundancy, affordability, reliability, and sustainability.

Available

Extending broadband availability involves efforts to reach locations not already served

or to extend additional capabilities or competitive choice to locations with limited

capabilities.

Initial efforts to extend reach typically rely on fixed wireless technologies. Extending

reach and increasing capacity are complementary, especially in rural and remote areas.

Page 22


Abundant

Broadband capacity – measured in kilobits, megabits, or gigabits per second download

and upload speeds – affects the experience in the online world. Increasing capacity must

be targeted at capacity bottlenecks. If adequate backhaul, or middle mile, capacity

exists to support subscribers but their access level infrastructure, or last mile, does not

provide sufficient connectivity to capitalize on that backhaul, increasing backhaul

capacity will only have a marginal effect.

Affordable

The broadband environment improves when costs per Mbps go down. Users may see

higher monthly bills but still benefit from lower costs. For example, subscribers

previously purchasing a 5 Mbps download wireless service for $45 per month may now

be paying $75 per month for a 100 Mbps connection. Their monthly bill has gone up by

nearly 2/3 but they are paying $0.75 per Mbps per month instead of $9 per Mbps per

month.

Reliable

In order to provide a satisfactory user experience and to ensure an adequate platform

for economic development, services must be available when needed or desired.

Reliability is typically improved by building redundancy into the system. Redundancy is

achieved through path diversity, logical redundancy, operational redundancy, etc.

Sustainable

Broadband competition spurs innovation and drives costs down. However, small

markets can only sustain a reasonable number of broadband providers. Middle mile and

last mile infrastructure deployment is capital intensive. Sustainable broadband

development requires careful management of the market and, especially in rural areas,

may require public subsidization or other public efforts.

As we discuss these broadband characteristics, we may use quantitative and/or qualitative

measures to compare their state in the east central Colorado area with other areas, national

averages, or ideal objectives.

BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE

Last mile services can be delivered across a number of transmission media. We will usually

discuss DSL, fixed wireless, cable, and fiber. In many cases in east central Colorado, subscribers

use mobile wireless as their only means of connecting to the Internet; others use satellite

services.

Page 23


DSL

DSL transmits digital information on a twisted pair of copper wire – usually the very same

twisted pair that delivers traditional voice service to the home.

CenturyLink and Eastern Slope Rural Telephone Association (ESRTA) are the primary DSL

network owners in the east central Colorado area. Federal regulation requires that owners of

telephone infrastructure make elements of that infrastructure available to competing providers

at fair rates. This “unbundling” means that other providers can offer DSL service across an

incumbent carrier’s infrastructure.

Figure 2: DSL

“Figure 2: DSL” represents a simplified DSL system.

There are many varieties of DSL. CenturyLink and ESRTA typically offer either ADSL or VDSL in

the east central Colorado area. ADSL has a maximum download speed of about seven Mbps.

VDSL can perform up to about 45 Mbps. Both ADSL and VDSL are asymmetrical services offering

faster downloads than uploads. ADSL usually has upload speeds below 1 Mbps. VDSL can have

upload speeds up to 10 Mbps.

DSL services are created and aggregate at a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer or a

DSLAM. The data signal from the DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) suffers

attenuation, or loss, as it travels along the twisted pair cable. In general, the further the

subscriber is from the DSLAM, the more service degrades.

Page 24


Figure 3: Typical DSL Loss Impact

In many areas, CenturyLink has deployed remote DSLAMs to extend the reach of its DSL service.

The distribution network for these remote DSLAMs is usually fiber resulting in a fiber to the

node model. ESRTA has aggressively deployed fiber connected remote DSLAMs.

Fixed Wireless

Fixed wireless differs from mobile wireless (or cellular broadband) in the technology used to

deploy services. Fixed wireless services can offer speeds close to 100 Mbps but most providers

offer maximum speeds of about 25 Mbps. Fixed wireless service can be provisioned

symmetrically but is usually offered with faster downloads than uploads.

Figure 4: Fixed Wireless

Page 25


“Figure 4: Fixed Wireless” depicts a simplified fixed wireless system. Distances from the

wireless tower to the rooftop antenna can be up to 30 miles on licensed spectrum. Unlicensed

systems usually perform best within seven miles of the wireless tower. Not depicted in “Figure

4: Fixed Wireless” is the distribution infrastructure connecting the wireless tower to a POP

where the fixed wireless system connects to the middle mile network. That distribution

infrastructure can be wireless, copper, or fiber.

Most fixed wireless systems outperform ADSL systems. Fixed wireless is easier and less capital

intensive to deploy than wired systems.

Unlicensed systems can suffer degradation throughput from interference. Additionally, licensed

and unlicensed systems face general terrain and atmospheric signal degradation. Licensed

spectrum is scarce and can be expensive.

Cable

In the late 1990s and early 2000s cable TV companies began providing data service on existing

coaxial cable TV systems using a standard called Data Over Cable Service Interface

Specifications or DOCSIS. With improvements and optical fiber feeder deployed deeper into the

network, cable companies can offer speeds up to 150 Mbps (or faster in some cases).

Only limited communities in the east central Colorado area have access to cable internet

service. Eagle or Comcast is the primary provider where these services are available.

Fiber

Optical fiber is often used in middle mile infrastructure and is becoming more common in last

mile infrastructure. Mot wired and many wireless providers use fiber in parts of their

distribution networks. In access level infrastructure, CenturyLink offers Metropolitan Optical

Ethernet services – a fiber based access infrastructure – to some businesses in some east

central Colorado communities. Plains Telephone and Rebeltec also offer some fiber to the

premises solutions for limited business and residential addresses.

Page 26


Consider the following illustration of the long term scalability of fiber: if a standard drinking straw

represent dial up speeds (56 Kbps), then a pipe about a foot in diameter equals a 100 Mbps

connection. Using the same scale, a Gigabit connection would be represented by a pipe about 3 feet

in diameter. Commercially available connections for a single fiber pair would be represented by a

pipe about 115 feet in diameter. To represent the theoretical capacity of a single fiber pair, we

would need a pipe about 1,600 feet in diameter – or as large as the Hoover Dam.

Commercially available systems can deliver

capacity that, on this same pipe scale,

would be represented by a pipe about 115

feet in diameter.

On this scale, the theoretical capacity of a

single pair of fiber would require a pipe

about 1,600 feet in diameter – or as large as

the Hoover Dam.

If we establish a scale where the straw on the

left represents typical dial-up speeds, the

straw on the right represents basic DSL

speeds.

On this same scale, a 1-foot diameter pipe

represents a 10 Mbps connection. It takes the

3-foot diameter pipe on the ground to

represent the Gbps connections being

delivered in many cities today.

Current technology can deliver terabits (1 million megabits) over a single strand of fiber.

The theoretical capacity of a single fiber equates to a pipe that would be the size of the Hoover

Dam!

The straw on the left represents the capacity of

a dial-up connection; the one on the right, DSL.

Typical connections on fiber networks operate at 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps. The pipes shown illustrate those

capacities relative to DSL connections.

Page 27


Other

In some cases, subscribers use satellite service, cellular service, or other broadband

technologies. These alternative technologies may be the only choice some subscribers have.

Trees, terrain, and weather impede cellular and satellite services.

In the east central Colorado region significant numbers of subscribers use cellular broadband

out of choice (they feel it is the best option) or necessity (they understand it to be their only

option).

Summary

Available Abundant Reliable Affordable Sustainable

DSL Generally available. Availability limited by distance from DSLAM.

ADSL is a very poor broadband solution. VDSL within reasonable distance of a DSLAM is a good broadband solution.

Generally reliable when DSLAM has path diverse and redundant connections.

Monthly costs are generally good. Cost per Mbps is poor.

Uses existing twisted pair infrastructure.

Fixed Wireless

Generally available. Availability limited by line of sight limitations and distance from tower sites.

Good. Reliability suffers from congestion on aggregation points and service degradation resultant from weather conditions.

Monthly costs are generally good. Cost per Mbps is poor. Wireless services typically have the highest cost per Mbps of last mile solutions.

Relatively low cost deployment.

Cable Available in some more dense areas. Not usually available in rural areas.

Good. Capacity is often degraded by over-subscription at hub sites. Reliability suffers from shortcomings in broadcast network design

Good. New deployments are capital intensive and unlikely. Deployments on existing infrastructure are reasonably easy.

Fiber Poor. Very little last mile fiber exists in the east central Colorado area.

Excellent. Good if designed for redundancy.

Where fiber to the premises has been deployed, monthly costs are very good to excellent. In particular, the cost per Mbps is excellent.

High cost to deploy but once it is in place fiber has a long expected life cycle and low operating costs.

Page 28


Available Abundant Reliable Affordable Sustainable

Other Satellite service is generally available. Cellular broadband is reasonably available. Some other technologies may also be available.

Other technologies are poor to very poor broadband solutions.

Service is affected by weather, congestion, and other conditions.

Other broadband solutions usually have high prices compared with traditional last mile technologies.

Most other technologies are at constant risk of being superseded by more traditional solutions.

Table 2: Last Mile Technology Summary

Page 29


WHERE ARE WE NOW AND WHERE DO WE WANT TO BE

Let’s first take a look at how broadband may be contribute to economic vitality and quality of

life in the east central Colorado region. We’ll then look at the general state of broadband in the

region. Later, when we look at development options, we’ll provide a little more detail regarding

the state of broadband in each of the counties.

ECONOMIC VITALITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE

Solving broadband problems is in the public interest. Improved broadband brings improved

quality of life and better economic development opportunities.

Many public safety functions depend on communications. This Regional Broadband Strategic

Plan is not intended to directly address public safety, however, improved broadband creates

improved public safety opportunities. Because of broadband development, police and private

security companies can deploy high definition and heat sensitive security cameras for remote

monitoring of sensitive areas. Fire departments can take advantage of data provided via

intelligent alarm systems. Police departments can more effectively use systems like Shot

Spotter technology that identifies gunshots and alerts authorities to detect and deter violent

crime.

Broadband development supports economic development. As the 21st century economy

evolves, many “knowledge” jobs continue to develop. Many of these knowledge jobs are

“location neutral” meaning the worker can be anywhere and still contributing – so long as the

worker has adequate and affordable access to resources, the rest of their team, and the world

through broadband connectivity.

Page 30


Economic vitality is dependent upon the availability of affordable and abundant broadband

services. Businesses large and small are already heavy users of the Internet, and their

bandwidth needs will increase dramatically as two business trends accelerate:

1. Business travel costs continue to outpace inflation – both the cost of ordinary

commuting to the workplace and the cost of out of town business travel. Businesses are

investing in HD quality business videoconferencing systems and will make more use of

them to reduce travel costs. These systems require significant bandwidth; bandwidth

not reliably available throughout much of the east central Colorado area.

2. Perhaps more importantly than enabling reductions in business travel, affordable and

abundant broadband makes telecommuting and working from home a viable reality.

High performance, reliable and affordable broadband services make it possible for

workers with jobs on the Front Range and around the country or home based

entrepreneurs and other location neutral workers to live and work anywhere.

As we interviewed hospital administrators, they indicated they are having difficulty

attracting and retaining doctors – not because the doctors don’t want to come, but

rather because their spouses cannot continue their professions. Better broadband will

make more remote work opportunities available.

Broadband development is a critical component of an economic development strategy but it is

no silver bullet. Broadband investments need to be tied to a wider set of community and

economic development strategies that help make regions engaging and interesting places to

locate and run businesses and to make communities vibrant and safe places to live.

Communities that have made broadband investments without taking the time to identify a

broader set of goals and expected outcomes have often been disappointed when their

broadband investments have made insignificant impact. However, it is clear that broadband

investments are critical for economic vitality. In May of 2012 David Salway, in an article for

About.com suggests, “There is little debate that increasing broadband access spurs economic

development, but can this be quantified?”5 Salway then compiles a list of some of the leading

research completed on the economic effects of broadband. Paraphrasing Salway’s list:

• Robert Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation6 claims in an

Associated Press/USA Today article by Joelle Tessler that, “a $10 billion investment in

broadband would produce as many as 498,000 new jobs.”7

5 Salway, David (May 2012). “Broadband as an Economic Driver.” About.Com. http://broadband.about.com/od/economicdevelopment/a/Broadband-As-An-Economic-Driver.htm. 6 http://www.itif.org/ 7 Tessler, Joelle (6 February 2009). “Broadband Funding in Stimulus Plan Sparks Debate.” USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-02-06-broadband-funding_N.htm.

http://broadband.about.com/od/economicdevelopment/a/Broadband-As-An-Economic-Driver.htm

http://www.itif.org/

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2009-02-06-broadband-funding_N.htm

Page 31


• In “The Effects of Broadband Deployment on Output and Employment: A Cross-Sectional

Analysis of U.S. Data,” Robert Crandall, William Lehr, and Robert Litan of the Brookings

Institute, the authors determine that for every one percentage point increase in

broadband penetration in a state, employment is projected to increase by 0.2 to 0.3%

per year.8

• In “Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth,” Nina Czernich, et. al. find that “a

10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration raises annual per-capita growth

by 0.9-1.5 percentage points.”9

• Between 1998-2002 communities that gained access to broadband service experienced

an employment growth increase of 1% to 1.4%, a business establishment increase of

0.5% to 1.2%, and a rental value increase of 6%.

• Kristen Van Gaasbeck, et. al. found in their “Economic Effects of Increased Broadband

Use in California Research Report” that “this analysis paints a clear picture of how

increased broadband use (and the migration from dial-up to broadband) affects

employment and payroll in California and a select group of its regions – the direction of

the effect is always positive and the magnitude depends on the size of the shift in the

percentage of the adult population using a broadband Internet connection. Even a small

increase in broadband use could generate a substantial cumulative gain over the next 10

years compared to what could be expected under business as usual conditions.”

• For every $1 million granted for broadband development, 15 jobs would be created.

Community investments in infrastructure in cooperation with local providers will accelerate the

availability of broadband options within east central Colorado communities.

Broadband development supports key economic vitality and quality of life sectors in the east

central Colorado area like education, healthcare, and agriculture.

8 Crandall, Robert W., William Lehr, and Robert Litan (July 2007). “The Effects of Broadband Deployment on Output and Employment: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of U.S. Data.” The Brookings Institute Issues in Economic Policy; Washington, DC. http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/crandall/200706litan.pdf. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2007/6/labor%20crandall/06labor_crandall.pdf. 9 Czernich, Nina, Oliver Falck, Tobias Kretschmer, and Ludger Woessman (December 2009). “Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth.” CESIFO Working Paper. http://www.cesifo.de/pls/guestci/download/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%202009/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%20December%202009/cesifo1_wp2861.pdf.

http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/crandall/200706litan.pdf

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2007/6/labor%20crandall/06labor_crandall.pdf

http://www.cesifo.de/pls/guestci/download/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%202009/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%20December%202009/cesifo1_wp2861.pdf

http://www.cesifo.de/pls/guestci/download/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%202009/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%20December%202009/cesifo1_wp2861.pdf

Page 32


EDUCATION

No amount of technology can ever replace the powerful impact of a teacher interacting with

students one-on-one or in reasonably sized classrooms. But even the best of teachers can -

augment the education they offer with online resources. Furthermore, true broadband can

bring critical training resources and those in need of the training together more often and in

more ways than can be imagined.

Broadband enables educational applications for students, parents, and professionals. A 2009

survey conducted in Colorado demonstrated the need for broadband for currently available

educational services:

Figure 5: Broadband Use for Current K-12 Applications

Of course, as technology continues to develop, the need for broadband to support education

will become ever greater.

Colorado’s schools have moved to online core curriculum testing. The Partnership for

Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) has released its “Technology

Page 33


Guidelines for PARCC Assessments: Version 3.0”10 In the guidelines, PARCC recommends 100

Kbps per student or faster connections or about 1 Mbps per 10 students. Using the connection

speeds defined in “Figure 5: Broadband Use for Current K-12 Applications”, schools could

simultaneously test as follows:

Speed Simultaneous Tests

One T1 (1.5 Mbps) 15

Two T1s (3 Mbps) 30

Four T1s (6 Mbps) 60

10 Mbps Ethernet 100

20 Mbps Ethernet 200

Table 3: Simultaneous School Assessment Tests by Bandwidth

The nation’s schools suffer from inadequate Internet access and IT training. For most, access is

too slow with insufficient bandwidth to allow creative and expansive online learning, such as

video conferencing or collaborative work. Schools with constrained bandwidth have limited

options for classroom use of IT applications such as streaming video. The Benton Foundation

explains:

Distance learning over broadband is a distant dream. Online curricula is offline. Teachers

are insufficiently trained to use technology in their classrooms, so that whatever

technology is available to them languishes. Students are taught the basic 3 Rs, as

required by the No Child Left Behind Act, but not the digital skills that will enable them to

translate those 3 Rs into success in today’s Information Age.11

Many schools are using the Internet to expand course offerings. For instance, throughout the

east central region, students are enrolled in foreign language courses taught by a teacher in

another district. Elsewhere, students can use the Internet to take higher level or better-quality

courses than those available at their home schools. Through distance education, students in the

region can participate in concurrent enrollment with Morgan Community College or other

postsecondary institutions.

The Internet helps break down the walls of the classroom, allowing students to participate in

remote classes and in virtual field trips. Students are going online and “touring the Smithsonian

10 Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (September 2013). “Technology Guidelines for PARCC Assessments: Version 3.0”. Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. Viewed at http://www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/TechnologyGuidelinesforPARCCAssessmentsV3.0Sept2013.pdf. 11 Rintels, Jonathan (2008). “An Action Plan for America: Using Technology and Innovation to Address our Nation’s Critical Challenges: A Report for the new Administration from the Benton Foundation.” Benton Foundation. http://benton.org/sites/benton.org/files/Benton_Foundation_Action_Plan.pdf.

http://www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/TechnologyGuidelinesforPARCCAssessmentsV3.0Sept2013.pdf

http://benton.org/sites/benton.org/files/Benton_Foundation_Action_Plan.pdf

Page 34


National Air and Space Museum, experiencing a tribal dance in Africa, or scouring the depths of

the Pacific Ocean in a submarine.” Users are exploring the digital archives at the Library of

Congress and collaborating with students, professors, and government officials in other states

and around the world.12

According to the “America’s Digital Schools 2008”, 37% of school districts anticipate a problem

obtaining sufficient bandwidth and the majority have implemented policies to conserve

bandwidth by limiting student Internet use.13 Nonetheless, internet proficiency is assumed at

the college level, leaving many children at an educational disadvantage.

East central Colorado’s schools depend on distance education. Most school districts in the

region share resources for language and advanced placement classes. Accelerated students

depend on distance education access to Morgan Community College courses to meet their

needs. In many cases, schools participate with the East Central BOCES for connectivity to

broadband and access to distance education technology and support.

Outside of traditional classroom environments, broadband enables adult continuing education

and professional development by bringing instructors and students together without travel

costs.

HEALTHCARE

The US healthcare system is expensive, overburdened, and inefficient. In 2006, national

healthcare costs grew 6.7% to $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per person, and accounted for 16% of

gross domestic product (GDP). Similar growth is projected to continue past 2017 at which point

healthcare will account for nearly 20% of GDP. Some of this expense can be attributed to the

inappropriate reliance on costly hospital emergency rooms, which are often sought after

traditional office hours or in communities with a shortage of physicians. In fact, over half (55%)

of the 114 million emergency room visits Americans make each year are for non-emergencies,

accounting for $31 billion annually, or $300 per American household.

Broadband technology can dramatically reduce these expenses by providing the tools to

remotely monitor patients, allow collaboration between healthcare professionals, facilitate the

transfer of healthcare data and images, and increase access to emergency services in remote

12 Rintels, Jonathan (2008). “An Action Plan for America: Using Technology and Innovation to Address our Nation’s Critical Challenges: A Report for the new Administration from the Benton Foundation.” Benton Foundation. http://benton.org/sites/benton.org/files/Benton_Foundation_Action_Plan.pdf. 13 Greaves, Thomas W. and Jeanne Hayes (2008). “America’s Digital Schools 2008: The Six Trends to Watch.” The Greaves Group; The Hayes Connection. http://www.schooldata.com/pdfs/ADS08_intro.pdf.

http://benton.org/sites/benton.org/files/Benton_Foundation_Action_Plan.pdf

http://www.schooldata.com/pdfs/ADS08_intro.pdf

Page 35


areas. By one estimate, these services can lead to nationwide savings of $165 billion per year.14

“Always-on broadband” is “essential” for some of these applications and greatly improves

others that “depend on uninterrupted real-time transmission.”

Some of the ways broadband improves the healthcare sector include storage and transmittal of

healthcare information, enabling of remote health monitoring, potential for lowering medical

transportation costs, and otherwise improving efficiencies in service.

AGRICULTURE

To start our look at broadband and agriculture, let us reference data from the USDA’s Economic

Research Report titled “Broadband Internet’s Value to Rural America”.15

Agriculture is a business sector that benefits from the Internet.

For farm operators with Internet access in 2000, 98% used it to gather information. Price

tracking (82%) was the next most common application.16

With growth in e-commerce, horticulture and other specialty farm products are increasingly

sold direct to households. E-commerce has increased efficiencies in existing relationships along

the food marketing chain, reduced the cost of expanding market area, and brought about new

services such as supermarket home delivery and direct-to-consumer sales.17

Not all types of agricultural production lend themselves readily toward direct sales from

producer to consumer. Still, the wholesale and retail food industry has enhanced its

productivity with Internet adoption.18

14 Extrapolated from Rand Health in 2005 as cited by the Business Roundtable in http://businessroundtable.org/sites/default/files/BRT_Hill_Event_Brochure_Split-10-13.pdf. 15 Stenberg, Peter, Mitch Morehart, Stephen Vogel, John Cromartie, Vince Breneman, and Dennis Brown (August 2009). “Broadband Internet’s Value to Rural America”. USDA. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err78.aspx.

16 Hopkins, Jeff, and Mitch Morehart (2001). “Farms, the Internet, & E-Commerce: Adoption and Implications,”

Agriculture Outlook, Nov., pp. 17-20.

17 Kinsey, Jean and Brian Buhr (2003). “E-Commerce: A New Business Model for the Food Supply/Demand Chain,”

Working Paper 03-01, The Food Industry Center, University of Minnesota, February.

18 Akridge, Jay T. (2003). “E-Business in the Agricultural Input Industries,” Review of Agricultural Economics, 25:1,

pp. 3-13.

Beurskens, Frank (2003). “The Economics of Dot.coms and E-commerce in the Agrifood Sector,” Review of Agricultural Economics, 25:1, pp. 22-28.

http://businessroundtable.org/sites/default/files/BRT_Hill_Event_Brochure_Split-10-13.pdf

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err78.aspx

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err78.aspx

Page 36


Respondents to the 2007 Agricultural Resources Management Survey (ARMS) were asked if

they had internet access and if it was “high-speed.” A majority of farms (63%) reported using

the internet in their farm business (see “Figure 6: Distribution of Farms and Value of Farm

Production by Internet Use”). Among those using the Internet, the predominant access method

was broadband and this group of users accounted for over 60% of US farm production.

Figure 6: Distribution of Farms and Value of Farm Production by Internet Use

Only about a third of spouses on farms with no Internet use reported working off-farm,

compared to more than 50% on farms that used the Internet. On the one hand, off-farm

employment may provide more income and exposure to Internet technologies, instigating

home or farm adoption. On the other hand, a spouse who works off the farm may indicate

financial stress and lesser wherewithal to invest in farm-specific Internet use. Households with

school-age children are expected to have a higher awareness of the Internet and more demand

for bandwidth-intensive applications.19 In keeping with this, the percentage of farms with

Henderson, J., F. Dooley, and J. Akridge (2000). “Adoption of E-Commerce strategies for agribusiness firms,” http://www.ebscohost.com. Stricker, S., D.A. Sumner, and R.A.E. Mueller (2003). “Wine on the Web in a Global Market: A Comparison of E-Commerce Readiness and Use in Australia, California, and Germany.” Paper presented at the EFITA 2003 Conference, July 5-9. Zilberman, David, Mark Metcalfe, and Amir Heiman (2002). “Economics and Adoption of Information Technology with Evidence from California.” Paper for the Card E-Commerce research mini-conference, Feb. 9. 19 Grant, August E., and Jennifer H. Meadows, editors (2002). Communication Technology Update, eighth edition,

Woburn, MA: Elsevier Science.

http://www.ebscohost.com/

Page 37


school-age children was nearly two times higher in 2007 when Internet use was reported than

when it was not.

Reviewing agricultural adoption rates:

• Larger farm businesses, as indicated by more hired workers, have a higher probability of

broadband Internet access.

• Farm households with income above $50,000 have a higher probability of broadband

Internet access.

• The relative probability of broadband Internet use does not increase as the number of

providers in an area increases.

• Having school-age children in the household is associated with higher probability of

broadband Internet use.

• Operators with at least a college degree are more likely to use broadband.

• Farms located in mixed urban/rural areas are less likely to use broadband than those in

urban areas.

We were frustrated with the aged nature of the technology in agriculture research we could

acquire. So, we took our findings to equipment vendors, agriculturalists, and agricultural

academics in the region and elsewhere. In our interviews we found general concurrence with

these findings we felt were dated. In particular, we found significant data usage requirements

met almost exclusively through cellular data packages. Telemetry data for farm implements and

irrigation devices depend on cellular broadband packages. Field mapping depends on cellular

data. John Deere goes so far as to include an AT&T subscription with all its equipment. We also

found many agricultural households using cellular data packages to meet their business and

personal data needs.

CURRENT STATE OF BROADBAND IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO

The current state of broadband in the east central Colorado region is a combination of what

really exists and resident’s perception of what exists.

We will look at each broadband characteristic in some detail. “Table 4:East Central Colorado

Current State Findings Overview” summarizes our findings.

Page 38


Available Availability is unequal through the ECCOG region with some areas having no service and others having choices of multiple broadband options. The majority of addresses have a single fixed line broadband choice with some having no fixed line solution and others two or more solutions to choose from.

GOAL: Every address in the region should have access to at least two broadband

providers. Abundant In some areas, the local incumbent providers have chosen to deploy fiber to the

premises providing an abundance of broadband capacity. Other areas are limited to DSL or fixed wireless services. While still other areas have no fixed line broadband service available at all. The needs of business are not being met in many of the population centers.

GOAL: Every address in the region should have access to at least one data package that

meets or exceeds the current FCC definition of broadband.

GOAL: Business zoned areas should have access to at least one data package that

meets or exceeds 100 Mbps download speeds.

Affordable In most serviced areas packages in the $35 to $45 per month range are available. $/Mbps/month ranges from $0.75 to $23.33. On average, for a $35 to $45 per month residential package, subscribers will pay:

• Wireless: $12/Mbps/month

• DSL: $18/Mbps/month

• Cable: $9/Mbps/month

• Fiber: $6/Mbps/month Subscribers willing to buy more bandwidth (and pay higher monthly fees) usually pay less per Mbps.

GOAL: Every address in the region should have access to at least one data package that

meets or beats the U.S. average price per Mbps per month.

GOAL: Every address in the region should have access to at least one data package for

less than $50 per month.

Reliable Stakeholder interviews suggest reliability is a key concern – especially in larger communities like Burlington and Limon.

GOAL: Every service provider in the region should interconnect to a Tier 1 or Tier 2 POP

on path diverse redundant routes.

Page 39


Sustainable Sustainable broadband development depends on residential and business adoption. Throughout the region, business leaders and economic development teams expressed a need for more capacity, better pricing, and more reliability. In the residential marketplace, we found three prevailing attitudes towards adoption:

1. The internet does not offer enough value to justify the cost – at home we don’t subscribe, we find our cellular data package provides sufficient service, or we subscriber to a fairly low cost, low bandwidth package.

2. We’d love to subscribe or to have better bandwidth but we don’t think service is available at our home. Sometimes this understanding, or misunderstanding, occurs in serviced areas.

3. We find the internet to be very important and we will subscribe to the fastest affordable package available.

The prevalence of the first two attitudes towards adoption suggests broadband development will be difficult to sustain.

GOAL: Availability, abundance, affordability, and reliability goals should be achieved

without putting significant tax dollars at risk and in such a way that participating private sector providers can maintain reasonable profits.

Other Many residents choose to access broadband services through cellular services (either using mobile devices or cellular sharing devices like MiFi). Agriculture – especially farm implements and irrigation systems – depend on cellular services. Because of this, improving cellular service should be considered in broadband development plans.

GOAL: Broadband development should contribute to better cellular service and

coverage.

Table 4:East Central Colorado Current State Findings Overview

AVAILABLE

Wireline Service

The region is characterized by a quilt-work of wireline providers with Agate, Bijou, CenturyLink,

Comcast, Eagle, Eastern Slope Rural Telephone Association (ESRTA), Fairpoint, Plains, and

Rebeltec all offering wired services in part of the region. Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (or

ILEC – meaning the telephone company required to offer carrier of last resort voice service – all

ILECs in the region offer broadband) service is divided between Agate, CenturyLink, ESRTA,

Fairpoint, and Plains.

Page 40


Figure 7: ECCOG.KMZ Screenshot of Wireline Providers

With rare exceptions, these service providers do not overlap. Thus, in most cases, subscribers

have access to a single wireline provider. In some rare cases Eagle or Comcast may provide

service in an ILEC territory. In even rarer cases, a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (or CLEC –

a CLEC is a telephone company that competes in an ILEC’s region), or a CLEC arm of an ILEC, has

reached into a competing ILEC’s territory like Plains has done in Burlington.

Plains and ESRTA have implemented significant capital improvement plans to extend

broadband service to all addresses within their ILEC territory. Other ILECs concentrate

broadband service in more urbanized areas leaving some of the more rural areas unserved by

wireline service.

Fixed Wireless Service

Fixed wireless providers in the region include Bijou, DirectLink, Eagle, JAB, and Rebeltec.

Page 41


Figure 8: ECCOG.KMZ Screenshot of Fixed Wireless Providers

Fixed wireless service is generally available throughout the region except in those cases where

terrain, foliage, or distance prevents signal propagation.

Cellular Coverage

Cellular coverage is not a specific area of study for this project. Nonetheless, because of the

heavy reliance on cellular coverage in the agricultural business sector and the large number of

interviewees indicating they rely on cellular service as their primary data coverage, we have

elected to include some cellular coverage analysis.

AT&T, Verizon, and Viaero each claim data coverage throughout nearly all of the region. T-

Mobile claims data coverage in most of Elbert County and into Limon.

Page 42


Figure 9: AT&T Data Coverage Map20

20 From https://www.att.com/maps/wireless-coverage.html.

https://www.att.com/maps/wireless-coverage.html

Page 43


Figure 10: T-Mobile Data Coverage Map21

Figure 11: Verizon Data Coverage Map22

21 From http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage.html. 22 From https://vzwmap.verizonwireless.com/dotcom/coveragelocator/.

http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage.html

https://vzwmap.verizonwireless.com/dotcom/coveragelocator/

Page 44


Figure 12: Viaero Data Coverage Map23

Through experience, experimentation, and anecdotal evidence, we believe these coverage

maps significantly overstate actual coverage.

In conjunction with another vendor, we validated some of the findings from Opensignal.com.

23 From http://www.viaero.com/support/help-center/national-coverage-map/local-coverage.

http://www.viaero.com/support/help-center/national-coverage-map/local-coverage

Page 45


Figure 13: Northern Cell Coverage

Figure 14: Southern Cell Coverage

Unlike the provider maps, these data demonstrate significant areas of low signal strength and

some areas with no cellular connection

T-Mobile has not undertaken significant efforts to expand in the region. AT&T and Verizon have

pursued a strategy of maximizing coverage by placing antennas as high on tower structures as

possible. This strategy of placing fewer antennas higher on towers for greater reach lowers

capital costs but diminishes service quality and coverage reliability.

Viaero has pursued a greater antenna density model placing more antennas in the region on

shorter tower structures. This means that Viaero service – both voice and data – is usually

Page 46


better in the region. However, because Viaero is not a Tier I national carrier, when subscribers

leave the Viaero service area, they experience unreliable and variable roaming service.

ABUNDANT/AFFORDABLE

Where available, data packages range from 1.5 Mbps to 150 Mbps (and more in special

circumstances). In most cases in the region, subscribers are limited to data packages with

slower speeds than the current FCC target of 25/5 Mbps.

The US average price for broadband is $47 per month for an average connection speed of just

under 55 Mbps download resulting in an average cost of $0.85 per Mbps. East central Colorado

residents pay from $0.75 to $23.33 per Mbps. Most wireline subscribers in the region pay near

the $47 national average for data packages of about 7 Mbps and experience an average cost of

$7.86 per Mbps per month. Thus, even though regional subscribers are paying about the same

price each month as the national average, they are getting about half the value. For those who

only have the opportunity to subscribe to fixed wireless service, the price per Mbps per month

is closer to $10.

Packages $/Mbps/month

Agate DSL

1.5: $35 3: $49 6: $65

$23.33/Mbps/month $16.33/Mbps/month $10.83/Mbps/month

Bijou DSL Wireless

DSL 1.5/0.384: $30 6/0.768: $60 18/2: $110 Wireless 1.5/0.384: $30 6/0.768: $60 18/2: $110

$20.00/Mbps/month $10.00/Mbps/month $ 6.11/Mbps/month $20.00/Mbps/month $10.00/Mbps/month $ 6.11/Mbps/month

CenturyLink DSL

DSL 1.5/.896: $42.99 7/.896: $52.99 12/.896: $62.99 20/.896: $72.99 20/5: $77.99 40/5: $112.99 40/20: $122.99

$28.66/Mbps/month $ 7.57/Mbps/month $ 5.25/Mbps/month $ 3.65/Mbps/month $ 3.90/Mbps/month $ 2.82/Mbps/month $ 3.07/Mbps/month

Page 47


Packages $/Mbps/month

Comcast Cable Modem

Business 16/3: $82.50 50/10: $122.90 150/20: $262.90 Residential 3: $40 6: $50 25: $62 50: $67 105: $79 150: $115

$ 5.16/Mbps/month $ 2.46/Mbps/month $ 1.75/Mbps/month $13.33/Mbps/month $ 8.33/Mbps/month $ 2.48/Mbps/month $ 1.34/Mbps/month $ 0.75/Mbps/month $ 0.77/Mbps/month

DirectLink Wireless

Business 5: $80 15: $100 25: $120 Residential 4: $40 6: $50 15: $70

$16.00/Mbps/month $ 6.67/Mbps/month $ 4.80/Mbps/month $10.00/Mbps/month $ 8.33/Mbps/month $ 4.67/Mbps/month

Eagle Cable Modem Wireless

Cable 50/5: $55 Wireless 5/5: $60

$ 1.10/Mbps/month $12.00/Mbps/month

Eastern Slope DSL

4/.512: $35 15/3: $85

$8.75/Mbps/month $ 5.67/Mbps/month

Fairpoint DSL

Business 4/1: $70 15/1: $85.90 Residential 4/1: $60 15/1: $75.90

$17.50/Mbps/month $ 5.73/Mbps/month $15.00/Mbps/month $ 5.06/Mbps/month

JAB Wireless

Business 5/2: $57 10/2: $97 Residential 5/1: $47 10/2: $57

$11.40/Mbps/month $ 9.70/Mbps/month $ 9.40/Mbps/month $ 5.70/Mbps/month

Plains Fiber

5/1: $40 40/25: $99

$ 8.00/Mbps/month $ 2.48/Mbps/month

Rebeltec Cable Fiber Wireless

Fiber 40/40: $45 Cable 2: $25 Wireless 5/5: $50

$ 4.90/Mbps/month $12.50/Mbps/month $10.00/Mbps/month

Page 48


Table 5: Data Package Pricing

The pricing in “Table 5: Data Package Pricing” generally does not reflect bundles or special

pricing. In all cases, we tried to find standard data only pricing.

RELIABLE

A key factor driving reliability is middle mile path diversity and redundancy. Several providers

offer middle mile infrastructure in the region but two of them carry the bulk of the traffic:

CenturyLink and Colorado Communications Transport (CCT).

CenturyLink only has limited path diversity and redundancy in the region. Thus, problems with

the route as far west as Limon can affect services in Burlington.

CCT is a consortium that includes Agate, ESRTA, and Plains in the east central Colorado region

and Nunn, PC Telcom, Peetz, Roggen, Stoneham, Wiggins, and Willard the northeast. Zayo, a

regional, national, and international middle mile provider is also part of the consortium. CCT

has combined assets of its consortium companies and built new fiber to deploy a ring through

northeast Colorado.

Page 49


Figure 15: CCT Middle Mile Fiber

Some of the consortium members subscribe to middle mile services with paths to the east to

augment their CCT connection.

Page 50


The CCT network represents one of the best middle mile environments anywhere in rural

Colorado. SECOM has a very robust middle mile network in southeast Colorado. SECOM’s

network passes through Kit Carson and into Aroya. The CCT network comes as far south as

Hugo. Closing the 28-mile gap between the two networks would create additional redundant

paths for service providers in east central Colorado. This action would also be in the interest of

Colorado Fiber Network – a consortium of middle mile carriers that includes CCT in the

northeast, SECOM in the southeast, Strata in the northwest, FastTrack in the southwest, and

Jade in south central Colorado. The Colorado Fiber Network consortium effectively creates a

ring around rural Colorado with this 28-mile gap in east central Colorado and another gap

between Pagosa Springs and Alamosa.

Figure 16: Colorado Fiber Network

The Colorado Fiber Network offers service providers fiber access to Tier 1 peering points in

Denver, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Wyoming, and Kansas.

SUSTAINABILITY

Page 51


Sustainability is a key issue for broadband development in east central Colorado for two

reasons: population density and adoption patterns.

First, the population density is low. The business case for the capital expenditures required to

significantly improve broadband in low population density areas is difficult. Plains was able to

take advantage of the broadband stimulus program included in the 2009 American Recovery

and Reinvestment Act to deploy fiber to the premises throughout its territory. ESRTA has taken

advantage of low-interest, long-term loans from RUS to expand fiber to the node and improve

DSL services in their territory. CenturyLink has accepted CAF II funds with their requisite

upgrades.

Rebeltec and Plains continue to carefully grow their networks and improve their services based

on the strength of their subscriber revenues. Other providers in the region are able to grow and

develop based on the strength of federal and state subsidies available to ILECs in rural areas.

Second, adoption in east central Colorado is dampened by poor service in some areas and a

“halo” effect that poor service seems to have. In short, people hear that the Internet is bad and

so they believe that it is and choose not to subscribe or to subscribe to a broadband alternative

like a cellular data package.

Broadband development sustainability is further exacerbated by the strained economic

situation of much of the region.

SURVEY AND INTERVIEW RESULTS

To gain an understanding of how people feel about broadband service in the region, we

interviewed stakeholders and conducted an online survey.

Our stakeholder interviews exposed a dichotomy in the perception of broadband. First, most

stakeholders indicated an understanding of the value of broadband. Generally, stakeholders

were supportive of efforts to improve broadband in the region and based that support on their

understanding of the economic development and quality of life benefits afforded by broadband

services. However, many stakeholders seemed to feel their service – at home and at work – was

mostly adequate for their needs. This sense of general satisfaction was evident even when

bandwidth was woefully inadequate for the stated needs of the stakeholder’s household or

organization.

The online survey suggests the same dichotomy. Two-thirds of respondents indicated they are

satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their current service.

Page 52


Figure 17: Reported Satisfaction with Broadband Service

However, when asked what improvements were desired and given the chance to indicate

satisfaction with their service, 88% of respondents indicated a high or medium need to improve

reliability and to improve connection speed. 78% of respondents indicated a need for more

choice and 70% of respondents see lowering costs as a high or medium need.

Very Dissatisfied9%

Somewhat Dissatisfied21%

Neutral4%

Somewhat Satisfied29%

Very Satisfied37%

REPORTED SATISFACTION

Page 53


Figure 18: Desired Broadband Improvements

Like in the stakeholder interviews, the survey indicates a general response of “things are fine”

but “we need to fix things”.

This split response finding speaks, in part, to the potential sustainability of any broadband

improvements that might be made in the region and drives our primary recommendation for

the east central region – that of developing an education program.

The high levels of customer satisfaction in spite of comparatively high costs, relatively slow

speeds, and a very strong desire to see improved reliability suggests the subscribers needed to

build a business case for improved services may not subscribe at levels that would sustain the

new infrastructure.

On the other hand, this split response finding may not indicate a low potential for sustainability.

It may simply reflect a prevailing understanding that broadband service in rural areas is

understandably slower and more expensive and less reliable than in more urbanized areas.

An education campaign in the region can be structured so that it not only enhances potential

sustainability but also helps residents and business owners understand that there are things

that can be done that would improve service and potentially lower cost. Until an education

campaign results in reasonable confidence that broadband improvements will be sustained by

subscriber behavior significant capital improvement investment is unreasonable and unlikely.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Desired Improvements

High Mediuum Status Quo Adequate Not Important Unsure

Page 54


HOW DO WE CLOSE THE GAPS

There are any number of actions a community can take to develop broadband. In this section

we will first look at broadband development options and then present general

recommendations.

BROADBAND DEVELOPMENT OPTIONS

As we look at public participation in broadband development in a region like east central

Colorado, we typically consider four categories of potential action: continue with the status

quo, provide incumbent providers incentives and/or penalties, implement broadband friendly

policies, and/or implement publicly owned infrastructure. Of course, there may be other

options as well.

Status Quo

To do nothing – or to maintain the status quo – is sometimes the most appropriate action. If

residents and business owners are satisfied with broadband in the region; they believe there

are other more pressing issues; or they believe the existing service providers and the private

marketplace will take care of the region's broadband needs without intervention, then the most

appropriate action is to do nothing.

As shown below in “Figure 19: Survey Results - Broadband Development Actions,” Respondents

to the online survey had very low desire to maintain the status quo. Fewer than one in five felt

maintaining the status quo was the most appropriate or a somewhat appropriate action.

Incentives and/or Penalties and Broadband Friendly Policies

Incumbent providers (the existing service providers) can be encouraged to improve access to

broadband in the region through incentives and penalties. Some incentives might include

Page 55


access to lucrative government or other community anchor institution contracts, tax breaks or

fee reductions, easy access to public rights of way and so forth. Incumbent providers can be

penalized by denying them these incentives.

The online survey showed incentives and penalties to be a more popular course of action than

maintaining the status quo or implementing government owned infrastructure. More than half

of respondents felt incentives would be either the most appropriate or a somewhat appropriate

course of action.

Survey comments indicate that many respondents are unaware of the federal incentives

already offered to CenturyLink through CAF II and to other providers through RUS loans and

broadband stimulus spending.

The Fiber to the Home Council has suggested communities can become "broadband friendly"

through:

• Community and local government leadership and support

o Develop a clear broadband plan

o Ensure commitment of community stakeholders, including local government

personnel

• Favorable approval requirements and permitting

o Define an expeditious process for ongoing permitting and inspections

o Permit innovative construction techniques

o Relax community-wide build out requirements

• Use of existing infrastructure

o Publish data about existing infrastructure

o Make all rights of way available on clearly defined, reasonable terms through a

rapid approval process

o Ensure make-ready work is performed expeditiously

o Coordinate all pole maintenance and make-ready work with new providers to

save cost

o Allow prospective attachers to perform all make-ready work themselves

• Proactively improving existing infrastructure

o Provide space on all poles for new attachments

o Install fiber conduit

o Use building codes and community development plans to drive broadband

deployment

Page 56


Some of these "broadband friendly" guidelines are part of offering incumbent providers

incentives and penalties. However, becoming a "broadband friendly" community requires more

work by community leaders than offering incentives and penalties.

Of all the options presented to our survey respondents, implementing broadband friendly

policies was the most popular with nearly two-thirds of respondents considering broadband

friendly policies to be either the most appropriate or a somewhat appropriate action.

Publicly Owned Infrastructure (Wholesale or Retail)

Competition often spurs innovation and lower prices. The towns in the region could build new

broadband infrastructure and provide services to compete with the existing service providers or

the towns could build new competing infrastructure and invite new service providers to use it

to provide service. Unlike a limited build to close caps or enhance capabilities, this idea would

put government owned infrastructure — and possibly services — in competition with existing

providers.

Less than half of survey respondents felt building government owned infrastructure was the

most appropriate or a somewhat appropriate action.

Figure 19: Survey Results - Broadband Development Actions

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Status Quo Incentives andPenalties

Broadband Friendly Government OwnedInfrastructure

Other

Most appropriate action Somewhat appropriate action Neutral

Somewhat inappropriate action Least appropriate action

Page 57


GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Sustained Education Effort

As noted above, stakeholder interviews and the online survey suggest the need for a sustained

education effort.

A sustained education effort should have three primary goals:

1. Develop an appreciation for the value of broadband services,

2. Provide information about available broadband options (and what can be done if the

current options are inadequate), and

3. Ensure residents and business owners know their actions can make a difference in the

region’s broadband environment.

We recommend three primary education paths:

1. Online Presence. The region should develop a “broadband education and resource”

web presence. Each jurisdiction within the region should link to the region’s web

presence. A social media presence can be difficult to maintain but it may represent a

worthwhile effort.

The online presence should initially focus on the difference between merely adequate

broadband – that is service that allows basic web browsing and access to email – and

more abundant bandwidth – that is service that makes available the highest quality

Internet services.

2. Event Presence. It is difficult to get people to come to an online presence or real world

events that they are not already interested in. To that end, the region’s jurisdictions

should participate in existing events like county fairs, back to school nights, and other

public gatherings.

3. Classroom Opportunities. Relevant uses of online services represent a key driver for

broadband adoption. To that end, the region should support classroom opportunities

that drive broadband usage. Classes should focus on activities that may interest

residents and businesses like genealogy and family history, using video conferencing for

personal and business, using “cloud” services for your household or business, etc.

In order to be effective, this education effort should be sustained through time. The region

should conduct periodic surveys to measure the effect of the education effort and to identify

needed adjustments to the message. Public sector efforts should be designed to support and

coordinate with private sector marketing and education efforts.

Page 58


Of course a sustained education effort requires expending resources. Professional services are

required to design an effective online presence; materials need to be printed; booths at fairs

may cost; space for classes may need to be rented; course material needs to be developed.

Much of the cost may be offset by contributions. The individual counties may donate booth

space at their fairs; classes may be conducted in libraries or in other public spaces; students and

instructors from high schools and Morgan Community College may be recruited to prepare

course material. We recommend that the Department of Local Affairs consider funding the

region’s education efforts. Other potential funding mechanisms might be an Enterprise Zone

contribution project, private enterprise contributions, economic development funds, or other

funds.

Broadband Friendly Policies

Of the proposed broadband development options, implementing broadband friendly policies

received the most favorable response. Broadband friendly policies are generally very low cost

to implement but often have only limited utility towards improving the broadband

environment. It may be that the most valuable result of implementing broadband friendly

policies is how doing so demonstrates local policy makers’ dedication to improving broadband

in the region. This demonstration of dedication could be a very important element of the

proposed sustained education effort.

Some broadband friendly policies may include:

• CRS Title 29 Article 27 (also known as “Senate Bill 152”) places restrictions on municipal

broadband development. Many Colorado communities are engaging in “opt out”

initiatives designed to restore local control regardless of chosen broadband

development paths.

• The various counties and communities should implement a “dig once” or “open trench”

policy and other broadband friendly initiatives. A model “dig once” or “open trench”

ordinance is included in the appendix.

• Require new developments to include conduit for future broadband infrastructure.

• Broadband mapping requires constant attention. Private companies are not required to

disclose their infrastructure assets, service levels constantly change, old assets are

retired, and other changes occur. Rather than trying to maintain its own broadband

map, the region should work with Governor’s Office of Information Technology (GOIT)

to develop information sharing mechanisms where the region provides GOIT with

information and GOIT responds to the region’s broadband information needs.

As the region feeds information to GOIT to improve GOIT’s broadband map, the region

should expect to be able to make recommendations to improve the utility of the map

for the region. For example, the region may find that the 10-25 Mbps category

Page 59


identifying services is too broad. The region should be able to suggest to GOIT narrower

broadband categories and GOIT should be able to implement them.

• Develop online services and otherwise encourage broadband utilization. It is important

for public entities to demonstrate the value of broadband.

• Implement reasonable infrastructure (e.g. conduit placed with other utility projects)

deployments.

Middle Mile

Middle mile infrastructure is fairly abundant throughout the region however, the available

middle mile networks are not interconnected and some of them have no path diversity. This

creates an environment where even though multiple middle mile options exist into a

community like Burlington, a failure of a given subscriber’s provider’s middle mile will create an

outage for that subscriber. If the various providers were to cooperate to create

interconnectivity, reliability could be greatly enhanced.

Enhancing reliability is very important to the region. When asked to indicate where

improvements were needed in the region’s broadband environment, more than 79% of

respondents indicated improving reliability was a high. Improving reliability was more

important than improving connection speed (62% high priority) or lowering monthly cost (40%

high priority).

Page 60


Figure 20: Desired Improvements

An opportunity for path diverse and abundant middle mile infrastructure exists in the recent

creation of Colorado Fiber Network as a joint effort between CCT in the northeast, SECOM in

the southeast, Jade Communications in the south central portion of the state, FastTrack in the

southwest, and Strata in the northwest. The Colorado Fiber Network is on its way towards

creating a highly reliable abundant middle mile environment throughout all of rural Colorado.

Currently, the Colorado Fiber Network has no connection between CCT in the northeast

(extending as far as Hugo) and SECOM in the southeast (extending as far as the intersection of

Highways 40 and 94).

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Desired Improvements

High Mediuum Status Quo Adequate Not Important Unsure

Page 61


Figure 21: Proposed CCT to SECOM Connection

We recommend a project be undertaken in conjunction with the Colorado Fiber Network to

close the gap between CCT and SECOM. Further, we recommend all service providers in the

region find ways to work with each other to ensure each of them has path diverse redundancy

in their middle mile networks to all population centers.

Additional middle mile efforts may lead to improved connectivity for cell towers and higher

density of cell towers – and thus improved cellular coverage.

Last Mile

We do not recommend significant public sector efforts in last mile development until education

efforts result in a reasonable belief that these efforts will be sustainable and palatable to

elected officials.

Page 62


Generally, service providers in the region are working to improve broadband. Service provider

led broadband development focuses first on those efforts that meet the needs of the service

provider. Often the service provider’s needs and the public policy needs of the community

align. The various communities in the region should work with their service providers to provide

support to help meet public policy goals. Some mechanisms the communities may use to

support private sector broadband development include:

• Increased Public Entity Usage and Awareness

Public entities and other community anchor institutions are important broadband

customers in the region. First, they function as “anchor tenants” for broadband

providers. Next, they set the example in the region. If the patrons of public institutions

and other community anchor institutions see that broadband is important to the

institution, they may see its relevance in their own businesses and households.

• Aggregate Purchasing

Typically, the more broadband capacity one buys, the lower the Mbps cost. Insofar as

reasonable, communities should aggregate their community anchor institution

broadband purchases. In many instances this may require some linking infrastructure.

This linking infrastructure can be built by the community or provided by private service

providers.

• Targeted Wi-Fi Implementations

Providing Wi-Fi in certain public areas increases the visibility of broadband adoption and

helps spread the message of broadband relevance.

• Targeted Infrastructure Builds

In order to support broadband purchasing aggregation and in order to improve business

cases to align private and public sector needs, communities may need to invest in

targeted infrastructure builds. These builds may be used to connect disparate middle

mile networks to improve reliability, to extend fiber to cell towers to increase capacity,

to build towers to support extending fixed wireless services, or for other purposes.

• General Infrastructure Builds

Some communities may support their local providers with more general infrastructure

builds. By providing publicly owned open access infrastructure, public entities enable

broader service deployments and may accelerate broadband development.

Page 63


THE COUNTIES

CHEYENNE COUNTY

Figure 22: ECCOG.KMZ Cheyenne County Screenshot

Available

Population Providers

Cheyenne 1,836 Eastern Slope

Cheyenne Wells 846 Wired Rebeltec CenturyLink

Fixed Wireless Rebeltec Wireless

Cellular AT&T Verizon Viaero

Kit Carson 233 Wired Eastern Slope Rebeltec Rebeltec Cable



Rebeltec provides service through much of the County. Some areas are in shadow and cannot

receive good service. In the western half of the county subscribers have access to ESRTA

services. In the eastern half of the county some subscribers have access to CenturyLink services.

Page 64


Affordable

Cost per Mbps is generally higher than national averages.

Abundant

Subscribers in Kit Carson and Cheyenne Wells have access to reasonably abundant bandwidth.

Outside of these population centers – especially in the eastern half of the county, bandwidth is

less abundant.

Reliable

ESRTA and Rebeltec subscriber to diverse path redundant middle mile networks.

Sustainable

Throughout most of the County, two service providers are currently sustainable.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Implement education efforts to ensure potential subscribers are aware of their options.

• Implement broadband friendly policies.

• Support continued expansion and development by the incumbent providers. ESRTA and

Rebeltec have been particularly aggressive in improving services in Cheyenne County.

CenturyLink may have CAF II funds to spend to improve service in the County.

• In conjunction with CCT and SECOM, implement a project to close the middle mile gap

between Kit Carson and Aroya.

Page 65


ELBERT COUNTY

Figure 23: ECCOG.KMZ Elbert County Screenshot

Available


Elbert 23,086 Agate

Elizabeth 1,434 Wired CenturyLink Comcast

Fixed Wireless JAB Broadband DirectLink MHO

Cellular AT&T Commnet Sprint Nextel Verizon Viaero

Kiowa 723 Wired CenturyLink Comcast

Fixed Wireless DirectLink JAB Broadband


Page 66



Ponderosa Park 3,112 Wired CenturyLink

Fixed Wireless Aerux Broadband DirectLink JAB Broadband MHO

Cellular AT&T Commnet Sprint Nextel T-Mobile Verizon

Simla 728 Wired Fairpoint

Fixed Wireless

Cellular AT&T Sprint Nextel Verizon

Western Elbert County has a significant number of broadband providers. Choices are more

limited or non-existent in the eastern and southeastern portions of the County.

Affordable

Western Elbert County has competitive pricing options. Affordability in the eastern and

southeastern portions of the County is below average.

Abundant

Like availability and affordability, the County is split between the eastern and western portions.

Reliable

Providers in the eastern portion of the County are not connected to path diverse redundant

middle mile infrastructure.

Sustainable

The western portion of the County has proven its ability to sustain significant broadband

development. The eastern portion of the County is similar to Cheyenne County. The current

state of broadband in the eastern portion of the County leaves room for an entrant like

Rebeltec.

RECOMMENDATIONS



• Help create an environment in the eastern portion of the County that encourages a

fixed wireless entrant. This may mean developing vertical assets and/or connecting

them with fiber backhaul.

Page 67


KIT CARSON COUNTY

Figure 24: ECCOG.KMZ Kit Carson County Screenshot

Available


Kit Carson 8,270 Bethune 237 Wired

CenturyLink

Fixed Wireless Eagle Communications Plains Rebeltec Wireless


Burlington 4,254 Wired Eagle – formerly USA CenturyLink Plains

Fixed Wireless Eagle Plains Rebeltec Wireless


Flagler 561 Wired Eastern Slope



Page 68



Seibert 181 Wired Plains



Stratton 658 Wired CenturyLink

Fixed Wireless Plains Rebeltec Wireless


Vona 106 Wired Plains



Broadband is available to most addresses in the County.

Affordable

Services in much of the County are competitively priced.

Abundant

Plains service areas have significant abundance. Where service is available in other areas, it is

reasonably abundant. CenturyLink’s services generally do not meet current FCC definitions of

broadband.

Reliable

CenturyLink is the primary provider in Burlington and does not have path diverse redundant

middle mile service.

Sustainable

The I-70 corridor helps contribute to sustainability through the middle of the County.

RECOMMENDATIONS



• Challenge CenturyLink to take advantage of existing middle mile infrastructure (owned

by other providers) to create redundancy to their service area in the County.

Page 69


LINCOLN COUNTY

Figure 25: ECCOG.KMZ Lincoln County Screenshot

Available


Lincoln 5,467 Eastern Slope

Arriba 193 Wired Eastern Slope



Genoa 139 Wired Eastern Slope



Hugo 730 Wired Eastern Slope



Page 70



Limon 1,880 Wired Bijou CenturyLink

Fixed Wireless Bijou Wireless Rebeltec Wireless


Most addresses in the County have access to two broadband providers.

Affordable

Prices are generally above national averages.

Abundant

Bandwidth speeds are generally below targets of the FCC definition of broadband.

Reliable

CenturyLink is the primary provider in Limon and does not have path diverse redundancy.

Sustainable

With education efforts, the region demonstrates sustainability.

RECOMMENDATIONS



• Challenge CenturyLink to take advantage of existing middle mile infrastructure (owned

by other providers) to create redundancy to their service area in the County.

• Support continued expansion and development by the incumbent providers. ESRTA has

been particularly aggressive in improving services in Lincoln County.

Page 71


APPENDIX

COUNTY SUMMARIES WITH STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEW SUMMARIES - CONDUCTED IN 2015

We conducted interviews with a number of stakeholders throughout the region. Stakeholder

interviews are invaluable when evaluating “where we are” and “where we would like to go”.

CHEYENNE COUNTY


1,836 Eastern Slope

Cheyenne Wells 846 Wired Rebeltec CenturyLink



DATE NAME(s) COMPANY(s)/ Title(s) TELEPHONE ADDRESS

Dec Cindy Hoffman Town of Cheyenne Wells Town Clerk 719-767-5865

Business-She has worked there for 15 years and she sees where faster internet can really help the hospitals and schools. She doesn’t see why the town would really need more. She is satisfied with what they have. Home-She uses Rebeltec and has no real problems. She pays $40 a month.

Dec Jay Geiger Cheyenne School District IT

719-767-5612 or 719-767-5866 or (719) 346-8864

395 North 5th West

Business-The school district is hooked up through an Eagle Net Alliance with ECBOCES and Limon. It is a fiber connection with a speed of about 30 Mbps. He is not sure of the costs or E-rate, but his wireless

Page 72


network that runs off of it works great. About 200 students use the connection.

Home-He lives in Burlington and has CenturyLink in a package. He is very happy with it. He doesn’t know what speed or costs are, but he is very satisfied overall.

Dec Marcy Brossman Cheyenne County County Administrator

719-767-5872

Business-Excellent service at work. They are on a fiber line from RebelTec. She doesn’t know what they pay for it. But she is highly satisfied at work.

Home-She is not on it much at home so she has no opinion/information to give.

Dec Bob Schecter Sports Photographer 719-962-3313

Business/Home-Bob is retired from IT at Kit Carson School and also worked at the hospital. He currently runs his business out of his home. He thinks the service he currently has is limited and a little aggravating. He currently pays $40 a month for “500-1,000 megabits per second, not bytes” and he doesn’t want to pay more to upgrade. He would love to get faster speed for the same price. Funds are limited and paying extra right now is not in the budget. So he grins and bears it.

Dec Perry Brewer IT Specialist 719-349-1358

Business-(The day of interview, a Verizon Wireless tower had just come back online after being down for over 24 hours. Locals on Verizon had no cell service including Mr. Brewer.) Overall, for the county he wishes broadband was more available. They use a combination/hybrid of CenturyLInk and RebelTec. The RebelTec side of things brings 20 Mbps into the courthouse and 12 Mbps for the Sheriff’s office and 911 system. The CenturyLink side is run by the state and feeds the County Clerk. He doesn’t know the speed or costs for that part of things.

Home-He lives in Bethune and has a CenturyLink DSL line with 1.5 Mbps download. He pays $48 a month for it and made a decision not to upgrade due to budgetary restraints. He and his wife deal with constant buffering issues, but again, due to their budget they have chosen to refuse to spend the extra $25 for an upgrade.

Kit Carson 233 Wired Eastern Slope Rebeltec Rebeltec Cable




5/13 Alexis Gekeler Kit Carson School Dist. (IT) (719) 962-3244 or (719) 962-3219

102 West 5th Ave.

Notes not available.


Dec Jeff Little Helium Plant Supervisor (Cheyenne Wells)

Page 73


Work-He has Centurylink at work and it went out for two weeks and really threw the job into a tangle as they waited for it to get fixed. The Helium Plant depends on daily internet readings. Home-Jeff lives in town and loves his internet. He gets 10 Mbps up and down. He has FTTH from Rebeltec and pays only $25 a month. He used to work for a broadband company and he feels his internet is on par with the big cities.


Robert Framel Kit Carson School District Superintendent

School-He has only been with the school for 4-5 months from Colorado Springs. He isn’t able to speak on whether the service is good or bad. He feels he hasn’t been there long enough to know. Home-He uses Rebeltec and pays $50 a month for it. He hasn’t had any troubles with it yet.

ELBERT COUNTY


23,086 Agate

Elizabeth 1,434 Wired CenturyLink Comcast

Fixed Wireless JAB Broadband DirectLink MHO


Kiowa 723 Wired CenturyLink Comcast

Fixed Wireless DirectLink JAB Broadband



5/18 Travis Teague Bank of the West (AVP)

(303) 621-2121 440 Comanche St.

The bank is a CenturyLink customer at all branches. Some branches have much better service than others. The Kiowa branch is a little slower than most. Service reliability in Kiowa is poor. The bank suffers about 30 minutes of outage each month. Without Internet service the branch is basically shut down. The bank would like to encourage online banking but their customers are not pushing them for it. Elbert does not have reliable Internet service. Many customers in Elbert are on dial-up. The Town of Elbert cannot do online banking because of the Town’s data connection. Kiowa is trying to implement some distance education and other digital education. These efforts tend to expose the digital divide. A lot of people Travis knows are on fixed wireless service from providers like DirectLink. Travis uses DirectLink and is relatively happy with the service. He gets better service at home than at the bank.

Page 74


Travis believes there is limited understanding of the importance of broadband in the community. Older residents are the ones who get involved but they don’t understand the importance of broadband services to the community. Younger residents are not developing digital skills that demand significant broadband capabilities. However, Travis sees broadband as an essential element of economic development, saying, “Not going to get any serious big businesses without more reliable service.” Perhaps, the town should set up broadband as a utility similar to power, water, and sewer.


Jen Grote Elbert County

Regarding broadband in Elbert County, we have multiple Comcast circuits, where available, that serve us very well. The area around Simla, CO however is another story. The only option there has proven difficult to deal with in the past, however they have just recently been more receptive to requests for circuit upgrades. They do not have a government branch - only business and residential.

Ponderosa Park

3,112 Wired CenturyLink

Fixed Wireless Aerux Broadband DirectLink JAB Broadband MHO

Cellular AT&T Commnet Sprint Nextel T-Mobile Verizon

Simla 728 Wired Fairpoint

Fixed Wireless

Cellular AT&T Sprint Nextel Verizon


Anonymous

We stopped in Simla and chatted with a five anonymous residents at the Stop and Go on Caribou Street. None of these residents had internet access at their homes other than their cellular plan. Three said it was because they didn’t need anything more than they could get from their phone. The other two didn’t think any service was available at their home.

KIT CARSON COUNTY


8,270

Bethune 237 Wired CenturyLink

Fixed Wireless Eagle Communications Plains Rebeltec Wireless



5/14 Grant Kaster Bethune School Dist. (Technology Director)

(719) 346-7513 145 W. 3rd Ave.

Page 75


The school district has about 130 students with about 220 connected devices. The school district participates with distance education supported by BOCES and provided by Morgan Community College and others. The school district sells an iPad or Mac Book to seniors at a great rate and prorated over time. Grant is aware of CenturyLink, Rebeltec, Plains, Starband/Hughes, and Blue Mountain as service providers in the area of the district.

Burlington 4,254 Wired Eagle – formerly USA CenturyLink Plains

Fixed Wireless Eagle Plains Rebeltec Wireless



5/13 Rol Hudler City of Burlington (Economic Development Director)

(719) 340-0824 420 So. 14th St.

Rol formerly ran the newspaper and still works with them. Is now the economic development director. I think he used to be the mayor as well. Primary provider is CenturyLink. CenturyLink is not offering sufficient speeds. Plains has fiber to the Industrial Park and may be running it to the courthouse and the hospital (Plains confirmed this but neither of the courthouse representatives nor the hospital representatives knew about it) EAGLE-Net is in the community and provides service to the schools In our interview with Rebeltec, they indicated they had problems working with Burlington (getting permits, etc.) as they were considering expansion of fiber into the city. Rol doesn’t know what might have caused this problem. He knows that Plains received a non-exclusive franchise and that Plains provides some wireless and some fiber in town. Love’s is considering building an $8m truck stop/hotel. They will need better data service than is currently available at the proposed location. The community is not a community of poverty. The community consists of fairly well off and fairly progressive farmers. Agricultural advancements have driven farm labor down. Other “industries” include tourism (or transportation along the I-70 corridor). The prison employs about 200 people. The City owns the Ed Center where Morgan Community College provides in-person and distance education classes. Broadband functions as another facility for a rural community. Rural communities need every advantage they can muster.

5/13 Lauren Dorman Vince’s GM Center (Internet & Marketing)

(877) 260-0371 or (719) 346-5326

1847 Rose Ave.

Lauren is a fairly busy young woman. Does government even have a role in broadband development? Maybe it makes sense in smaller communities like Burlington. At home Lauren uses a Verizon MiFi device. There are many regional broadband “armpits” where service is very poor or non-existent. Weather often wipes out Internet access to many residents. Lauren expressed some skepticism regarding CenturyLink and weather related events. She conceded

Page 76


that sometimes weather does truly effect service but she also indicated that local techs have discovered and corrected configuration and wiring issues for service outages and degradation blamed on weather events by CenturyLink’s tier 1 customer service representatives. Vince’s GM uses Internet for inventory, parts, and finance. Finance is completely dependent on Internet and if service is down, they cannot close a deal. Vince’s GM has a web site that has significantly extended their market area. For example, they recently had a customer from Texas because of the web site. Most performance indicators for the success of the web site are based on customer behavior. A typical customer has already done significant online research – including pricing and inventory availability. Vince’s GM has an app. Some younger customers are using the app. Vince’s GM has mandatory online training. Often training is tedious because of connectivity.

5/14 Jenna Zimbelman Zimbelman’s Jewelry (President)

(719) 346-8623 327 14th St.

No Internet at home except for a mobile hot spot. Eagle Communications is better than USA was but there are stills some problems. While Zimbelman’s has online functions and a web site, Jenna finds customers find larger stores before hers. Internet services have allowed her to add products like tuxedos for prom, etc. She also uses the Internet for email, business management functions, to research to help people find products, and for product demonstrations. For the most part her service (Eagle Communications) is relatively good and quite improved over USA’s previous service.

5/14 Russell Lindenschmidt

Burlington School Dist. (Tech)

(719) 346-8737 or (719) 346-8455

2600 Rose Ave.

ECBOCES does a consortium or aggregated purchase from EAGLE-Net. Distance learning is very valuable to the community with interactive video conferencing, wired smart boards, and other features coordinated by the BOCES. School has 25 Mbps. Other schools may select other service levels. Bandwidth is burstable. No noticeable issues. School is using significant resources from Google classroom and is working to develop a strong digital learning environment. Unfortunately, this can exacerbate the effects of the digital divide.

5/14 Katrina Trobee Paul Velasco Suzanne Velasco Savannah Leiker

Kit Carson County (IT) Dist. (IT) Economic Development Board (President)

Paul V. – (719) 346-4703

286 16th Street

At the time of the interview, the hospital was using a CenturyLink circuit from Colorado Telehealth Network (http://www.cotelehealth.com/). This line provided a 4.5 Mbps download. The hospital had a second circuit for imaging with 7.5 Mbps symmetrical bandwidth. The hospital had been engaged in a year-long struggle to get upgraded service. Recently, an ATM to MOE conversion had failed because technicians were working on the wrong circuit. Plains was/is/has built fiber into Burlington. At the time of the interview, there had been little

http://www.cotelehealth.com/

Page 77


coordination with the stakeholders in the interview. Eagle Communications (http://www.eaglecom.net/) has been an unsatisfactory service in the community. Though since its acquisition of USA’s service in Burlington, Eagle has made improvements. Until recently, Eagle was maxed with a 10 Mbps service. A recent upgrade provides a 50 Mbps. USA had fairly frequent service outages but Eagle seems to have resolved these problems. Outside of Burlington, Rebeltec’s service is great. In town there seems to be an oversubscription issue that causes significant service degradation. Some concern was expressed that elected officials in the City and County do not understand the importance/value of broadband services or see a need for public intervention. The entertainment functionality of broadband, while not necessarily contributing to economic development or to significant increases in quality of life, is, nonetheless, very visible. Concern was expressed regarding transparency from the ISPs. CenturyLink has exhibited a poor history of sharing information about outages and restoration efforts. This, coupled with the perception of poor bandwidth and lack of reliability, leaves the public with the feeling that CenturyLink is managing services poorly.

Do not use his name

21st Century Equipment

Farming has developed significant dependence on data – from auto steer tractors to telemetry systems in irrigation devices. Field mapping and the data associated with field mapping is important to successful farming. Because the equipment is connected to the dealer, the dealer has better capabilities to support the farmer. The dealer can make some adjustments remotely. Aerial drones and drone data connectivity are a growing data need for farms and ranches.

Dec Ron Mehling Computer Central Inc./Radio Shack; Treasure Trove Gift Shoppe

719-346-5177 367 14th St

Business-located in the core of downtown. On a scale of 1-10 he rates the service a 6-7. Now that he has Eagle instead of Charter he said he can’t complain. His bill with Charter was is $320 a month for two voice lines and one data line of 10 Mbps. Now with Eagle it he pays $175 for same lines and 30 Mbps. Home-He lives two miles North of town. Centurylink is his ONLY option and he is lucky to get speeds of 5-6 Mbps on a good day. He feels they don’t have the servers to handle the volume when all the kids get out of school. He will go to town and use the internet there.

Dec Jeff Yager Triple A Brand Meat 800-437-5581 367 14th St

Business-He uses Rebeltec and is not happy with it. He feels it is too slow for work. He has seven people using the service of 5 Mbps. He pays $60 a month.

Home-He uses Centurylink It’s not much better but he gets 10 Mbps for $80 and four people use it. He adds he thinks more competition needs to be brought to the area.

Dec Brooke Health Essentials 719-346-4681 367 14th St

Business-Brooke is the receptionist answering for the Dr. Melissa Kleweno. Internet is now working well since they switched to Plains Internet. The old CenturyLink service was not working at all for them

http://www.eaglecom.net/

Page 78


and they had fits trying to make it work.

Home-She lives in Burlington and finally got fed up and disconnected the whole thing last month. She was paying $150 a month and was so disgusted she finally just shut it off. She uses the internet in town whenever she really needs it.

Dec Suzy Velasco City of Burlington IT Director 719-346-8652

Business-The town in severely undersupplied. There is no redundancy and the infrastructure has a long way to go. The town has a variety of suppliers.

Activities Centers CenturyLink 10 Mbps $60 per location

Old Town CenturyLink & 5 Mbps FREE

Rebeltec

City Hall, PD, Library Plains 10M bps (PD has 20 Mbps) FREE

(Plains can’t reach southern part of town)

Home-She has Eagle Communications and has never come close to the 50 Mbps that was promised. Guesses she never reaches speeds faster than 17. She pays $60 a month.

Dec Mark Weber McCook National Bank Vice President 719-346-5217

Business-The bank is fairly new and he feels they got pretty lucky with the way Plains internet was able to get them fiber right away. Plains was just spreading through town and passed right in front of the bank so hook-up was easy. He doesn’t remember what they pay but he knows that it is a lot now and will decrease in the second year and again in the third year. Before they had Centurylink and the stuff would go down so much the ATMs couldn’t communicate at night. He’s very happy with his new fiber internet. (*Note* at the time of the interview his internet stopped working. He wasn’t sure what was wrong)

Home-He uses Rebeltec and get about 8-10 Mbps. He pays $45 a month.

Dec Jane Winslow Equitable Savings and Loan Assistant Vice President

719-346-8131

Business-All internet is handled at the corporate branch in Sterling. She thinks they have CenturyLink. She had nothing to say on its consistency, speed or value.

Home-She lives in Burlington and has CenturyLink. It “seems to work” was her only opinion.

Dec Benny Burciaga Aperature Electronics Owner

719-342-2715 / 719-342-3121

1697 Rose Avenue

Business-Currently has Eagle Communications. He is very frustrated with it but admits it has been getting slightly better. He wishes the speed would be consistent. He has 50 Mbps but doesn’t feel that

Page 79


he really ever reaches that speed. He pays $60 a month right now but after one year he will be paying $100 a month. He said he felt the price will “really be too high” then.

He wishes there was a faster option for the price he is paying now. He also runs his security system off the service.

Home-His business and home are on the same service.

Dec David Murphy Frontier Bank President

719-346-5526

Business-The bank is currently on a CenturyLink/Tel Network (he wasn’t sure which.) He would rate the service a 2.5 on a scale of 1-5 (His scale-his words) He also stated that in general the service is good to ok though it is slow at peak hours. He was told over a year ago that the bank uses too much bandwidth and overloads the system. He doesn’t know how to fix the problem. The bank does NOT have internet banking for its customers.

Home-His family is very unsatisfied as the internet is inadequate for their needs. He added the service is extremely slow and his wife has already researched and found out they were at the max they could get for speed. His kids mentioned their phones (with Verizon) are faster than the computer.

Dec Tom Satterly Burlington School District Superintendent

719-346-8737 2600 Rose Ave

Business-The service at the school is all dependent on which building you are at. The high school has fiber through Eagle Net. However, it’s the third company they’ve been working with in a short period of time. His tech person wasn’t in at the time of the call, but details as to why the constant switching can be had through him. The other buildings are fed through the air originating from the high school and service is often interrupted by wind.

Home-His service is “HORRIBLE!!!” His family is with CenturyLink and has the highest speed package available and pays $79 a month. He refrained from speaking anymore about how much he hated the service because it’s a very sore point for him.

Dec Jerry Gross Bank of Burlington President

719-346-5376

Business-The bank doesn’t use local services for internet. They have a company from Hutchinson, KS. Their IT person is also through them and they (local bank) don’t have much of a say in any of it. His overall impression of internet in the town is that townspeople struggle with it.

Home-He has Eagle Net [more likely Eagle, not EAGLE-Net] at home and just upgraded to 40 Mbps. He still doesn’t feel he is actually getting that speed though. He still can’t get a movie to stream well and is constantly getting the searching circle on their computers during downloads. He called other companies to try and convince them to come to rural areas but was told it isn’t feasible/profitable for them to do that.

Page 80


Flagler 561 Wired Eastern Slope




5/20 Tom Arensdorf Arriba-Flagler School Dist. (Superintendent)

(719) 765-4684, ext. 223

421 Julian Ave.

The district has a good high school graduation rate but a relatively low college attendance and graduation rate. Tom believes this is largely a factor of economics and not one of preparation or interest. Tom believes the district is doing a pretty good job of preparing students for participation in the digital economy. CDOT fiber off of I-70. BOCES built a distance learning system on teleconference technology. The system service most schools along the I-70 corridor with fiber to most schools. The school uses the system heavily for languages and concurrent enrollment. Tom believes Eastern Slope and EAGLE-Net also have fiber in or around Flagler. Bijou has also looked at bringing fiber into the community. Many residents in the district use cell phones for Internet access. Far fewer people have computers at home since the advent of smart phones. Furthermore, the economic status of many residents doesn’t allow for the extra cost of a fixed broadband service at home. Cell service in the region seems to be sketchy. Tom believes it used to be better but that it has degraded over time. Verizon and Viaero are the primary providers in the region.

Dec Justin Crisp Town of Flagler Town Manager 719-349-1866 or

719-765-4571 311 Main Ave.

Business-The internet in town is not very good. It’s slow and unreliable. Home-He can’t get service at home and he only lives ¾ mile out of town.

Dec Jon Smithburg High Plains Bank IT Director 719-765-4000

Business-The bank is on a fiber ring coop for that all the branches are on. He is very pleased with it at work. Home-He is on DSL at home and gets four up and .5 down. He is frustrated that he is required by law to have a home phone in order to get internet. He pays $80 a month for the package and never uses the home phone.

Seibert 181 Wired Plains




5/21 Mike Warren (Jarred Masterson joined)

Hi-Plains School Dist. (Superintendent)

(970) 664-2636 350 Patriot Dr.

Plains is their provider. Plains has helped with tech buys in the district.

Page 81


The economy is tough for many residents of the district. Family life has a significant impact on student performance. Many students are being raised by grandparents. This dampens technology adoption. The district uses distance learning but would like to do more. One of the issues is that the distance learning classes are not synchronized with the district’s schedule. This makes it difficult for students to fit it into their schedules. Nonetheless, some students take advantage of concurrent enrollment with Morgan Community College.

Stratton 658 Wired CenturyLink




5/21 Dana Siekman Colorado East Bank & Trust (President)

(719) 348-5364 141 Colorado Ave.

The bank was using CenturyLink but has converted to Plains. Plains is working much better – both bandwidth and reliability. They are pretty happy with their service now. The economy is largely agricultural. Dana noted the heavy usage of cellular over fixed services. Because of this, the bank is focusing its online service development on smart phone apps.

Vona 106 Wired Plains



LINCOLN COUNTY


5,467 Eastern Slope

Arriba 193 Wired Eastern Slope



Genoa 139 Wired Eastern Slope



Hugo 730 Wired Eastern Slope




Page 82


Dec Tony Lyons ESRTA Network Systems 719-743-2441

Business – ESRTA is a prominent provider in the region. They are thrilled with the coverage his company provides. He provides 100% coverage though doesn’t serve all of Lincoln County. He brings 100 Mbps to houses through a mix of DSL, ADSL2, and BDSL. His biggest complaint in town is the number of unlicensed fixed wireless providers.

Home-He didn’t want to respond.

Randy Holmen Hugo Schools

The school district subscribes to an EAGLE-Net microwave link through the BOCES. Generally happy with the connection. The biggest problem the district has encountered hasn’t been the connection or testing but rather the devices used to access the services. The district has recently moved to Chrome books with a 1 to 1 deployment from 3rd grade on. The Chrome books are working much better. Poor implementation of end hardware originally discouraged teachers from making a transition to more digital teaching.

Anonymous Hugo Parent

As we were talking with Mr. Holmen, a parent came to retrieve her child. She indicated they do not have broadband at home because the cost is too high. She believes at some point she will have to get service at home to support her child’s (currently a 2nd grader) education needs.

Anonymous Hugo Teacher

As we were talking with Mr. Holmen, we had the opportunity to speak with one of the elementary school teachers. She indicated she does not use significant technology resources in her classroom because of the difficulties with the devices prior to the Chrome books. Now that the Chrome books seem to be a stable solution, she is beginning to explore digital curriculum and teaching techniques.

Mark Ward First National Bank of Hugo

The bank has stitched together a robust and viable network through ESRTA and other carriers. They are pretty happy with their service in Hugo. They have some problems with their branch in Leadville. Mark is generally pleased with the work of ESRTA but sees DSL as at its end of life-cycle. He believes that at some point ESRTA will have to find a way to begin incorporating significantly greater fiber resources into their network.

Limon 1,880 Wired Bijou CenturyLink

Fixed Wireless Bijou Wireless Rebeltec Wireless



5/18 Joe Kiely Town of Limon (Assist. Manager)

(719) 740-2240 100 Civic Center Dr.

Joe was not available the day of our scheduled meeting. Rescheduled 8/11/15. Town has a 12/2.5 Mbps CenturyLink connection. Library is on a 3 Mbps CenturyLink connection. Water treatment is on a 1.5 Mbps CenturyLink connection. Joe has a 7 Mbps connection at home.

Page 83


CenturyLink is providing at or near advertises speeds. Primary concern is business development. At the Flying J plaza (just north of the interstate) there is a need for 12 Mbps moving to 20 Mbps. CenturyLink has not provided a cost effective solution to deliver the required service. Further, the foreign trade zone sees the need to develop additional broadband capabilities to support the areas appeal to foreign companies.

5/19 Melody Bolton Limon Workforce Center (719) 775-2387 285 D Avenue

Workforce center services about 900 individuals per year. Low to middle income jobs are readily available in the region. There are currently more jobs in this range than people to fill them. Middle to high income jobs are rare. Workforce center does have some workstations available for people to complete applications and to take pre-employment tests. It is unreasonable to expect people to be able to complete online employment applications or skill tests on a smart phone or other thin client device. Region needs better connectivity not readily affected by simple outages that turn catastrophic – e.g., about six weeks before the interview, a truck hit a node and service was out for a week. Would CenturyLink be willing to cooperate on redundancy based on that type of lost business? When service is out at the workforce center, all services are affected and the workforce center cannot complete its mission. Quality of CenturyLink service has declined in recent years. Home access in the region is less than adequate. But people aren’t complaining because they don’t know better and those that do feel their concerns are ignored.

5/19 Leta Tarver Equitable Savings and Loan (Branch Manager)

(719) 775-2842 888 Main Street

CenturyLink is the service provider with a dedicated line to the main office in Sterling. The branch connects through Sterling with a backup path through Fort Morgan. CenturyLink provides dedicated lines to all branches. Generally the savings and loan is satisfied with the service it receives. The customers it serves involve mostly cash and check small businesses (low retail business customer base) and personal accounts. They find a low interest in their customer base in online services. Leta perceives a low interest in online services largely due to low trust levels. On personal usage, Leta does not use the Internet at home. Her husband does uses the Internet in a limited way and she believes he is satisfied because the service he has is the service he has.

Dec Sierra San Miguel Flying J Manager 719-775-9286 2495 Williams

Ave

Business-It’s ok. Customers are always having problems though and are complaining that the speed is so slow. Sometimes it just doesn’t work for them at all. They have CenturyLink through the Tennessee Corporate Store.

Note: Joe Kiely has been working with CenturyLink and Flying J to try to meet corporate requirements.

Home-Completely NOT satisfying! She is very frustrated with CenturyLink. She wants to cancel but she can’t as they are the only provider in her area. She goes to school online and has missed deadlines

Page 84


because the internet just can’t handle it. She pays $110 a month. But she wasn’t sure if it was bundled with her phone or not. She doesn’t know what speed she is paying for.

Dec Allison Jones Receptionist 719-775-9221 49030 Colorado

Highway 71

Debbie Day the OIT Tech refused to speak so Allison answered questions about her home internet. Allison lives 20 miles west of Limon in the town of Agate. She has a terrible time with her internet. Most of the time she barely gets a connection and often has no connection at all. She has Agate Mutual Telephone Coop Association and spends $79 a month. She would love, love, love some more companies in the area.

Joe Brewer Vice President First National Denver 719-775-2891 790 Main St.

Business-The internet is average at best and all internet information is at Corporate in Longmont. Home-He lives in Limon and has CenturyLink. He doesn’t want to comment on it.

James Martin Principal Evergreen Systems & Technology

719-740-8731 355 D Avenue

Business-His business depends on the internet and there are not enough providers. Right now there is only one he can choose-CenturyLink. So he gets 5mb for $55 and he feels it’s way overpriced. He knows how fast things are in Denver for the same price and feels it’s unfair. He added that in Limon, the hotels have trouble even getting 12mb. Home-He and his wife live North of Genoa. They have Eastern Slope and pay $50 for 3-5mb.

Charlie Martinez Technology Director Limon Public Schools 719-775-2350 ext

377 874 F Ave

School-The service is so poor they pay for a private internet system through BOCES. (VNET system) The private network gets them 100mb up and down and they use it heavily for distance learning. They use E-rate.

Home-He lives in town and uses CenturyLink. It’s pretty poor and he is lucky to get 12mb from it. The people in town are luckier than the people in the county.

Mark Fresco Tammy Mary Andersen Valerie Rhoades

Morgan Community College

Mary-Very upset with the internet services in rural locations. The campus is connected by Eaglenet Fiber and connects 13 campuses onto one big network (intranet). The city of Burlington provides the wireless. The wireless was just overloaded last month when they had 20-30 people on campus for a small conference. It immediately overloaded they system. Her and Tammy are especially nervous of the

Page 85


lack of phone service (lack of towers to provide such services) during long distance traveling between schools. Too many dead zones for up to 50 miles. On a personal level she feels jipped living in a rural area. She knows there is better service and it’s frustrating that she can’t hook into it at home.

Tammy-They have numerous WebEx courses that requires a lot of bandwidth. A student can hear but not see the video feeds. Not as many problems when they use PolyCom. The wireless is being overloaded at Bassoon School District. When seven students are on laptops they must split to different parts of the building just to get service to each laptop. It takes a long time to get logged into the internet. She mimics many of Mary’s feelings in feeling jipped. She lives in rural Hugo and her and her family will come into town to use the internet at the school. She feels the service where they live is slower than it should be. She wants to throw a rock at the TV when the commercials are on that promise higher speeds than she has.

Valerie-largest problem is the bad connectivity. There is a constant drag on the systems. The squirrels were eating the fiber lines but now that they are with ZOOM (BOCES) things are going fairly well.

Mark-He is pretty content with the services he has at the college and the options he has at home inside city limits of Fort Morgan. He can’t tell that it is getting slow or not. However, whenever he goes outside the city limits there is an obvious connectivity problem. He currently has satellite internet at home and it does get affected by the weather. The college has fiber and he thinks it performs relatively well. He still gets complaints from students, but overall feels it is working consistently.

Overall consensus is they are looking for a solid broadband infrastructure with the distribution of higher capacities and extra towers that cell providers can use.

Page 86


SURVEY COMMENTS

Our online survey tool asked respondents for comments to possible broadband improvement

paths. This appendix presents those comments.

Continue with the status quo To do nothing may be the most appropriate action we could take. If you are satisfied with broadband in the region, you believe there are other more pressing issues, or you believe the existing service providers and the private marketplace will take care of the region's broadband needs without intervention, then the most appropriate action we could take is to do nothing. Response Comment Somewhat inappropriate action

I have good service here now, but it wasn't always that way. I understand that others have

very limited, if any, internet service availability and I wholeheartedly feel something needs to be done about that.

Least appropriate action

By allowing the current environment to continue on without raising questions or at least

awareness, is to condone the current offerings and mindset. This MUST change for Eastern Colorado to not slip further into ruin.

Somewhat inappropriate action Actions that facilitate private sector interest and efforts would be a plus.

Least appropriate action Eagle is slow and the customer service is terrible.

Page 87


Response Comment Least appropriate action

I am now using the THIRD lap top which I have had since 2001. In that time period, the difference between my first computer and my current lap top is like comparing the old candle-stick telephone systems - where you had only one number you could DIAL - O for operator - and the Operator answered your call and you then told her who you wanted to speak to - and today's smart phones! I have had my current lap top for FIVE years and am considering purchasing a new one - because so many technical improvements have been pioneered in the past five years! Where computers are concerned, it simply is NEVER a good idea to sit and do nothing. Computers are an ever-changing fact of modern life and it is necessary to keep up with new technical developments. I moved to Burlington from Broomfield, Colorado. I was surprised when I learned how few of the local businesses make effective use of computer technology and how few people are willing to communicate via E mail. In order to survive in today's technical world, businesses ESPECIALLY MUST learn how to develop CONSUMER FRIENDLY business practices. When I first moved out here, I had many home repair jobs which I needed to have done - and was astonished when I discovered how few people were willing to take on any of those jobs. After TWO YEARS of searching, I finally discovered someone who could help out with those home improvement projects! I was surprised when I learned how FEW businesses were even willing to return telephone calls in order to make appointments for the home improvement projects which I needed to accomplish! In Broomfield, whenever I needed a Home Improvement project accomplished, I would go to the Better Business Bureau page, pick five or six BBB accredited businesses, contact them via the BBB E mail system and, by the following day, I would have five or six professionals, in my living room, EAGER to give me an estimate for accomplishing the Home Improvement Project! It is no wonder so many Kit Carson County businesses have failed in the past two years! I would use local businesses more often IF those businesses made it EASIER to do business with them! But, at this point, I can order what I want from a Denver business and have it arrive on my doorstep via UPS within a day or two! Why would I go to town, walk in and out of several different stores, try to find a clerk who would answer my questions and try to figure who has what for sale when I can go on the Internet, find what I want on the Office Depot or Staples web page, place an order, and have what I want delivered on my doorstep, without paying a whopping transportation charge, within a day or two? While I would prefer to be able to patronize LOCAL businesses - why would I do that if patronizing businesses with Consumer Friendly practices is so much easier, cheaper and more efficient?


I have ZERO wired Internet options at my home. No one has done anything or cares to do anything and my cell phone internet is less than sufficient. I expect someone to finally do

something. I moved here to Colorado a year ago and the one thing I hate the most about the area is the lack of Internet without a satellite signal or data cap. It makes being a stay

at home mom pretty hard when I run a small seasonal/personal business. Please help.


School districts are probably not an accurate reflection of the broadband needs of this county. We are all fed via fiber from ECBOCES. They also facilitate the financing via E-Rate and we all

share the cost with other member districts. Businesses outside the shelter of the federal government would greatly benefit from competition.


I would love to see better internet options out here. I am currently a student and cannot

participate in many online courses because of my internet connection. I either have to hope that Burlington has the courses I need, or not take them at all. It is also frustrating to pay more for internet out here than I did while living in Colorado Springs, and receive about 25% of the service I used to get. Netflix used to be a great thing for my family because I didn't want "TV" in the house and I could choose what kind of shows they watched. Now, since moving out here, Netflix is not even an option. I would gladly pay higher prices to get decent internet out here.

Page 88


Response Comment Least appropriate action

Access to reliable high speed is extremely limited in our area. Service very sporadic in the evenings. Streaming video cuts out and has delays.

Most appropriate action

ESRTA is the best internet, TV, and phone service in the area. There is a reason why there has not been another open up in the area since ESRTA has been opened.

Most appropriate action No real problems, therefore no need to change


Having the local phone company spend the effort to put in fiber optics was worth it to me, to

change to their new service. I try to support local businesses as much as I possibly can. So far the new internet service has worked very well.


There are many customers in our area who fall outside of the current providers’ areas for reliable, low-cost options when it comes to fast internet speeds with unlimited

access. Finding solutions becomes a challenge.

Most appropriate action Competition always brings out better services

Least appropriate action We are currently in the process of switching to Fiber Internet.

Somewhat inappropriate action

We are currently looking to increase our internet speed and keeping the reliability of our T1 while keeping costs under control. Providers in the area are limited and getting installation

cost is most difficult. We have outgrown our current service and continuing with the status quo is not a good course of action, but options are limited.


It is evident that the status quo is not working for a large part of the customer base.

I can't speak for the majority, as I am not privy to that info, however if you have a growing number of people/customers who say they would like and would pay for additional speed/service/providers, I would think it would be worth acknowledging and at least attempting to provide the service. While the demand may not be as high as providers want it to be, it is only a matter of time before they will find themselves behind the curve, and losing customers, or at the very least receiving bad reviews from current customers. I personally have provided a review on one local ISP who refused to acknowledged that getting less than 1/10 of the speed I was paying for was not their fault. I went so far as to COMPLETELY rewire my house with new cable just to prove that it was not anything on the inside of my house that was slowing my speed down to 1MB on a 10MB tier.

Least appropriate action The current status quo is a useless plan. Luddites can do better than the status quo!!


Many residential customers have no use for a landline phone, however it is required to be bundled with DSL internet service. This significantly increases the cost of internet access.

Table 6: Survey Status Quo Option Comments

Provide incumbent providers incentives and penalties Incumbent providers (the existing service providers) can be encouraged to improve access to broadband in the region through incentives and penalties. Some incentives might include access to lucrative government or other community anchor institution contracts, tax breaks or free

Page 89


reductions, easy access to public rights of way and so forth. Incumbent providers can be penalized by denying them these incentives. Response Comment Somewhat appropriate action

I feel that by improving service to current and new customers, and continuing to receive payment for service, should be incentive enough. However, it should be of note that this is a

less densely populated area than metro areas, and sometimes it is necessary to offer a little more. Hopefully this doesn't translate into something that ISP's take once to improve

service, and 3-5 years down the road when everything is over-saturated, we find ourselves in the same dilemma.

Neutral Incentives would probably work better than penalties. But incentives need to be appropriate for the service being provided.

Neutral I do not fully understand the proposal here. I think that any encouragement for a current provider to do better would be great. Honestly, the threat of being put out of business in the area by a better internet company would be awesome to see. Maybe then, they would step up their game and provide better service for the money they receive. I have not met one person that is happy with their internet. Maybe people in town have better luck, but some of the people I know who live in town still have problems.

Somewhat appropriate action

Providing financial incentives would be helpful. I understand I area is remote and costly to provide service to us.

Least appropriate action We treat everyone the same.


If at all possible, I would like to see costs come down. The speed we have at present seems very good, but don't think we can afford the additional cost so am hoping the bronze plan speed is not too far below it.

Somewhat appropriate action Incentives tend to help bring new services into remote locations

Colorado needs an actual broadband strategy beyond "get current providers to improve service and provision rural areas". Local loop unbundling is needed. The incumbents are only going to expand/improve service where there is a substantial financial incentive to do so.


While I don't agree with providing incentives to ISP's to promote good business practice and ethics, this would be an acceptable compromise if they were to take an active role in not only providing good connectivity, but continued maintenance and support once they have established a client base.


Allowing/encouraging competition is a better way to incentivize providers, not more

regulation.

Table 7: Survey Incumbent Incentives and Penalties Comments

Implement supportive policies/become broadband friendly communities The Fiber to the Home Council has suggested communities can become "broadband friendly" through:

• Community and local government leadership and support o Develop a clear broadband plan

Page 90


o Ensure commitment of community stakeholders, including local government personnel

• Favorable approval requirements and permitting o Define an expeditious process for ongoing permitting and inspections o Permit innovative construction techniques o Relax community-wide build out requirements

• Use of existing infrastructure o Publish data about existing infrastructure o Make all rights of way available on clearly defined, reasonable terms through a

rapid approval process o Ensure make-ready work is performed expeditiously o Coordinate all pole maintenance and make-ready work with new providers to

save cost o Allow prospective attachers to perform all make-ready work themselves

• Proactively improving existing infrastructure o Provide space on all poles for new attachments o Install fiber conduit o Use building codes and community development plans to drive broadband

deployment Some of these "broadband friendly" guidelines are part of offering incumbent providers incentives and penalties. However, becoming a "broadband friendly" community requires more work by community leaders than offering incentives and penalties. Response Comment Most appropriate action

I feel this should honestly be the goal of modern communities. However, I would question whether or not this type of model would be enough of an incentive to ISP's who are still hesitant to improve even their own infrastructure to satisfy their own customers. I don't mean this as mud-slinging, but rather as a genuine concern.

Neutral When I travel from Burlington to Broomfield, Via Outback Express, I spend the night BEFORE the bus travels to Broomfield at the Chaparral Motor Inn. The Chaparral provides Free Wi Fi - but I usually only make BRIEF use of the Internet connection available at the Chaparral, because the connection is so slow. However, at my home - 12 MILES north of Burlington, I use Hughes Net. My Hughes Net SATELLITE provides MUCH better service than the Internet service available at the Chaparral, which is in TOWN! So, Broadband may NOT be the smartest way to go. The DISADVANTAGE of satellite, of course, is that, when there is a storm, the storm clouds passing overhead usually interfere with the satellite signal. This is an important disadvantage when the information which you hoped to find, via the Internet, is CURRENT weather conditions! I use DSL in Broomfield, via Century Link. While the DSL Internet access is NOT affected by severe weather conditions - whenever there is a problem - you have to spend an hour or two - working your way through the MANY layers of bureaucrats which Century Link has established in order to avoid having contact with consumers. So I would not be inclined to want to hand the keys to the county to just ONE prospective Internet provider!

Page 91


Response Comment Most appropriate action

It is true that in order to have better things out here in the country, we all have to work together. These requirements seem fair and necessary. I would assume that as

unhappy as a lot of people are with their internet, they would be willing to allow these changes and help where needed. I guess I am speaking mostly for Stratton, though, since we are a small but close-knit community.

Neutral Unbundle the local loop and reform Colorado law to allow local municipalities to lease capacity on their fiber to 3rd parties to provide actual competition.

All of the above - nice but same old weak sauce.


I feel this should be the ideal goal to achieve a happy medium that would benefit all parties involved. By allowing the communities to plan for infrastructure, and finding ways to implement conduits and right-of-ways, it should make things easier to find, redirect and implement.


Community leaders should not be involved with the broadband.


If a business has to be paid to improve their services, they become another welfare case!

Table 8: Survey Broadband Friendly Policies Comments

Build community owned networks and other government owned infrastructure Competition often spurs innovation and lower prices. The towns in the region could build new broadband infrastructure and provide services to compete with the existing service providers. Or the towns could build new competing infrastructure and invite new service providers to use it to provide service. Unlike a limited build to close caps or enhance capabilities, this idea would put government owned infrastructure — and possibly services — in competition with existing providers. Response Comment Somewhat appropriate action

This feels more like something that can succeed in this area. It also may provide

communities with additional funding, if they can lease cable or conduits to ISP's to provide more/better connectivity to customers. The only problem with this option is that there will be concern, and dispute, over where the startup capital will come from.

Neutral Unfortunately, at least three businesses which I know about, which were open when I

moved to Burlington in 2013 - have closed their doors in the past two years. If businesses throughout the county are failing - WHERE would the local towns get the money which they would need in order to provide adequate competitive local infrastructure? Perhaps local residents could make contact with organizations such as the

Gates Foundation in order to discover ways which would make it easier for rural communities to develop affordable CONSUMER FRIENDLY Internet Access. After all, organizations such as the Gates Foundation are exploring ways to make it easier for people in places such as Africa to be able to afford Internet access. Surely, some of those ideas would also be workable for places such as Kit Carson County. They might even have suggestions for ways to develop affordable and reliable PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION for rural Colorado communities, such as Kit Carson County!


Burlington cannot even guarantee the safety of the drinking water. It should be left to private business to provide network capacity.

Page 92


Response Comment Neutral Competition is a great thing. It usually brings out the best in people and businesses.

Generally, everyone benefits from it.


If we were a larger jurisdiction, this might work. As of now, there is no need.


In our rural community , towns would not expend money to come out 45 to 75 miles, so I think the local phone company is the best solution.


Can we try to keep the government out of the services area, they tend to over-reach

their bounds already


This seems like more trouble than it might be worth, as most community

governments don't have any technicians who would be able to service the lines or conduits if they go down. I think it would be better to sell or lease the conduits to the ISP's.


Government intervention is NOT the answer.


The limited completion available has not done their job.

Neutral While there are some advantages of government provided services, it can have the effect of

driving competing providers out of the marketplace. Government provided services are likely not the most cost-effective solution. However city infrastructure available to

multiple providers my spur competition.

Table 9: Survey Government Infrastructure Comments

Other Solutions Response Comment Most appropriate action

Contact well-known organizations, such as Apple - to learn whether or not innovative plans for improving affordable Internet accessibility, which have been pioneered in third-world countries, could be just as easily implemented in rural communities in the U.S. as well. Senior Resource Center in Denver has been able to provide reliable, affordable and extensive transportation for senior citizens in a number of different counties for many years - and the Senior Resource Center is able to provide that service because they make extensive use of Foundations which have been established to help provide important services for senior citizens. Most rural areas have a high concentration of senior citizens, and some of those same foundations, which help provide services for urban senior citizens - might also be able to assist rural communities in helping to improve Internet accessibility - as well as other services - for senior citizens.


Federal government could offer assistance to local phone companies who have

spent or will spend money to provide better internet/broadband service to their towns, cities and rural areas.


Local loop unbundling and leasing of capacity on muni networks for 3rd parties. Google's in Boulder - and did not pick Boulder for fiber in part due to Colorado laws. Chattanooga is a great example of how to do it right. Construct better structured survey's that will yield statistically valid data.


Another company with exceptional customer support and reliability needs to come to the

area. We need competition to allow the free market to weed out that bad companies that do not care about their customers.

Page 93


Response Comment Neutral While last-mile installations are the most expensive, fiber to the home is a very forward-

looking proposition. Existing infrastructure can handle most users’ needs. Access to large backbones should also be developed.

Table 10: Survey Other Solutions Comments

Page 94


SERVICE PROVIDER SUMMARIES

AGATE MUTUAL TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE

April 2015

Carrier Capabilities

Agate Mutual Telephone Cooperative Association (AMTCA) is a rural telephone cooperative and

Internet Service Provider based in Agate, CO. They offer DSL to telephone customers in their

service area. For more rural customers they also offer a satellite internet product from Exede.

Agate is a Member of CCT and uses their fiber ring for transport.

Service Packages and Pricing

DSL

• 1.5 - $35 / month

• 3 - $49 / month

• 6 - $65 / month

Service Area(s)

DSL

• Eastern Elbert County (along I-70 and points northwest. West of Limon)

Recently Completed Projects / Expansion Plans

No Upgrade Plans at present.

BIJOU TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE

April 2015


Bijou Telephone Cooperative is a rural telephone cooperative and Internet Service Provider

based in Byers, CO. They offer DSL to telephone customers in their service area and Fixed

Wireless Internet to the surrounding and neighboring areas.


DSL

Page 95


• 1.5M /384K- $30 / month

• 6M/768K - $60 / month

• 18M/2M - $110 / month

Fixed Wireless

• 1.5M /384K- $30 / month

• 6M/768K - $60 / month

• 18M/2M - $110 / month

Service Area(s)

DSL

• Deer Trail and Byers (greater Byers)

Fixed Wireless

• Limon, Strasburg, Bennett, Watkins


No Upgrade Plans at present.

CENTURYLINK

April 2015


Centurylink is a Price-Capped telephone and Internet services provider. They offer DSL and

Fiber-based Ethernet services in several communities in the ECCOG area.


Ethernet via Fiber to the Premise – Custom product, Custom Pricing.

DSL

• 1.5/.75 - $20 / month (for 1st 12 months) then

• 10/1 - $20 / month (for 1st 12 months)

• 25/3 - $20 / month (for 1st 12 months)

Service Area(s)

DSL may be available in the following Communities (Information differs):

Page 96


• Burlington, Bethune, Cheyenne Wells, Limon, Elizabeth, Kiowa, Elbert, Rush, Stratton,


CenturyLink is participating in CAF II and is developing its deployment plans.

COMCAST

April 2015


Comcast Corporation is a Cable Television and Internet Service Provider. They Provide Cable

Internet service in portions of Elbert county including Elizabeth, Kiowa and a few

unincorporated areas.


Cable – business service (see note on install fee)

• 16/3 - $82.50 / month

• 50/10 – $122.90 / month

• 150/20 - $262.90/ month

Cable – Residential Service (see note on install fee)

• 3 - $40

• 6 - $30 / month (1st year) then $50 /month

• 25 -$40 / month (1st year) then $62 / month

• 50 - $45/ month (1st year) then $67 / month

• 105 - $79 / month (no promo)

• 150 - $115 / month (no promo)

Service Area(s)

Cable – 150 Mbps available in all listed communities

• Elbert County o Elizabeth o Kiowa


Comcast offers the services listed with an installation charge of between $50 and $200

depending on the service term commitment of 1, 2, or 3 years for business customers and up to

Page 97


$500 for residential customers. There are no current plans to further upgrade their services

that they could share with us.

DIRECTLINK LLC

April 2015


DirectLink LLC is a Fixed Wireless Internet Service Provider based in Parker, CO. They service the

western half of Elbert County. They offer business, residential and custom fixed wireless

products.


Fixed Wireless – Business Grade

• 5 - $80 / month

• 15 - $100 / month

• 25 - $120 / month

Fixed Wireless – Residential Grade

• 4 - $40 / month

• 6 - $50 / month

• 15- $70 / month

Custom wireless

• up to 200/100 licensed links.

Service Area(s)

Fixed Wireless

• Elbert County o Elizabeth, Kiowa and portions of the county as far east as County Road 125

Recently Completed Projects / Expansion Plans / Additional Information

$170 business install. $130 install or waived with 1-year contract, vacation service available.

Company is locally owned and operated for 12 years. Strasburg is newest tower and service.

Towers are all fed via microwave.

Page 98


EAGLE COMMUNICATIONS

April 2015


Eagle Communications is a Cable, Fiber and Fixed Wireless Internet Service Provider. They also

offer “Triple Play” Voice, Data and Phone service packages.


• Cable Service – 15, 30 and 50/5 packages available. 50/5 - $55 / month

• Fixed Wireless Service – 5/5 for $60 / month

• Fiber to the Premise – Custom product, Custom Pricing.

Service Area(s)

Cable Service is available within the City of Burlington in Kit Carson County.

Fixed Wireless is available within a 4-5-mile radius of Burlington.

Fiber to the Premise – limited availability within the City of Burlington.


Recently upgraded cable service to support 50 Mbps downloads.

No additional upgrades planned at present.

EASTERN SLOPE RURAL TELEPHONE ASSOCIATION (ESRTA)

April 2015


ESRTA is a Rural Telco provider with internet service offered via Copper and Fiber. They have

redundancy and physical diversity with CCT connections in Hugo and Bennett. They have a VOIP

product through a vendor Inteliquent. They also have a subsidiary – ESTECH - to handle non-

regulated products such as DSL, IPTV, Long distance and ethernet. Their entire fiber plant is

buried.

ESRTA is a major carrier in the ECCOG region. Their service area covers a majority of Lincoln

County, Western Cheyenne County til midway between Kit Carson and Cheyenne Wells, and a

small portion of Western Kit Carson County including Flagler and points west, as well as

Page 99


portions of four additional counties outside of the ECCOG region. They provide Broadband

Internet Services in the following population centers and surrounding areas: Flagler, Arriba,

Genoa, Hugo, Kit Carson and Karval.

Figure 26: ESRTA Service Area Map


DSL

• 4/.5 - $35 / month (+$5 modem lease)

• 15/3 - $85 / month (+$5 modem lease)

• 40-75 Mbps service available in certain urban markets – custom pricing


Page

100


ESRTA has completed a ‘Fiber to the Node’ Project which has a fiber-fed node located no

further than five miles from all addresses served. This network enables them to provide

“minimum 4/1 service to all addresses in their service region with 45-75 Mbps VDSL service in

population centers.” Packages advertised on their website range from 4/.5 for $35/month to

15/3 for $$85 per month. They also offer custom business services in population centers with

custom pricing and speeds up to 1 Gbps.

The majority of services are provided via copper and fiber infrastructure.

Eastern Slope Subscriber Totals and Internet Penetration

Telephone Basic Internet

Subscribers Advanced Internet Subscribers

Total Internet Subscribers

3560 832 1121 1953

Feedback

Would consider utilizing public infrastructure including: shared conduit, shared trenching, and

leased fiber. Have concerns about how EAGLE-Net overbuilt and cherry picked CAI customers in

their service area. Customer education about needs/wants was identified as a challenge.

FAIRPOINT COMMUNICATIONS

April 2015


Fairpoint Communications is the 6th largest wireline phone company in the US. In the ECCOG

region, they provide telephone and DSL internet service to portions of Elbert County.


DSL – residential – includes modem with Wireless

• 4 /1- $60 / month

• 15/1 - $75.90 / month

DSL – Business – includes modem with Wireless

• 4 /1- $70 / month

• 15/1 - $85.90 / month

Service Area(s)

• Elbert County - verified o Simla and surrounding areas

Page

101



No known expansion plans in Colorado.

JAB / SKYBEAM / RISE BROADBAND

May 2015


Jab Broadband is a Fixed Wireless Internet Service Provider based in Englewood, CO. The

companies they own provide Internet service in 15 states. Recently, all brands have been

unified under the name Rise Broadband. In Colorado, the company used to be called Skybeam.

They service much of the front range including western Elbert County. They offer business,

residential and custom fixed wireless products.


Fixed Wireless – Business Grade

• 10/2 - $97 / month

• 5/2 - $57 / month

Fixed Wireless – Residential Grade

• 10/2 - $57 / month

• 5/1- $47/ month

Custom wireless

• contact [email protected]

Service Area(s)

Fixed Wireless

• Elbert County o Elizabeth, Kiowa and portions of the county west.

Recently Completed Projects / Expansion Plans / Additional Information

$150 business install fee. $50 residential install fee. No known plans to expand the network

further into the ECCOG region.

MHO NETWORKS

Page

102


April 2015


MHO Networks offers a wide variety of services in Metro Denver and other major markets in

California and Texas. In other markets they offer Dedicated Internet, Metro Ethernet, VLAN

over their wireless network, copper and owned and leased fiber.

In Elbert County, they have the remnants of a residential service offering for wireless home

internet service. At present, they are encouraging their customers to find a new ISP as they will

be discontinuing this service in the near future.


No Services being marketed in the ECCOG region at this time.

Service Area(s)

Figure 27: MHO Service Area

Page

103



Expansion plans for other parts of the country exist. No expansion or maintenance plans for

Elbert county or other parts of the ECCOG region exist at present.

PLAINS TELEPHONE COOPERATIVE

April 2015


Plains Telephone Cooperative is a Fiber and Fixed Wireless Internet Service Provider. In other

areas of the state, they are a traditional rural telephone cooperative. In the ECCOG region, they

are providing custom Fiber to the Premise Solutions in Burlington, CO and FTTH in parts of Kit

Carson County. They have physical diversity with two routes (one to Kansas and one to CCT) on

their fiber backhaul.


Ethernet via Fiber to the Premise – Custom product, Custom Pricing.

Fiber to the Home

• 5/1 - $40 / month

• 40/25 - $99 / month

Service Area(s)

Limited Fiber to the Premise – Available within the City of Burlington.

Fiber to the Home

• Kit Carson County o Vona, Seibert


Recently (2014) began CLEC expansion in Burlington to “Cherry-pick Community Anchor

Institution Customers.” Building off of a fiber line they have running north of the city. GPON

product. In other parts of their network, plans to increase speeds 30-40% with no cost increase

are underway. Recently completed FTTH build out in other parts of their network.

REBELTEC

April 2015

Page

104



Rebeltec is a Cable, Fiber and Fixed Wireless Internet Service Provider. They have an extensive

tower and radio infrastructure and lease/trade relationships throughout the ECCOG region.

They have a new FTTP service available in Kit Carson and Cheyenne Wells. Towers are 75%

Microwave fed, 25% Fiber fed. Microwave tower links are all 100 Mbps+. They have

competitive advantages in customer service as a truly locally owned and operated company.

They have carrier and physical diversity with two paths to Colorado Springs out of their

network. They also have phone and IPTV products available.


Fiber to the Premise

• 40/40 - $45 residential, $69 business customer

Cable Service

• 2 MB / $25 / month

Fixed Wireless

• 5/5 Mbps / $50 / month

Service Area(s)

Fiber to the Premise

• Available within the City of Kit Carson and Cheyenne Wells.

Cable Service

• Offered within the City of Kit Carson

Fixed Wireless

• Offered within an 8-10 mile radius of the following communities:

• Cheyenne Wells, Kit Carson, Wild Horse, Arapahoe, Brandon, Tallman Hill, Burlington, Stratton, Vona, Seibert, Bethune, Genoa, Hugo, Flagler, Arriba


Are putting up new towers often. Will build a new tower if it will serve > 15 new homes.

Feedback

Page

105


Would participate/partner with a municipality for leased facilities, shared trenching, tower co-

locates.

Page

106


FEDERAL PROJECTS

The federal government has funded several projects in the region starting with the broadband

stimulus funding that was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and

continuing into 2015 with the Connect America Fund.

BROADBAND INITIATIVES PROGRAM

Through the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) the Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities

Service (RUS) awarded $3.4 billion to 297 recipients in 45 states and 1 U.S. territory for

infrastructure projects. 89% of the awards and 92% of the total dollars awarded were for 285

last mile projects. Colorado received $12.2 million in grants augmented by $13.4 million in low

interest long-term loans. In the east central region Plains used this funding to implement FTTH

upgrades.

• Plains Cooperative Telephone Company

Plains Cooperative Telephone Association, Inc. will offer FTTH broadband service on the

eastern plains of Colorado. The project will add 1,000 miles of fiber-optic cable over a

1,974 square-mile area. The network will make services available to 1,096 households,

272 businesses, and 42 anchor institutions.

COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - BRIDGING COLORADO’S DIGITAL DIVIDE

The Colorado State Library received federal stimulus money and matching funds from the Bill

and Melinda Gates Foundation to install or upgrade Public Computer Centers in libraries and

community centers throughout the state. Local libraries provided 10% match, purchased

equipment, offered public training, and promoted broadband adoption and digital literacy.

The grant was completed early and the final numbers for two years are significantly higher than

projected in our initial application.

• We installed or upgraded 88 public computer centers in Colorado – 16% more centers

than projected

• We purchased 26% more computers than projected – in total over 1,500 desktops,

laptops, tablets, and assistive tech machines

• We had 28% more uses of the computers – in total over 3.46 million computer uses

• The centers offered training to over 400,000 resident learners including 383,935

individual tutoring sessions and nearly 5,000 formal classes to 31,873 attendees. We

surpassed the goal of 10,000 computer trainings projected in the grant application.

Projects in east central Colorado included:

Page

107


• Burlington Public Library

The Burlington Public Library serves a wide variety of patron needs. Those needs will be

addressed with an ADA compliant workstation, groups of participants that need to

conduct computer based programs with the laptops and for various training functions.

The patrons need access for job hunting, school work, and to expand their learning

capabilities. With these resources, the community will be better suited to face the

difficult economic times.

• Elbert County Library District (Simla Branch Library)

With funding for a mobile computing center, the Simla Branch Library will be

unhindered by small class size limitations and one location. It will be able to keep the

desktops in the library available at all times and branch out with computer class

offerings. With local partnerships, some of those classes or offerings will include free tax

preparation with Colorado Eastern Community Action Agency, Weather Spotter Training

with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and GED tutoring. More specific

programs will be developed to offer computer skills training to those needing job skill

assistance or job searching. For patrons, all of this leads to confidence and

empowerment, whether for just learning how to email family afar or for improved

education, enhancement of job skills, and discovery of new job sources.

• Limon Memorial Library

The Limon Memorial Library’s BTOP grant funds will be used to sustain and improve its

current computer lab. This lab originated with a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Grant for Public Libraries and since that time has become a center of communication

and a resource for the high school, college, distant learners and business community.

The library also will continue to provide a computer experience for early learners with

field trips to the Library Computer Lab for children ages 3-5 years from our local Head

Start.

• Stratton Public Library

With the additional computers made possible through the BTOP grant, Stratton Public

Library will be able to decrease wait time for computers, increase patron usage and

allow for more classes and trainings to be offered.

CONNECT AMERICA FUND

In early 2013, the FCC offered $6.5 million in Connect America Fund (CAF I) financial support to

expand the availability of broadband service in CenturyLink’s Colorado footprint. CenturyLink

accepted this CAF I offer, and on November 9, 2015, notified the Federal Communications

Commission (“FCC”) that it had completed efforts to provide high speed internet access to

more than 9,600 customers in un-served areas of Colorado using the CAF I funds. The affected

customers are located in 849 census blocks within 51 Colorado wire centers.

Page

108


Broadband service was expanded to 7 addresses in the Limon area in east central Colorado as

part of CAF I spending.

On August 27, 2015, CenturyLink accepted CAF II support for Colorado that will include an

additional $26.5 million annually for the next six years to provide broadband to more than

50,000 households and businesses in CAF II eligible areas.

EAGLE-NET

EAGLE-Net Alliance (EAGLE-Net – www.co-eaglenet.net) is a Colorado intergovernmental entity

which operates a cost-sharing cooperative that will deliver a carrier quality broadband network

to more than 170 communities across the state. EAGLE-Net is building a sustainable network to

better connect education, libraries, government and health care facilities statewide. EAGLE-Net

also provides commodity Internet services with access to advanced research and education

networks.

EAGLE-Net was awarded a Round-2 $100.6 million Broadband Technology Opportunities

Program (BTOP) infrastructure grant in September 2010 from the National Telecommunications

and Information Administration (NTIA).

EAGLE-Net has built service into Agate, Burlington, Cheyenne Wells, Flagler, Hugo, Kit Carson,

Limon, Simla, and Stratton. Most of EAGLE-Net’s network is new build or leased fiber. Some

communities are connected via licensed microwave links.

http://www.co-eaglenet.net/

Page

109


Figure 28: EAGLE-Net Network

Page

110


MODEL OPEN TRENCH/DIG ONCE ORDINANCE24

WHEREAS, obstructions and excavations in City/Town/County rights of way disrupt and

interfere with public use of the Rights of Way; and

WHEREAS, obstructions and Excavations in City/Town/County Rights of Way result in

loss of parking and loss of business to merchants and others whose places of business are in the

vicinity of such obstructions and Excavations; and

WHEREAS, it is desirable to adopt policies and regulations which will enable the

City/Town/County of ________________ to gain greater control over the disruption and

interference with the public use of public streets and Rights of Way, in order to provide for the

health, safety and well-being of the City’s/Town’s/County’s residents and users of

City/Town/County Rights of Way; and

WHEREAS, significant public funds have been invested to acquire, build, maintain and

repair the streets within the City/Town/County, and Excavations in the Rights of Way reduce

the useful life of the pavement infrastructure; and

WHEREAS, significant public funds have been invested to place and maintain

Landscaping within Rights of Way in the City/Town/County and Excavations in the Rights of

Way cause damage to, and increase the costs of maintaining that Landscaping; and

WHEREAS, at the present time, the City’s/Town’s/County’s Department of Public Works

does not have [or desires to update, as appropriate] a detailed map or database indicating the

location, nature, or extent of the system underground utility, communications and similar

Facilities; and

WHEREAS, the various public and commercial utilities, broadband and communications

providers and similar entities which install, maintain, and operate Facilities under the

City’s/Town’s/County’s Rights of Way are constrained, from time to time, to make excavation

cuts which degrade the surfaces of these Rights of Way, thereby reducing their useful life; and

WHEREAS, demand for access to broadband services is growing, and in order to fill such

demand, more broadband network infrastructure is being installed in Rights of Way; and

24 This Model Open Trench/Dig Once Ordinance is intended as a starting point to address issues that local governments might include in their own rights of way codes. It may be considered as a separate ordinance or for inclusion in a more comprehensive ordinance government rights of way management, permitting and construction. All provisions relate in some way to coordinating and attempting to minimize excavations, but all may not be appropriate in every jurisdiction. The provisions of this Model may also, where authorized, be modified and adopted as local policies or regulations.

Page

111


WHEREAS, in other jurisdictions, the demand for access and the number of entities

seeking to install Facilities has sometimes resulted in multiple, serial Excavations within the

Rights of Way, which can and has resulted in traffic disruption, a weakening of pavement

integrity, and a shortening of the useful life of paved surfaces; and

WHEREAS, while Colorado state statutes, particularly, C.R.S. 38-5.5-109, contains some

procedures for addressing joint trenching in connection with broadband provider operations in

the Rights of Way, at the present there is no comprehensive mechanism nor legal requirement

that all public and commercial entities coordinate Excavation in the Rights of Way, and

construct Facilities in newly developed areas to minimize future Excavations; and

WHEREAS, the [City/Town/County] of ______ intends to responsibly manage its Rights

of Way by anticipating such demand and planning accordingly.

NOW, THEREFORE, be it enacted by the City/Town/County of _____________ as

follows:

I. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

A. Purpose: to provide principles and procedures for the coordination of

construction Excavation within any public Rights of Way, and to protect the integrity of the

Rights of Way and road system.

B. Objectives. Public and private uses of Rights of Way for location of Facilities

employed in the provision of public services should, in the interests of the general welfare, be

accommodated; however, the City/Town/County must insure that the primary purpose of the

Rights of Way, namely the safe and efficient passage of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, is

maintained to the greatest extent possible. In addition, the value of other public and private

installations, Facilities and properties should be protected, competing uses must be reconciled,

and the public safety preserved. The use of the Rights of Way corridors for location of Facilities

is secondary to these public objectives. This ordinance is intended to assist in striking a balance

between the public need for efficient, safe transportation routes and the use of Rights of Way

for location of Facilities by public and private entities. It thus has several objectives:

1. To insure that the public health, safety and welfare is maintained and

that public inconvenience is minimized.

2. To facilitate work within the Rights of Way through the standardization of

regulations.

3. To conserve and fairly apportion the limited physical capacity of the

public Rights of Way held in public trust by the City/Town/County.

Page

112


4. To promote cooperation among the Applicants and Permittees (as

defined herein) and the City/Town/County in the occupation of the public Rights of

Way, and work therein, in order to (i) eliminate duplication that is wasteful, unnecessary

or unsightly, (ii) lower the Permittee’s and the City’s/Town’s/County’s costs of providing

services to the public, and (iii) minimize Rights of Way Excavations.

II. DEFINITIONS

For the purpose of this Chapter the following words shall have the following meanings:

A. “Applicant” means an owner or duly authorized agent of such owner, who has

submitted an application for a Permit to Excavate in the Rights of Way.

B. “City”/“Town”/“County” means the City/Town/County of _________, Colorado.

C. “Conduit” means a single enclosed raceway for cables, fiber optics or other

wires, or a pipe or canal used to convey fluids or gases.

D. “Department” means the Department of Public Works.

E. “Developer” means the person, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity

who is improving property within the City/Town/County and who is legally responsible to the

City/Town/County for the construction of improvements within a subdivision or as a condition

of a building permit or other land use or development authorization.

F. “Director” means the Director of Public Works of the City/Town/County or

his/her authorized representative.

G. “Emergency” means any event which may threaten public health or safety, or

that results in an interruption in the provision of services, including, but not limited to,

damaged or leaking water or gas conduit systems, damaged, plugged, or leaking sewer or storm

drain conduit systems, damaged electrical and communications facilities, and advanced notice

of needed repairs is impracticable under the circumstances.

H. “Excavate” or “Excavation" means any Work in the surface or subsurface of the

Rights of Way, including, but not limited to opening the Rights of Way; installing, servicing,

repairing or modifying any Facility(ies) in or under the surface or subsurface of the Rights of

Way, and restoring the surface and subsurface of the Rights of Way.

I. “Facilities” means, including, without limitation, any pipes, conduits, wires,

cables, amplifiers, transformers, fiber optic lines, antennae, poles, ducts, fixtures and

appurtenances and other like equipment used in connection with transmitting, receiving,

distributing, offering, and providing broadband, utility and other services.

Page

113


J. "Landscaping" means materials, including without limitation, grass, ground

cover, shrubs, vines, hedges, or trees and non living natural materials commonly used in

landscape development, as well as attendant irrigation systems.

K. “Major Work” means any reasonably foreseeable Excavation that will affect the

Rights of Way for more than five (5) consecutive calendar days.

L. “Owner” means any Person, including the City, who owns any Facilities that are

or are proposed to be installed or maintained in the Rights of Way.

M. “Permit” means any authorization for use of the Rights of Way granted in

accordance with the terms of this ordinance, and other applicable laws and policies of the

City/Town/County.

N. “Permittee” means the holder of a valid Permit issued pursuant to this Chapter

and other applicable provisions of applicable law for Excavation in the Rights of Way.

O. “Person” means any person, firm, partnership, special, metropolitan, or general

district, association, corporation, company, or organization of any kind.

P. “Rights of Way” means any public street, road, way, place, alley, sidewalk or

easement, that is owned, held or otherwise dedicated to the City/Town/County for public use.

Q. “Work” means any labor performed on, or any use or storage of equipment or

materials, including but not limited to, construction of streets and all related appurtenances,

fixtures, improvements, sidewalks, driveway openings, street lights, and traffic signal devices. It

shall also mean construction, maintenance, and repair of all underground structures such as

pipes, conduit, ducts, tunnels, manholes, vaults, buried cable, wire, or any other similar

Facilities located below surface, and installation of overhead poles used for any purpose.

III. POLICE POWERS

A Permittee's rights hereunder are subject to the police powers of the

City/Town/County, which include the power to adopt and enforce ordinances, including

amendments to this ordinance, and regulations necessary to the safety, health, and welfare of

the public. A Permittee shall comply with all applicable ordinances and regulations enacted, or

hereafter enacted, by the City/Town/County or any other legally constituted governmental unit

having lawful jurisdiction over the subject matter hereof. The City/Town/County reserves the

right to exercise its police powers, notwithstanding anything in this ordinance or any Permit to

the contrary. Any conflict between the provisions of the ordinance or a Permit and any other

present or future lawful exercise of the City's/Town’s/County’s police powers shall be resolved

in favor of the latter.

Page

114


IV. JOINT PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION; COORDINATION OF PLANNED EXCAVATIONS

A. Excavations in City/Town/County Rights of Way disrupt and interfere with the

public use of those Rights of Ways and can damage the pavement and Landscaping. The

purpose of this section is to reduce this disruption, interference and damage by promoting

better coordination among Applicants and Permittees making excavations in City/Town/County

Rights of Way and between these Persons and the City/Town/County. Better coordination will

assist in minimizing the number of Excavations being made wherever feasible, and will ensure

the Excavations in City/Town/County Rights of Way are, to the maximum extent possible,

performed before, rather than after, the resurfacing of the Rights of Way by the

City/Town/County.

B. Any Permittee owning, operating or installing facilities in City/Town/County

Rights of Way, providing water, sewer, gas, electric, broadband, communication, video or other

utility or utility-like services, shall meet annually with the Director, at the Director’s request to

discuss Permittee’s excavation master plan. At such meeting, to the extent not already in

possession of the City/Town/County, Permittee shall submit documentation, in a form required

by the Director, showing a location of the Permittee’s existing Facilities in the

City/Town/County Rights of Way. Permittee shall discuss with the Director, its excavation

master plan, and identify planned Major Work in the City/Town/County. The Director may

make his own record on a map, drawing or other documentation, of each Permittee’s planned

Major Work in the City/Town/County; provided, however, that no such document prepared by

the Director shall identify a particular entity, or the planned Major Work of that particular

entity. An excavation master plan shall be submitted in both hard copy and digital format. As

used in this subsection, the requirement to identify planned Major Work refers to any Major

Work planned to occur more in the ensuing three (3) years after the date that the Permittee’s

master plan or update is discussed. Between the annual meetings to discuss planned Major

Work, a Permittee shall use its best efforts to inform the Director of any substantial changes in

the planned Major Work discussed at the annual meeting.

C. The Director shall review the major excavation plan and identify conflicts and

opportunities for coordination of Excavations. The Director shall notify affected Owners and

Permittees of such conflicts and opportunities to the extent necessary to maximize

coordination of Excavation. Each Applicant for a Permit shall coordinate, to the extent

practicable, with each potentially affected Owner and Permittee to minimize disruption in the

Rights of Way.

D. The City/Town/County may disclose information contained in a Permittee’s

master excavation plan to any public or private entity planning on conducting Excavation

activities in the Rights of Way only on a need-to-know basis in order to facilitate coordination

Page

115


among excavators and to avoid unnecessary Excavation in the Rights of Way. To the maximum

extent permissible under the Colorado Open Records Act, as amended, the City/Town/County

shall not otherwise disclose to the public any information contained in a master excavation plan

submitted by a Permittee that is proprietary, trade secret or is otherwise protected from

disclosure; provided, however that the City/Town/County shall have no duty to decline to

disclose any information that the Permittee has not identified on its face as proprietary, trade

secret or otherwise protected from disclosure. The City/Town/County shall notify a Permittee

of any request for inspection of public records that calls for disclosure of any master excavation

plan on which any information has been identified as proprietary, trade secret or otherwise

protected from disclosure. The City/Town/County shall consult with its legal counsel regarding

any such request and shall inform the affected Permittee either that the City/Town/County will

refuse to disclose the protected information or, if there is no proper basis for such refusal, that

the City/Town/County intends to disclose the requested information unless ordered otherwise

by a court.

E. The Director shall prepare a Repaving Plan showing the Rights of Way

resurfacing planned by the City/Town/County. For purposes of this section, the Repaving Plan

shall include a Landscaping or other Rights of Way improvement plan. The Repaving Plan shall

be revised and updated on an annual basis. The Director shall make the City’s/Town’s/County’s

Repaving Plan available for public inspection. In addition, after determining the

City’s/Town’s/County’s Rights of Way resurfacing Work that is proposed for each year, the

Director shall send a notice of the proposed Work to all Permittees that have had an annual

meeting with the Director, and those broadband providers that are identified on the list

maintained by the Colorado Department of Transportation pursuant to C.R.S. 39-5.5-109 (1)(b).

F. Prior to applying for a Permit, any Person planning to Excavate in the

City’s/Town’s/County’s Rights of Way shall review the City’s/Town’s/County’s Repaving Plan on

file with the Director and shall coordinate, to the extent practicable, with the utility and street

Work shown on such plans to minimize damage to, and avoid undue disruption and

interference with the public use of the Rights of Way.

G. In performing location of Facilities in the Rights of Way in preparation for

construction under a Permit, Permittee shall compile all information obtained regarding its or

any other Facilities in the Rights of Way related to a particular Permit, and shall make that

information available to the City/Town/County in a written and verified format acceptable to

the Director. If the Permittee fails to provide the locate information requested by the

City/Town/County, the City/Town/County may obtain this information and charge the

Permittee the actual costs for obtaining the information.

V. JOINT EXCAVATION

Page

116


A. Public Entity Excavators. Whenever two or more public entity excavators

propose Major Work in the same block within a three-year period, such Work shall be

performed by one public entity excavator. The participants to the excavation shall pay their pro

rata share of the Work, or as otherwise agreed to by the affected public entities. For purposes

of this subsection, the public entity excavators shall be treated as a single Permit Applicant and

shall submit one application.

B. Private Entity Excavators. Whenever two or more private entity excavators

propose Major Work in the same block within a three-year period, such Work shall be

performed by one private entity excavator. For purposes of this subsection, the private entity

excavators shall be treated as a single Permit applicant and shall submit one application.

C. Public Entity Excavator and Private Entity Excavator. Whenever a public entity

excavator(s) and a private entity excavator(s) propose Major Work in the same block within a

three-year period, the Department shall condition Permits for such Work in a manner that

maximizes coordination and minimizes the total period of construction.

D. Excavations Not Identified on Major Excavation Plans. When an Applicant seeks a

Permit for an Excavation, and such Excavation has not been identified on a major excavation

plan so as to allow the City/Town/County to coordinate joint Excavation as set forth in

subsections A through C of this section, an Applicant may, in the discretion of the Director, be

required to circulate a description of its proposed Excavation to the Permittees and other

parties described in Section IV.E above, to determine whether any Persons have requirements

for installing Facilities along the proposed route.

1. The Persons notified should be provided with the Applicant’s proposed

route plan, the target commencement date and the estimated completion date.

2. Within ten (10) working days after the notification required by this

subsection, any interested Person must notify the Applicant of their requirements so

that the Applicant may incorporate these requirements, where reasonable, in its Permit

application. The Applicant should summarize the responses it receives from other

Persons in its Application.

3. If the Applicant believes that it is not reasonably feasible to entertain the

requests made by another Person(s) for conditions of joint Excavation, it should notify

City/Town/County and the other Person(s) within ten (10) working days from the date

of receiving the requirements from the other Person(s) and provide reasons why it is

considered not reasonable to do so. The parties are expected to endeavor to resolve any

technical or commercial concerns among themselves, and the Applicant shall report the

results of these efforts together with its application for a Permit.

Page

117


E. Waiver of Joint Excavation Requirements. Permit Applicants may seek a waiver

of the joint Excavation requirements with respect to a particular Excavation.

1. Except in cases of Emergencies, within thirty (30) calendar days of receipt

of a written request for a waiver, the Director, in his or her discretion, may grant a

waiver to the joint Excavation requirements for good cause. In making his or her

decision on the request for waiver, the Director shall consider the impact of the

proposed Excavation on the neighborhood, the applicant's need to provide services to a

property or area, facilitating the deployment of new technology and improved services,

and the public health, safety, welfare, and convenience. The Director shall indicate in

written, electronic, or facsimile communication the basis for granting any waiver

pursuant to this subsection.

2. The Director may waive the requirements for joint Excavation in cases

where Emergency conditions exist.

3. The Director may place additional conditions on any Permit(s) subject to

a waiver, including, without limitation, the charging of additional fees. The Director's

decision regarding waivers of the joint Excavation requirements shall be final.

VI. CONSTRUCTION OF NEW STREETS

A. Intent. The intent of this section is to provide for the construction of

infrastructure sufficient to allow broadband communications entities desiring to deploy

Facilities in the future to do so by pulling the same through the conduit and appurtenances

installed pursuant to this section and without Excavating within the Rights of Way. This section

is not intended to require Owners of broadband Facilities to install additional ducts or conduit

in existing Rights of Way; rather, it is intended to require those constructing public streets,

including the City/Town/County and Developers, to provide and install such conduit and

appurtenances as may be necessary to accommodate future broadband needs within the Rights

of Way without further Excavation.

B. Requirements—Adoption of Standards. Whenever any new public street is

constructed, whether by the City/Town/County as a public works project or by a Developer or

other private party in conjunction with development, the following shall be required:

1. In all new local streets serving or abutting residential development, a

minimum of two 2” conduit with pull box every 1000’ feet or less (and at every 90

degree turn) shall be installed by the party constructing the street.

Page

118


2. In all new collector or arterial streets serving or abutting residential

development, and in all new streets serving or abutting nonresidential development, a

minimum of four 2” conduit with pull box every 1000’ feet or less (and at every 90

degree turn) shall be installed by the party constructing the street; provided however

that at the discretion of the Director, the number and size of the conduit and spacing of

pull box may be modified to address the reasonably known plans and/or demand for

broadband capacity in these locations.

3. In addition to installing conduit, the party constructing the street will be

required to install such vaults and other appurtenances as may be necessary to

accommodate installation and connection of broadband Facilities within the conduit.

4. All construction and installation shall be accomplished according to

construction standards adopted by the City/Town/County. The construction standards

shall be adopted with due consideration given to existing and anticipated technologies

and consistent with industry standards.

5. All Facilities installed by Developers or other private parties pursuant to this

section shall be conveyed and dedicated to the City/Town/County with the dedication

and conveyance of the public street and/or Rights of Way.

6. All installation costs shall be the responsibility of the party constructing the

public street.

C. Use by Broadband Service Providers and Network Owners. Whenever conduit

installed or to be installed under this section is available or will become available within a newly

constructed public streets or Rights of Way upon dedication, all broadband service providers or

network owners thereafter locating Facilities within such street or Rights of Way shall be

required to locate their communications lines within such conduit unless it can be

demonstrated to the reasonable satisfaction of the City/Town/County that such location is not

technologically feasible or reasonably practicable. Conduit capacity shall be allocated to

broadband service providers or network owners on a first-come, first-served basis; provided,

that the City/Town/County may reserve capacity within such conduits for its own use; and

provided further, that the Director may adopt additional rules for conduit allocation in order to

ensure that all broadband service providers and network owners have reasonable access to the

Rights of Way and that no barriers to entry or competition result from the allocation of conduit

space.

D. Fees. The City/Town/County reserves the right to charge reasonable fees for the

use of conduit installed pursuant to this section, to the extent consistent with and as limited by

federal and state laws. Any such fees shall be established by resolution or ordinance.

Page

119


This Ordinance shall take effect immediately upon [insert language appropriate for individual

jurisdictions …]

INTRODUCED, READ, ADOPTED ON FIRST READING AND ORDERED PUBLISHED, as provided by

law, by the City Council/Town Board of Trustees/Board of County Commissioners of the

City/Town/County of ___________, at its regular meeting held on the __ day of _______, 201_.

____________________________

Name and Title

ATTEST:

__________________

City/Town/County Clerk

READ, ADOPTED ON SECOND READING AND APPROVED this __ day of _______, 201_.

____________________________

Name and Title

ATTEST:

__________________

City/Town/County Clerk

Page

120


Page

121


TERMS AND ACRONYMS

2G: In the world of cell phones, 2G signifies second-generation wireless digital technology. Fully digital 2G networks replaced analog 1G, which originated in the 1980s. 2G networks saw their first commercial light of day on the GSM standard. GSM stands for global system for mobile communications.

3G: Third generation of the mobile telephony standard. Analog cellular was the first generation and digital PCS the second.

4G: Abbreviation for fourth-generation wireless. Specifies a mobile broadband standard offering both mobility and very high bandwidth. Usually refers to LTE and WiMax technology.

Access Level Infrastructure: Infrastructure required to deliver services from the community cabinet or hub to the customer access point. Access level infrastructure ties to distribution rings at the community cabinet and to drop level infrastructure at the customer premises. Access level infrastructure is typically part of the local loop.

Access Portal (AP): The transceiver or media converter device that terminates a fiber network at the customer’s premises. Other names for the AP include Optical Network Termination (ONT) or Ethernet Demarcation Device (EDD).

ADSL: See Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line.

Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS): A standard system for analog signal cellular telephone service in the United States and elsewhere. It is based on the initial electromagnetic radiation spectrum allocation for cellular service by the FCC in 1970 and first introduced by AT&T in 1983.

Aerial: Infrastructure placed in above ground installations.

Aggregation: See Demand Aggregation.

Aggregation Point: Aggregation point is used to describe a) a location where multiple fiber runs come together or b) a network location where multiple sites aggregate traffic.

AMPS: See Advanced Mobile Phone Service.

Analog: Relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quality such as spatial position or voltage.

Analog Reclamation: In a cable system, refers to repurposing spectrum previously used to carry

analog channels for other uses for digital channels or high-speed data.

AP: See Access Portal.

ARPU: See Average Revenue per User.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL): A technology that transmits a data signal over twisted-pair copper, often over facilities deployed originally to provide voice telephony. Download rates are higher than upload rates - i.e., are asymmetric. ADSL technology enables data transmission over existing copper wiring at data rates several hundred times faster than analog modems using an ANSI standard.

Name Download Upload ADSL 8.0 Mbps 1.0 Mbps

ADSL (G.DMT) 12.0 Mbps 1.3 Mbps

ADSL over POTS 12.0 Mbps 1.3 Mbps

ADSL over ISDN 12.0 Mbps 1.8 Mbps

ADSL Lite (G.Lite) 1.5 Mbps 0.5 Mbps

ADSL2 12.0 Mbps 3.5 Mbps

RE-ADSL2 5.0 Mbps 0.8 Mbps

Splitterless ADSL2 1.5 Mbps 0.5 Mbps

ADSL2+ 20.0 Mbps 1.1 Mbps

ADSL2+M 24.0 Mbps 3.3 Mbps

Asymmetrical: Internet connections have two components - a downstream and upstream. When the two speeds are not comparable, the connection is termed asymmetric. Typically, phone and cable companies offer much slower upload speeds than download, in part because the Internet tended to be a download-centric system in the 90's and early 00's. However, users increasingly need faster upload connections to take full advantage of modern applications.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM): A means of digital communications that is capable of very high speeds; suitable for transmission of images or voice or video as well as data; ATM is used for both LAN and WAN.

AT&T U-Verse: An AT&T brand of triple-play telecommunications services delivered via fiber to the node.

ATM: See Asynchronous Transfer Mode.

Availability Gap: See Broadband Availability Gap or Investment Gap

Average Revenue per User (ARPU): “Average revenue per user is calculated by dividing revenues by the subscriber base. Non-service

Page

122


revenues, such as equipment or other sales, are included in the calculation.” From http://www.yourdictionary.com/finance/arpu. While the accurate calculation of ARPU requires inclusion of non-service revenues, many organizations exclude them when calculating ARPU .

Backhaul: A general term for the segment of a network connecting the network to an Internet peering point.

Bandwidth: The rate at which the network can transmit information across it. Generally, higher bandwidth is desirable. The amount of bandwidth to you can determine whether you download a photo in two seconds or two minutes.

BHOL: See Busy Hour Offered Load.

BICC: See Bearer Independent Call Control.

Bit: The base unit of information in computing. For our purposes, also the base unit of measuring network speeds. 1 bit is a single piece of information – a one or zero, on or off, true or false. Network speeds tend to be measured by bits per second – using kilo (1,000), mega (1,000,000), and giga (1,000,000,000). A bit is a part of a byte – they are not synonyms. Bits are generally abbreviated with a lower case b (as in Mbps). Bits are used to measure network speeds. Bytes (abbreviated with an upper case B – as in MB) are used to measure storage space and file sizes. That smash hit two hour long high definition movie you want to download is probably 8+ GB. If you want to download it on a standard DSL line, you better have about six hours (8 billion bytes * 8 bits = 64 billion bits / 3 million bits per second = 5.9 hours).

BPON: See Broadband Passive Optical Network.

Broadband: According to the FCC, 4 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. True broadband provides exponentially faster speeds and is often symmetrical.

Broadband Availability Gap: Either a) The amount of funding necessary to upgrade or extend existing infrastructure up to the level necessary to support the National Broadband Availability Target. Because this is a financial metric it is referred to as the Investment Gap. Or b) the difference in bandwidth and services available between two geographic areas, socio-economic

strata, age generation, ethnic groups, or other groups.

Broadband Friendly: Policies designed to lower the costs and risks of deploying broadband in a community.

Broadband Passive Optical Network (BPON): A type of PON offering downstream capacities of up to 622 Mbps and upstream capacities of up to 155 Mbps shared among a limited number of end users.

Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP): The Department of Commerce broadband funding program.

Brownfield: Brownfield neighborhoods are neighborhoods that are already build out and typically have existing roads, sidewalks, landscaping, and other impediments to network deployment. Brownfield neighborhoods typically have existing networks requiring new entrants to overbuild unless the incumbent is required to unbundle.

BTOP: See Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

Burst Rate: The maximum rate or “speed” which a network is capable of delivering within a short timeframe – typically seconds or minutes. This is usually expressed as a rate in Mbps. Many network providers report their burst rate as their maximum advertised speed.

Busy Hour Offered Load (BHOL): BHOL (per subscriber) is the network capacity required by each user, averaged across all subscribers on the network during the peak utilization hours of the network. Network capacity required is the data received/transmitted by a subscriber during and hour; this can be expressed as a data rate (like Kbps) when the volume of data received/transmitted is divided by the time duration.

Byte: The base unit for file storage comprised of 8 bits. A 1 MB (megabyte) file is made of 8 million bits. Bytes generally refer to the size of storage whereas bits are used to discuss how rapidly files may be moved.

Cable Modem System: Cable television companies have offered Internet access via their cable systems since 1997. The network architecture uses a loop that connects each subscriber in a given neighborhood, meaning they all share one cable to the Internet. Because the cable network

Page

123


shares the last mile connection among potentially hundreds of subscribers, a few bandwidth hogs can slow everyone’s experience.

Cable Television (CaTV): In its original incarnation the acronym was CATV standing for Community Antenna or Community Access Television. The CaTV acronym stands for Cable Television. In either case, cable television uses coaxial cable to deliver video signals from a single receiver to multiple homes. Cable television technologies almost always “broadcast” all available channels on the cable and rely on in home tuners to select a channel from the broadcast stream.

CAF: See Connect America Fund.

CAI: See Community Anchor Institution.

CAP: See Customer Access Point.

Capacity: Ability of telecommunications infrastructure to carry information. The measurement unit depends on the facility. A data line’s capacity might be measured in bits per second while the capacity of a piece of equipment might be measured in numbers of ports.

CapEx: See Capital Expenditure.

Capital Expenditure (CapEx): Business expense to acquire or upgrade physical assets such as buildings, machinery, network infrastructure, etc. Also called capital spending or capital expense.

Carrier Neutral Location: A CNL is a local peering point location where multiple middle mile providers can meet and provide service to multiple last mile providers.

CATV: See Community Antenna Television.

CaTV: See Cable Television.

CDMA: See Code-Division Multiple Access.

Cellular: Denoting or relating to a mobile telephone system that uses a number of short-range radio stations to cover the area that it serves.

Census Block: The smallest level of geography designated by the US Census Bureau which may approximate actual city street blocks in urban areas. In rural districts census blocks may span larger geographical areas to cover a more dispersed population.

Center for Information Technology Leadership (CITL): See http://www.citl.org/.

Central Office (CO): A telephone company facility in a locality to which subscriber home and business lines are connected on what is called a local loop.

The CO has switching equipment that can switch calls locally or to long-distance carrier phone offices.

Churn: The number of subscribers who leave a service provider over a given period of time, usually expressed as a percentage of total customers.

CITL: See Center for Information Technology Leadership.

CLEC: See Competitive Local Exchange Carrier.

Cloud: Some refer to the entire Internet as a cloud – the idea being that all the information is just out there and it does not matter where. More commonly, cloud computing refers to services such as Amazon’s S3 where users pay a fee to store information on Amazon’s servers without ever really knowing the physical location. Cloud services may include storage, applications, and other services. As we gain access to faster Internet connections (particularly upstream speeds) cloud services may offer a more efficient means of accomplishing tasks and more reliable backup solutions.

CNL: See Carrier Neutral Location.

CO: See Central Office.

Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA): Any of several protocols used in so-called second-generation (2G) and third-generation (3G) wireless communications. As the term implies, CDMA is a form of multiplexing which allows numerous signals to occupy a single transmission channel optimizing the use of available bandwidth. The technology is used in ultra-high-frequency (UHF) cellular telephone systems in the 800-MHz and 1.9-GHz bands.

Community Anchor Institution (CAI): non-profit and government organizations that provide essential services to the public. Universities, colleges, community colleges, K12 schools, libraries, health care facilities, social service providers, government and municipal offices are all community anchor institutions.

Community Antenna Television (CATV): Early cable television systems were called community antenna television, or CATV, because by nature of their design they used a using antenna for multiple viewers. This was usually done to bring television signals into basins or other areas obstructed from receiving over the air signals. A

http://www.citl.org/

Page

124


single antenna would be placed on a hill or other area where signals could be received and cable would be used to distribute the signal to the homes where access was obstructed.

Community Cabinet: A remote switch location designed to support a single service area or footprint.

Community Connect Grant: The Community Connect program serves rural communities where broadband service is least likely to be available, but where it can make a tremendous difference in the quality of life for citizens. The projects funded by these grants will help rural residents tap into the enormous potential of the Internet.

Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC): The term and concept coined by the Telecommunication Act of 1996 for any new local phone company that was formed to compete with the ILEC.

Conduit: A reinforced tube through which cabling runs. Conduit is useful both to protect cables in the ground and because one can place conduit underground when convenient (like when other utility work is underway) and later blow or pull cable through the conduit.

Connect America Fund (CAF): The reformation of the USF to support broadband deployment.

Core: See Network Core.

Coverage: Refers to the geographic area in which one can obtain service. Sometimes referred to as a service area.

CPE: See Customer Premises Equipment.

CTN: See Colorado Telehealth Network.

Customer Access Point (CAP): The splice location where a subscriber’s drop level infrastructure enters the network. May also be called a subscriber Splice Box (SSB).

Customer Drop: See Drop Level Infrastructure.

Customer Premises Equipment: The family of devices used at the customer’s location to access network services. Some CPE – like the AP or cable modem – are provided by the network owner or service provider. Other CPE – like telephones and computers – are usually provided by the customer.

DAS: See Distributed Antenna System.

Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS): An international telecommunications

standard that permits the addition of high-speed data transfer to an existing cable TV (CaTV) system. It is employed by many cable television operators to provide Internet access over their existing infrastructure.

Demand Aggregation: The process of combining several clients’ broadband demand into a single purchase.

Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM): DWDM is a method of using a single fiber strand for multiple logical data paths.

Dig Once Policies: Broadband friendly policies that dictate communications conduit be added to any underground construction effort.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL): A family of technologies that provide digital data transmission over the traditional copper wires of a telephone network. The common DSL technologies used in the US are Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL).

Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM): Technology that concentrates or aggregates traffic in DSL networks. Located in the central office or in a remote terminal.

Distributed Antenna System (DAS): A network of spatially separated antenna nodes connected to a common source via a transport medium that provides wireless service within a geographic area or structure.

DOCSIS: See Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications.

Distribution Level Infrastructure: Telecommunications infrastructure intended to distribute signal to community cabinets.

Distribution Ring: An element of distribution level infrastructure connecting multiple community cabinets.

Download: Internet connections have two components – a downstream and upstream. Download refers to the rate at which the user’s computer can receive data from the Internet.

Downstream: Generic term referring to data traffic going from the network core to the subscriber location.

Drop: See Drop Level Infrastructure.

Drop Level Infrastructure: Drop level infrastructure – often referred to as a “drop” or “customer

Page

125


drop” is the infrastructure that connects the subscriber’s premises to the access level infrastructure. Drop level architecture is part of the local loop.

DS1: A digital signal 1 or DS1 (also known as a T1). A T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is a widely used standard in telecommunications in North America and Japan to transmit voice and data between devices. DS1 is the logical bit pattern used over a physical T1 line; however, the terms DS1 and T1 are often used interchangeable. Carries approximately 1.544 Mbps.

DS3: A copper digital signal transport with 44.736 Mbps capacity – or 28 T1 lines – or 672 voice lines.

DSL: See Digital Subscriber Line.

DSLAM: See Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer.

Duopoly: A situation in which two companies own all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service – that is, a two company monopoly.

DWDM: See Dense Wave Division Multiplexing.

EAGLE-Net: See https://www.co-eaglenet.net/.

Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA): An approximate measure of a company’s operating cash flow based on data from the company’s income statement. Calculated by looking at earnings, which are calculated by subtracting OpEx and SG&A from net revenues, before the deduction of interest expense, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. This earnings measure is of particular interest in cases where companies have large amounts of fixed assets which are subjected to large depreciation.

EBITDA: See Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.

EDD: See Ethernet Demarcation Device.

EPON: See Ethernet Passive Optical Network.

ESRI: ESRI (www.esri.com) is the global leader in geographic information systems.

Ethernet Demarcation Device (EDD): The transceiver device that terminates the optical network at the customer premises in an active Ethernet or EPON design. May also be called an access portal (AP) or optical network terminator (ONT).

Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON): One of the family of PON offering downstream capacities of up to 1.25 Gbps and upstream capacities of up to 1.25 Gbps shared among a limited number of end users.

EV-DO: See Evolution-Data Optimized.

Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO): A 3G wireless radio broadband data standard that enables faster speeds than are available in existing CDMA networks or other services such as GPRS or EDGE.

Fast Ethernet: A network transmission standard that provides a data rate of 100 Mbps.

FCC: See Federal Communications Commission.

FDMA: See Frequency Division Multiple Access.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC): Federal agency responsible for telecommunications regulation. See http://www.fcc.gov/.

Fiber Optic Splice Case (FOSC): A protective case at a fiber splicing point.

Fiber to the Building (FTTB): One of the families of fiber networks characterized by fiber delivery to a demarcation on or in the building with distribution to multiple tenants within the building through copper or wireless technologies.

Fiber to the Curb (FTTC): One of the families of fiber networks characterized by fiber delivery to the curb. Sometimes FTTC hands the curb to home connection to a copper or wireless technology. Other times, FTTC is simply a place holder with fiber continuing to the address once the address subscribes to service.

Fiber to the Home (FTTH): One of the families of fiber networks characterized by fiber delivery to the home. FTTH is sometimes used synonymously with FTTP.

Fiber to the Node (FTTN): A high-capacity bandwidth approach that uses both fiber and copper wires. Optical fiber is used for the distribution rings from the core of the telco or CaTV network to an intelligent node in the neighborhood where copper wire is used for the local loop connection to the end user.

Fiber to the Premises (FTTP): A fiber deployment/architecture in which optical fiber extends all the way to the customer’s premises. Also known as fiber to the home (FTTH) or fiber to the building (FTTB).

https://www.co-eaglenet.net/

http://www.esri.com/

http://www.fcc.gov/

Page

126


Fiber to the “Whatever” (FTTx): A generic term used to encompass the entire family of fiber networks.

FiOS: See Verizon Fiber Optic System.

FirstNet: The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) is an independent authority within NTIA chartered to provide emergency responders with the first high-speed, nationwide network dedicated to public safety.

Fisher-Pry Model: A mathematical model used to forecast technology adoption when substitution is driven by superior technology where the new product or service presents some technological advantage over the old one.

Fixed Wireless: Wireless service that uses fixed CPE in addition to (or instead of) mobile portable devices to deliver data services. Fixed wireless solutions have been deployed as a substitute for wired access technologies. For example, it is being used commercially in the US by Clearwire with WiMax and Stelera with HSPA.

FOSC: See Fiber Optic Splice Case.

Franchise: A cable company wishing to provide television service in a community historically signed a franchise agreement with the municipal government. The agreement would specify what the community would receive from the cable company in return for access to public rights of way.

FTTB: See Fiber to the Building.

FTTC: See Fiber to the Curb.

FTTH: See Fiber to the Home.

FTTN: See Fiber to the Node.

FTTP: See Fiber to the Premises.

FTTx: See Fiber to the “Whatever”.

Gbps: See Gigabit per Second.

Geographic Information System: Geographic information systems are databases of spatial data. GIS systems are used to map traffic flows, contagion patterns, flood plains, and many other geography dependent features – like telecommunications outside plant.

Gig-E: See Gigabit Ethernet.

Gigabit Ethernet: A network transmission standard that provides a data rate of 1,000 megabits per second.

Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON): A type of PON offering downstream capacities of up to 2.5

Gbps and upstream capacities of up to 1.25 Gbps shared among a limited number of end users.

Gigabit per Second (Gbps or Gb/s): One billion bits per second. Gbps > Mbps > Kbps. As a comparison, a high definition movie with surround sound is about 8.3 GB in size. To download this size file with different technology transmission speeds:

Days

Or Hours

Or Minutes

Or Seconds

Standard Dial-Up

13.72 329.3 19,761.90 1,185,714 56 Kbps

Fast Dial-Up 12.00 288.1 17,291.67 1,037,500 64 Kbps

T-1 0.51 12.2 737.78 44,266 1.55 Mbps

Standard DSL

0.25 6.1 368.89 22,133 3 Mbps

Fast DSL 0.05 1.2 73.78 4,426 15 Mbps

Fast Cable 0.03 0.9 55.33 3,320 20 Mbps

100 Mbps Fiber

0.007 0.18 11.07 664 100 Mbps

1 Gbps Fiber

0.0008 0.018 1.11 66 1 Gbps

GIS: See Geographic Information System.

Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM): A second-generation digital mobile cellular technology using a combination of frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and time division multiple access (TDMA). GSM operates in several frequency bands. The standard was jointly developed between European administrations. GSM provides a high degree of security by using subscriber identity module (SIM) cards and GSM encryption.

GOIT: See Governor’s Office of Information Technology.

Gompertz Model: A mathematical model used to forecast technology adoption when substitution is driven by superior technology but purchase depends on consumer choice.

Governor’s Office of Information Technology (GOIT): (http://www.oit.state.co.us/) The Colorado Governor's Office of Information Technology (OIT) strives to impact the lives of all Coloradans to create a safer, happier and healthier state. The office works to empower the

http://www.oit.state.co.us/

Page

127


State of Colorado with flexible technology that will drive sustainable and intelligent business decisions. The office envisions a future where the end-user experience shapes design, and data analytics transform how state government serves its residents.

GPON: See Gigabit Passive Optical Network.

Grand Slam: A triple play with cell phone service. Sometimes called a quadruple play.

Greenfield: A plot of land that will soon become a residential or business development. Building a broadband network is cheaper in greenfield developments because roads, sidewalks, lawns, and buildings are not yet impediments to running the necessary wires and the network can be deployed in conjunction with the other utilities.

GSM: See Global System for Mobile Communication.

HFC: See Hybrid Fiber Coaxial.

High Speed Packet Access (HSPA): A family of 3G digital data services provided by cellular carriers worldwide that uses the GSM technology. HSPA service works with HSPA cell phones as well as laptops and portable devices with HSPA modems. The two established standards of HSPA are HSDPA (downlink) and HSUPA (uplink).

HSPA: See High Speed Packet Access.

ICT: See Information Communication Technologies.

ILEC: See Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier.

Incumbent: An existing network owner or service provider.

Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC): The dominant local phone carrier within a geographical area. Section 252 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 defines Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier as a carrier that, as of the date of enactment of the Act, provided local exchange service to a specific area. In contrast, competitive access providers and competitive local exchange carriers (CLECS) are companies that compete against the ILECs in local service areas.

Information Communication Technologies (ICT): Information and communication based technologies.

Inside Plant (ISP): Electronics, wiring, and other accouterments associated with telecommunications networks located within

community cabinets, central offices, or other shelters.

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN): A set of CCITT/ITU standards for digital transmission over ordinary telephone copper wire as well as over other media. Home and business users who install an ISDN adapter (in place of a telephone modem) receive Web pages at up to 128 Kbps compared with the maximum 56 Kbps rate of a modem connection.

Interconnect: The term interconnect is used in two different ways: a) to describe the connection between a service provider and the Internet – also known as backhaul and b) the logical and physical infrastructure used to connect two non-congruous service areas. In either case, interconnect is usually part of the middle mile infrastructure.

Interexchange Carrier (IXC): A telecommunications service provider authorized by the FCC to provide interstate, long distance communications services and authorized by the state to provide long distance intrastate communications services. Also known as an Interexchange Common Carrier.

Interexchange Common Carrier: See Interexchange Carrier.

International Standards Organization (ISO): The body charged with developing and advertising international standards.

Internet Exchange Point (IXP): See Peering Point.

Internet Protocol Television (IPTV): A method of delivering television services using the Internet Protocol.

Internet Service Provider (ISP): A company or organization that provides a connection to the public Internet, often owning and operating the last mile connection to the end user locations.

Investment Gap: The amount of funding necessary to upgrade or extend existing infrastructure up to the level necessary to support the National Broadband Availability Target. The investment gap is sometimes referred to as the broadband availability gap.

IP: See Internet Protocol.

IPTV: See Internet Protocol Television.

Irrevocable Right of Use (IRU): A method of leasing fiber or other existing telecommunications assets that gives the lease an irrevocable right of use for some period of time. IRU’s are typically counted

Page

128


as capital expenses but under some circumstances can be operational expenses.

IRU: See Irrevocable Right of Use.

ISDN: See Integrated Services Digital Network.

ISO: See International Standards Organization.

ISP: See Internet Service Provider or Inside Plant.

IXC: See Interexchange Carrier.

IXP: See Internet Exchange Point.

Kbps: See Kilobits per Second.

Kilobits per Second (Kbps): A measure of transmission speed. Kbps < Mbps < Gbps. As a comparison, a high definition movie with surround sound is about 8.3 GB in size. To download this size file with different technology transmission speeds:

Days

Or Hours

Or Minutes

Or Seconds

Standard Dial-Up

13.72 329.3 19,761.90 1,185,714 56 Kbps

Fast Dial-Up

12.00 288.1 17,291.67 1,037,500 64 Kbps

T-1 0.51 12.2 737.78 44,266 1.55 Mbps

Standard DSL

0.25 6.1 368.89 22,133 3 Mbps

Fast DSL 0.05 1.2 73.78 4,426 15 Mbps

Fast Cable 0.03 0.9 55.33 3,320 20 Mbps

100 Mbps Fiber

0.007 0.18 11.07 664 100 Mbps

1 Gbps Fiber

0.0008 0.018 1.11 66 1 Gbps

Last Mile: Describes the final leg of a connection between a service provider and the customer and is often synonymous with the local loop. In DSL and cable systems, this is the most common bandwidth bottleneck.

LATA: See Local Access and Transport Area.

Latency: The amount of time it takes for a bit to get from point A to point B.

LEC: See Local Exchange Carrier.

Levelized: A method, often used in regulatory proceedings, to calculate the annuitized equivalent – i.e., the effective annual value of cash flows – of the costs and revenues associated

with building and operating a network. A “levelized” calculation provides a steady cash-flow stream rather than trying to model or guess the timing of largely unpredictable yet sizeable real-world payouts like those for upgrading and repairing equipment. The present value of a levelized cash flow is equal to the present value of actual cash flows.

Line of Sight: Requiring an unimpeded view from one site to another.

Link Budget: A calculation involving the gain and loss factors associated with the antennas, transmitters, transmission lines and propagation environment used to determine the maximum distance at which a transmitter and receiver can successfully operate along a link.

Local Access and Transport Area (LATA): One of 196 local geographical areas in the US created by the Modified Final Judgment in which a divested Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) was permitted to offer local exchange telecommunications and local exchange access services.

Local Exchange Carrier (LEC): A regulatory term in telecommunications for a local telephone company.

Long Term Evolution (LTE): A high performance air interface for cellular mobile communication systems. LTE technology increases the capacity and speed of wireless networks relative to 3G deployments.

LTE: See Long Term Evolution.

Mbps: See Megabit per Second.

MDU: See Multiple Dwelling Unit.

Megabit per Second (Mbps): A measurement of data connectivity speed. Kbps < Mbps < Gbps. As a comparison, a high definition movie with surround sound is about 8.3 GB in size. To download this size file with different technology transmission speeds:

Days

Or Hours

Or Minutes

Or Seconds

Standard Dial-Up

13.72 329.3 19,761.90 1,185,714 56 Kbps

Fast Dial-Up 12.00 288.1 17,291.67 1,037,500 64 Kbps

T-1 0.51 12.2 737.78 44,266 1.55 Mbps

Standard 0.25 6.1 368.89 22,133 3 Mbps

Page

129


DSL

Fast DSL 0.05 1.2 73.78 4,426 15 Mbps

Fast Cable 0.03 0.9 55.33 3,320 20 Mbps

100 Mbps Fiber

0.007 0.18 11.07 664 100 Mbps

1 Gbps Fiber

0.0008 0.018 1.11 66 1 Gbps

Metropolitan Optical Ethernet (MOE): CenturyLink’s branding for fiber to the premises.

Microwave: Microwave transmission refers to the technique of transmitting information over microwave frequencies using various integrated wireless technologies. Microwaves are short wavelength high frequency signals that occupy the electromagnetic spectrum 1 GHz to roughly 300 GHz. This is above the radio frequency range and below the infrared range. Microwave transmissions can travel a long distance but must be line of sight

Middle Mile: Middle mile is a term most often referring to the network connection between the last mile and the greater Internet. Middle mile infrastructure is sometimes referred to as backhaul.

MiFi: MiFi is a brand name used to describe a wireless router that acts as a cellular data Wi-Fi hotspot. A MiFI device can provide internet access for up to ten devices through a single cellular connection.

MIMO: See Multiple Input Multiple Output.

Mobile Switching Center (MSC): The mobile switching center connects the landline public switched telephone network (PSTN) system to the wireless communications system. The MSC is typically split into a mobile switching center server and a media gateway and incorporates the bearer independent call control.

Mobile Wireless: Data connectivity from a cellular network.

MOE: See Metropolitan Optical Ethernet.

MPLS: See Multiprotocol Label Switching.

MSC: See Mobile Switching Center.

MSO: See Multi-System Operator.

MTFB: See Mean Time Between Failures.

MTU: See Multiple Tenant Unit.

Multi-System Operator (MSO): Typically refers to a firm that owns more than one cable television network infrastructure.

Multiple Dwelling Unit (MDU): A building or property with multiple individual residential addresses like an apartment building.

Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO): An antenna technology for wireless communications in which multiple antennas are used at both the source (transmitter) and the destination (receiver). The antennas at each end of the communications circuit are combined to minimize errors and optimize data speed.

Multiple Tenant Unit (MTU): A building or property with multiple individual business addresses like a strip mall or office building.

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS): A mechanism in high-performance telecommunications networks which directs and carries data from one network node to the next. MPLS makes it easy to create "virtual links" between distant nodes. It can encapsulate packets of various network protocols.

National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA): NATOA is comprised of local government officials and employees that work on cable and broadband issues – from public access television to managing the community’s rights of way.

National Broadband Availability Target: The level of service set in the National Broadband Plan that should be available to every household and business location in the U.S. The initial target is an actual download speed of at least 4 Mbps and an upload speed of at least 1 Mbps, with a proposed review and update every four years.

National Broadband Plan: A Federal Communications Commission plan to improve Internet access in the United States.

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA): A division of the Department of Commerce.

NATOA: See National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors.

Natural Monopoly: A monopoly in an industry in which it is most efficient (involving the lowest long-run average cost) for production to be concentrated in a single firm.

Page

130


Network Management System (NMS): A combination of hardware and software used to monitor and administer a computer network or networks. Individual network elements in a network are managed by an element management system.

Network Operations and Dispatch Center (NODC): When a network operations center also has crew dispatch functions it is sometimes called a network operations and dispatch center.

Network Operations Center (NOC): The centralized location where the network is monitored and restoration, maintenance, and operations are coordinated.

Network Owner: An organization owning (and possibly operating) telecommunications infrastructure.

NMS: See Network Management System.

NOC: See Network Operations Center.

NODC: See Network Operations and Dispatch Center.

Node: An active or passive element in a cable or telephone system where neighborhood distribution (or access level infrastructure) begins. Often a node is where fiber transitions to copper local loop infrastructure.

Node Splitting: In a cable system, adding infrastructure so that subscribers previously served by a single node are moved to multiple nodes reducing the number of subscribers per node.

NTIA: See National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

OECD: See Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

OFAP: See Optimal Fiber Allocation Plan.

ONT: See Optical Network Termination.

Open Access Network: A network designed and operated on the principal of a wholesale/retail split in which the network owner makes wholesale infrastructure and services available to competing service providers who provide retail services to end customers.

Open Systems Interconnect (OSI): The ISO model that defines the seven layers of activity in a data communication network.

Operational Expense (OpEx): An expense a business

incurs over the course of its normal operations. Examples include product overhead, employee salaries and electric bill payments. Importantly, operating expenses on a balance sheet reflect only ordinary expenses rather than unexpected, one-time expenses. One subtracts the operating expense from operating revenue to determine the operating profit.

OpEx: See Operational Expense.

Optical Network Termination (ONT): The device in a PON architecture that terminates the optical network at the customer’s premises. In many active architectures the parallel device is called an AP or EDD}

Optimal Fiber Allocation Plan (OFAP): In designing a fiber network, engineers must take into

Page

131


consideration the cost of aggregation points vs. the cost of the fiber plant itself. The OFAP describes the balance point where the greatest efficiency in both aggregation and fiber plant is achieved.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): The mission of the OECD is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. The 30 member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

OSI: See Open Systems Interconnect.

OSP: See Outside Plant.

OTT: See Over the Top.

Outside Plant (OSP): The outside plant is that portion of the physical network that delivers services to the subscribers' homes that lies between the CO or node and the premises demarcation. Outside plant consists of conduit, fiber, cable, handholes, communications shelters, and other elements.

Outside Plant System of Record: The outside plant system of record is any system used as the definitive record of the outside plant.

Over Subscription Rate: The ratio of retail bandwidth to wholesale bandwidth used by and ISP to manage bandwidth costs.

Over the Top: Services carried over an Internet connection. For example, OTT video would include video delivered by Hulu or YouTube.

Overbuild: The process of deploying a network in an already developed area – usually where existing telecommunications networks already exist.

Overlash: The process of adding additional cable to an existing aerial route.

P2P: See Peer to Peer.

PARCC: See Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.

Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC): An organization that

creates a standard set of K-12 assessments in math and English.

Passive Optical Network (PON): A fiber architecture that shares bandwidth with multiple subscribers through passive splitters.

PBX: See Private Branch Exchange.

PCS: See Personal Communications Service.

Peer to Peer: A type of network or service that allows computers to connect directly to each other rather than organizing them via hierarchical connections.

Peering: A relationship between two or more ISPs in which the ISPs create a direct link between each other and agree to forward each other's packets directly across this link.

Peering Point: A physical location where peering occurs.

PEG: See Public Access, Education, and Government.

Personal Communications Service (PCS): The FCC term used to describe a set of 2G mobile communications digital cellular technologies working over CDMA, GSM, and TDMA air interfaces

Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS): The basic single line switched access service offered by local exchange carriers to residential and business end users, using loop-start signaling.

Point of Presence (PoP): A physical location where one network hands off to another.

PON: See Passive Optical Network.

PoP: See Point of Presence.

POTS: See Plain Old Telephone Service.

Primary Revenue: Revenue created from direct charges.

Private Branch Exchange (PBX): A telephone system within an enterprise that switches calls between enterprise users on local lines while allowing all users to share a certain number of external phone lines.

PSTN: See Public Switched Telephone Network.

Public Access, Education, and Government (PEG): These are commonly programming options made available to the community by the cable company as part of its franchise agreement.

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN): The worldwide collection of interconnected public telephone networks that was designed primarily

Page

132


for voice traffic. The PSTN is a circuit-switched network, in which a dedicated circuit (also referred to as a channel) is established for the duration of a transmission, such as a telephone call. This contrasts with packet switching networks, in which messages are divided into small segments called packets and each packet is sent individually. Packet switching networks were initially designed primarily for data traffic.

QOS: See Quality of Service.

Quadruple Play: A triple play with cell phone service. Sometimes called a “Grand Slam”.

Quality of Service (QOS): The ability to provide different priority to different applications, users, or data flows, or to guarantee a certain level of performance to a data flow in a data network.

Radio Frequency Over Glass (RFoG): An evolutionary technology that allows cable companies to offer an all-fiber architecture (not hybrid-fiber coax) without changing modulation schemes. RFoG is a standard in development for Point to Multipoint (P2MP) operations that has a proposed wavelength plan compatible with data PON solutions including EPON and 10G-EPON.

RBOC: See Regional Bell Operating Company.

Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC): Local exchange carriers formed after the breakup of AT&T in 1984. The seven regional holding companies (RHCs) of roughly equal size were formed as a result of the 1982 Consent Decree AT&T signed with the US Department of Justice, stipulating that it would divest itself of its 22 wholly owned telephone operating companies. The seven RHCs were Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, Southwestern Bell and US West. After a series of acquisitions, mergers and name changes (including one in which a combination of several RHCs reclaimed the original AT&T name), only three of the original seven remain. They are AT&T, CenturyLink, and Verizon.

Regional Tandem: A tandem switch is an intermediate switch or connection between an originating telephone call or location and the final destination of the call. These are hub facilities that interconnect telephone central office exchanges and are deployed by geographical region within a telco LATA or exchange.

RFoG: See Radio Frequency Over Glass.

Right of Way (ROW): The legal right, established by usage or grant, to pass along a specific route through grounds or property belonging to another.

ROW: See Right of Way.

Rural Utilities Service (RUS): A division of the US Department of Agriculture. RUS has a division responsible for providing low interest loans to telecommunications network owners to deploy broadband technologies in rural areas.

RUS: See Rural Utilities Service.

SDV: See Switched Digital Video.

Second Mile: Generally refers to the transport and transmission of data communications from the first point of aggregation to the greater Internet or the peering point. Sometimes called middle mile or backhaul.

Secondary Revenue: Revenue generated through taxes or fees unrelated to the primary purpose of the assets.

Selling, General and Administrative Expense (SG&A): Corporate overhead costs, including expenses such as marketing, advertising, salaries and rent. SG&A is found on a corporate income statement as a deduction from revenues in calculating operating income.

Service Area: An area served by a community cabinet.

Service Provider: An organization providing telecommunications or broadband services.

Set Top Box (STB): The device used to translate IPTV or other digital television signals to useful information to the customer’s television.

SG&A: See Selling, General and Administrative Expense.

Signal to Interface plus Noise Ration (SINR): For a wireless communications device, the ratio of the received strength of the desired signal to the received strength of undesirable signals (noise and interference).

SIM: See Subscriber Identity Module.

SINR: See Signal to Interface plus Noise Ratio.

SLIGP: See State and Local Implementation Grant Program.

Spectrum Allocation: The amount of spectrum dedicated (or allocated) to a specific use. In wireless, spectrum allocation is typically made in

Page

133


paired bands with one band for upstream and the other for downstream.

SSB: See Subscriber Splice Box.

State and Local Implementation Grant Program (SLIGP): The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 authorized the creation of the first nationwide broadband network for public safety, the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). The law also directed NTIA to develop a grant program for states to support planning, education and outreach as they consult with FirstNet on the deployment of the broadband network, which will enable first responders to better communicate during emergencies and save lives. NTIA’s State and Local Implementation Grant Program gives states the resources needed to consult with FirstNet on deployment of a nationwide public safety broadband network.

STB: See Set Top Box.

Subscriber Splice Box (SSB): The splice location where a subscriber’s drop level infrastructure enters the network. May also be called a customer access point (CAP).

Switched Digital Video (SDV): A network scheme for distributing digital video via a cable more efficiently to free up bandwidth for other uses. Only channels being watched by end users in a given node are transmitted to that node.

Symmetrical: Internet connections have two components - a downstream and upstream. When the two speeds are comparable, the connection is termed symmetric. Fiber-optic networks more readily offer symmetrical connections than DSL and cable, which are inherently asymmetrical. Ultimately, purely symmetrical connections are less important than connections which offer robust connections in both directions. However, many asymmetrical connections via DSL and cable networks offer upload speeds that are too slow to take advantage of modern applications.

T1: A mode of frequency division multiplexing that provides 1.544 Mbps or 24 voice channels. Sometimes called DS1.

TA: See Terminal Adapter.

Take Rate: Represents the number of subscribers divided by the number of potential subscribers. There are several different models for defining both subscribers and potential subscribers.

TCP/IP: See Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

TDM: See Time Division Multiplexing.

TDMA: See Time Division Multiple Access.

Telco: Telephone Company. A provider of telecommunications services such as voice and data services. Also called common carriers or Local Exchange Carriers.

Telecommunication Act of 1996: Current US federal law governing telecommunications regulation.

Telepresence: Refers to a variety of methods to use technology to make it seem like a person in a remote location is present. The more bandwidth available, the more realistic the telepresence.

Terminal Adapter (TA): The CPE device used to convert VOIP signals to traditional telephone signals so customers do not require specialized telephones.

Tier 1 Network: An Internet Protocol network that participates in the Internet solely via settlement-free interconnection, also known as settlement-free peering.

Tier 2 Network: An Internet service provider who engages in the practice of peering with other networks, but who still purchases IP transit to reach some portion of the Internet.

Tier 3 Network: Used to describe networks who solely purchase IP transit from other networks (typically Tier 2 networks) to reach the Internet.

Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA): Technology used in digital cellular telephone communication that divides each cellular channel into three time slots in order to increase the amount of data that can be carried. TDMA is used by Digital-American Mobile Phone Service (D-AMPS), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), and Personal Digital Cellular (PDC). Each of these systems implements TDMA in somewhat different and potentially incompatible ways. An alternative multiplexing scheme to FDMA with TDMA is CDMA (code division multiple access), which takes the entire allocated frequency range for a given service and multiplexes information for all users across the spectrum range at the same time.

Triple Play: The three main services offered over modern broadband networks - television, phone services, and Internet access - comprise the triple play. Many consumers like to get all three from

Page

134


the same service provider on the same bill. Service providers frequently offer deals that will lower the cost on these packages.

UMTS: See Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.

Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS): A batter device that continues to deliver power to connected electronics when other power fails.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): See http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome.

Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS): Third-generation (3G) broadband, packet-based transmission of text, digitized voice, video and multimedia at data rates up to and possibly higher than 2 Mbps, offering a consistent set of services to mobile computer and phone users. Based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication standard.

Universal Service Fund (USF): A federal program funded by telecommunications surcharges with four programs: high cost (subsidizes the high cost of services in rural areas), low income (includes Lifeline and Link Up discounts to those in poverty), rural health care (reduced rates to rural health care providers to ensure they have access to similar services as urban counterparts), and schools and libraries (E-Rate subsidizes telecommunication services to schools and libraries).

Unserved: Those addresses without access to a broadband network capable of offering service that meets the National Broadband Availability Target.

Upload: Internet connections have two components - a download and upload. Upload refers to the rate at which the user's computer can send data to the Internet. DSL and cable networks frequently offer upload speeds at only 1/10 of the download speeds. This is one of the main reasons DSL and cable networks are insufficient for the modern Internet.

UPS: See Uninterruptable Power Supply.

Upstream: Generic term referring to traffic going from the subscriber location towards the network core.

USDA: See United States Department of Agriculture.

USF: See Universal Service Fund.

Unbundle: The process of making network elements available to competing service providers.

U-Verse: see AT&T U-Verse.

Verizon Fiber Optic System (FiOS): FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) is a "fiber to the home" (FTTH), implementation undertaken by Verizon. A typical FiOS package includes high-speed Internet access along with cable TV and basic telephone service. For consumer use, FiOS Internet access is available at downstream speeds between 15 and 300 megabits per second ( Mbps ) and upstream speeds between 5 and 65 Mbps. Verizon has built its FiOS network in most of the states where it offers landline communications services.

Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN): A method of using common carrier networks to include disparate devices on the same broadcast domain.

Virtual Private Network (VPN): A set of protocols used to build and secure a private connection through a public network.

VLAN: See Virtual Local Area Network.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP): A method of delivering voice services over an IP (packet switched) network.

VOIP: See Voice Over Internet Protocol.

VPN: See Virtual Private Network.

Wholesale Retail Split: One description of the telecommunications business model wherein the network owner and the retail service provider are not the same entity.

Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi is a suite of protocols that allow wireless devices to exchange information using unlicensed frequencies. Equipment carrying the Wi-Fi brand is interoperable. Recently, a number of cities and some private companies attempted to blanket their cities with Wi-Fi but the technology is not well suited to such large scale efforts. Wi-Fi has proved tremendously successful in homes and businesses.

WiMax: Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a telecommunications technology that uses radio spectrum to transmit bandwidth between digital devices. Similar to WiFi, WiMAX brings with it the ability to transmit over far greater distances and to handle much more data.

Wireless: Unwired telecommunications; either fixed wireless or mobile wireless.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome

Page

135


Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP): An Internet service provider that provides fixed or mobile wireless services to its customers. Using Wi-Fi or proprietary wireless methods, WISPs

provide last mile access, often in rural areas and areas in and around smaller cities and towns.

WISP: See Wireless Internet Service Provider.

Documents

Regional Broadband Strategic Plan · 2017. 4. 13. · Regional Broadband Strategic Plan ECCOG Board approved April 5, 2017 Mid-State Consultants, Inc. ... improving cellular service