[Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of Thanksgiving!

[Christopher Mitchell]

*Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for
Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom.  Send
feedback.  Forward Widely.*


Community Fiber Network Diversifying Economy in Louisiana
<https://muninetworks.org/content/community-fiber-network-diversifying-economy-louisiana>
Tue, November 15, 2016 | Posted by hannah
<https://muninetworks.org/users/hannah>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/community-fiber-network-diversifying-economy-louisiana>

Acadiana, the southern region of Louisiana, is seeing a resurgence of
industry thanks in large part to it publicly owned fast, affordable,
reliable network. Years ago, the city of Lafayette, Louisiana, built the
LUS Fiber network to connect homes and business.

Now, LUS Fiber is helping to diversify Acadiana’s economy, which once
almost exclusively relied on the oil industry. Fiber networks offer much
potential for economic development.

*“The State of Business” in the Silicon Bayou*

The October-November issue of the Acadiana Profile at MyNewOrleans.com ran
an article on the changing landscape of Acadiana’s businesses
<http://www.myneworleans.com/Acadiana-Profile/October-November-2016/THE-STATE-OF-BUSINESS/>.
Author Kimberly Singletary provides an overview of three growing
industries: technology, manufacturing, and healthcare. All three need
access to reliable, high-speed connections.

... Read our Full Coverage of New Jobs in Lafayette Due to Muni Fiber ...
<https://muninetworks.org/content/community-fiber-network-diversifying-economy-louisiana>

City of Lincoln Conduit Spurs FTTH, School Network Innovation - Community
Broadband Bits Podcast 228
<https://muninetworks.org/content/city-lincoln-conduit-spurs-ftth-school-network-innovation-community-broadband-bits-podcast-2>
Tue, November 15, 2016 | Posted by christopher
<https://muninetworks.org/users/christopher>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/city-lincoln-conduit-spurs-ftth-school-network-innovation-community-broadband-bits-podcast-2>

When we last spoke to people from Lincoln, Nebraska, about their innovative
conduit <https://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term305> program to improve
Internet access, we focused on how they had done it - Conduits Lead to
Competition, podcast 182
<https://muninetworks.org/content/conduits-lead-competition-community-broadband-bits-podcast-episode-182>.
For this week and episode 228 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, we
focus more on the community benefits their approach has led to.

We are once again joined by David Young, Fiber Infrastructure and Right of
Way Manager in the Public Works Department. We offer a shorter background
about the history of the project before focusing on the franchise
<https://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term12> they developed with local ISP
Allo <https://www.allocommunications.com/>. Allo is building citywide
Fiber-to-the-Home and has agreed to provision 15 VLANs at every endpoint.
We talk about what that means and implications for schools specifically.

We also touch on permitting issues for local governments and David explains
his philosophy on how to speak to the community about potential projects in
an engaging manner.

... Listen to the Show
<https://muninetworks.org/content/city-lincoln-conduit-spurs-ftth-school-network-innovation-community-broadband-bits-podcast-2>
... Read the transcript of the show here
<https://muninetworks.org/content/transcript-community-broadband-bits-episode-228>
 ...

Estes Park, CO, Moving Ahead One Year After Opt Out Vote
<https://muninetworks.org/content/estes-park-co-moving-ahead-one-year-after-opt-out-vote>
Mon, November 14, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez
<https://muninetworks.org/users/lgonzalez>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/estes-park-co-moving-ahead-one-year-after-opt-out-vote>

Estes Park, Colorado, recently moved into the design engineering phase
<http://www.eptrail.com/ci_30537826/town-estes-park-begins-engineering-design-potential-broadband>
as
it considers how to bring high-quality connectivity to businesses and
residents.

*One Step At A Time*

With a $1.37 million grant from the Energy Mineral Impact Assistance Fund,
the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) is providing the funding to
proceed with the engineering phase. Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority
<http://leta911.org/> (LETA) is providing additional grant funding to
extend the project further to include a wider geographic area for 911 and
public safety purposes.

This phase of the project should be complete by next summer and will result
in a shovel-ready plan. At that time, the Town Board will consider the
information and decide how to proceed. The goal is to develop a network to
make Gigabit per second (1,000 Mbps
<https://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term18>) capacity available to the
Estes Park Light and Power service area.

... More Background on Estes Park Here ...
<https://muninetworks.org/content/estes-park-co-moving-ahead-one-year-after-opt-out-vote>

Blair Levin Urges Repeal of North Carolina's Restrictive HB129
<https://muninetworks.org/content/blair-levin-urges-repeal-north-carolinas-restrictive-hb129>
Wed, November 16, 2016 | Posted by Scott
<https://muninetworks.org/users/scott>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/blair-levin-urges-repeal-north-carolinas-restrictive-hb129>

At a recent WRAL TechWire event
<https://muninetworks.org/content/blair-levin-wilson-nov-4-event-greenlight>,
former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chief of staff Blair Levin
<https://www.brookings.edu/experts/blair-levin/>urged North Carolina
communities to seek a repeal of a state law that restricts local
telecommunications authority, reports WRAL TechWire.
<http://wraltechwire.com/to-follow-wilson-s-lead-nc-needs-legislature-to-loosen-rules-on-local-broadband/16197199/>

“When the new General Assembly returns to Raleigh, tell the assembly to
tear down the law that prevents faster, cheaper broadband,” Levin said in a
keynote address at the WRAL TechWire Executive Exchange in Wilson, N.C.
Wilson's municipal Greenlight
<http://www.greenlightnc.com/about/internet/> network
is among the first in the nation to offer high-quality Fiber-to-the-Home (
FTTH <https://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term13>) Internet access.

Currently, North Carolina law HB 129 prevents Wilson from expanding its
Internet access service area beyond Wilson County and discourages other
communities from investing in similar infrastructure. HB 129 was the
subject of a legal battle when the city of Wilson (pop. 50,000) wanted to
provide Internet access to neighboring Pinetops
<https://muninetworks.org/content/wilson-forced-turn-service-pinetops> (pop.
1,400) and other communities beyond the limitations of the state law. They
challenged the law, as did Chattanooga, which faced slightly different
restrictions in Tennessee.

... More Coverage, Including the Full Text of Blair Levin's Speech Here ...
<https://muninetworks.org/content/blair-levin-urges-repeal-north-carolinas-restrictive-hb129>

Bozeman Fiber Breaks Through Phase One
<https://muninetworks.org/content/bozeman-fiber-breaks-through-phase-one>
Wed, November 16, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez
<https://muninetworks.org/users/lgonzalez>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/bozeman-fiber-breaks-through-phase-one>

Downtown Bozeman businesses can expect fast, affordable, reliable
connectivity via the Bozeman Fiber network <http://bozemanfiber.com/> within
the coming weeks, reports the Bozeman Daily Chronicle
<http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/economy/bozeman-fiber-completes-first-phase-connects-city-county-schools/article_7b82f045-e9a5-5c7e-a185-39ab0a41d1e5.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share>.
Phase one is now complete.

*Businesses Up Next*

Bozeman City offices, Gallatin County offices, and local public schools are
already connected to the open access
<https://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term625> network, which is owned and
operated by the nonprofit entity Bozeman Fiber. There are already three
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating on the community network but
local officials do not expect residents to have Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH
<https://muninetworks.org/glossary/1#term13>) Internet access just yet:

“Within a few hundred feet of where the fiber currently is will be
available day one of commercial operations,” said Anthony Cochenour,
president of the board of Bozeman Fiber. “As far as expanding the network
and running under our own steam, (we want to) get business first, fill the
coffers, then in years two and three make a bigger push into residential
areas.”

... More on Bozeman's Pioneering Approach Here ...
<https://muninetworks.org/content/bozeman-fiber-breaks-through-phase-one>

Missoula Schools Set To Save With Self-Provisioning
<https://muninetworks.org/content/missoula-schools-set-save-self-provisioning>
Thu, November 17, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez
<https://muninetworks.org/users/lgonzalez>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/missoula-schools-set-save-self-provisioning>

The Missoula County Public Schools (MCPS) plans to *save $150,000 per year *by
investing in its own fiber infrastructure. Over a 20-year period school
officials expect to save approximately $3 million.

*Fiber For Education And Savings*

MCPS will be the first in the state to self-provision its wide area network
(WAN), the connections between district facilities. Right now, the school
pays approximately $287,000 per year to lease its WAN connections and for
Internet access; about $200,000 of that figure is dedicated to leasing the
WAN.

School officials were already leasing lit fiber service when they began
investigating options to compare cost and service. They also looked at
leasing dark fiber, which would mean they would need to maintain the
equipment to light the fiber themselves, and investing in an Indefeasible
Right of Use (IRU). The IRU would give the school district the ability to
use a designated number of fiber strands to use as they wished for a fixed
period of time.

... More Information on Missoula's Savings Here ...
<https://muninetworks.org/content/missoula-schools-set-save-self-provisioning>

Short Policy Report on Munis and Education From ECS
<https://muninetworks.org/content/short-policy-report-munis-and-education-ecs>
Thu, November 17, 2016 | Posted by hannah
<https://muninetworks.org/users/hannah>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/short-policy-report-munis-and-education-ecs>

Digital learning initiatives for K-12 grades and online coursework for
college programs both require high-speed connectivity in school and at
home. Policymakers cannot overlook this issue when discussing municipal
networks.

The Education Commission of the States addressed connectivity in the
classroom and at home in a short policy report, entitled *Inhibiting
Connection: State policy impacting expansion of municipal broadband
networks
<http://www.ecs.org/inhibiting-connection-state-policy-impacting-expansion-of-municipal-broadband-networks/>
*in
September 2016.

... Some Notes from Inside the Report Here ...
<https://muninetworks.org/content/short-policy-report-munis-and-education-ecs>

Gigabit Speed in Red Lake Nation in Minnesota
<https://muninetworks.org/content/gigabit-speed-red-lake-nation-minnesota>
Fri, November 18, 2016 | Posted by hannah
<https://muninetworks.org/users/hannah>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/gigabit-speed-red-lake-nation-minnesota>

Native American communities throughout the United States have rather bleak
figures when it comes to Internet access. That’s about to change.

In Minnesota, Red Lake Nation <http://www.redlakenation.org/> now has
access to some of the fastest Internet service in the entire country. The
telephone cooperative Paul Bunyan Communications has extended its GigaZone,
offering a Gigabit (1,000 Megabits) per second Internet service, to the
tribal nation.

... Paul Bunyan Towers Above the Rest - More Here ...
<https://muninetworks.org/content/gigabit-speed-red-lake-nation-minnesota>

Alford, MA, Releases RFP: Deadline Dec. 21
<https://muninetworks.org/content/alford-ma-releases-rfp-deadline-dec-21>
Sat, November 19, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez
<https://muninetworks.org/users/lgonzalez>
<https://muninetworks.org/content/alford-ma-releases-rfp-deadline-dec-21>

Alford, Massachusetts, located along the western border of Massachusetts,
recently released a Request for Proposals
<http://www.alfordmamlp.com/request-for-proposals/> (RFP) for fiber optic
network design and contractors; the community wants to deploy a
Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network. Deadline for proposals is *December
21, 2016*.

*A Long Journey To Now*

Alford <http://townofalford.org/> is home to approximately 500 residents
and has pursued better connectivity since the early 2000s
<http://www.alfordmamlp.com/what-is-an-mlp/>, when it first approached the
incumbents. As is often the case, national providers continued to pass by
Alford over the years leaving them with old, unreliable technology. During
2012 and 2013, the community took the necessary steps and voted to create a
Municipal Light Plant (MLP), the entity that manages publicly owned
networks in Massachusetts. Since then, they have formed a broadband
committee, conducted surveys of local interest and requirements, and
examined financial models.

... More Details Here ...
<https://muninetworks.org/content/alford-ma-releases-rfp-deadline-dec-21>

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