PLANNING FOR BROADBAND Sponsored by: Broadband Communities American Planning Association Sept, 2015 Presented by: Kathleen McMahon, AICP

SESSION OBJECTIVES Are you Gigabit Ready? Successful Planning for Broadband Compare Broadband Deployment Models

PART II: ARE YOU GIGABIT READY? Comprehensive PlansCapital Improvement PlansCodes, R.O.W. & Permitting

Comprehensive Plans Broadband Policies Broadband Element Broadband Plan Comp Plan Amendment Establish the policy basis in Comprehensive plans for adopting mechanisms to promote deployment of broadband infrastructure.

Statistics Rankings Provider statistics Available by state, county, census places, MSAs, congressional districts Type of Technology Speed Service Areas Number of Providers Anchor Institutions Demographics Maps Analysis Broadband – Baseline Data

BROADBAND GOALS

Implementation – Action Steps Form a broadband task force Develop a broadband plan Inventory & map assets Develop mechanisms to lease public assets

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLANS 5-Year Time Frame Broadband plan can help set priorities for phasing of road construction projects Cost of conduit can be included as part of the road budget Program broadband projects into CIP & with funding sources for broadband improvements Include broadband as a criteria for evaluating projects

PERMITS – REGULATIONS Zoning – Cell Towers - Co-locate Subdivision - Require conduit in the R.O.W in new development & set aside areas for utility boxes Public Work standards – revise to include specs for broadband infrastructure R.O.W. Permits – Inventory & map

JOINT TRENCH “Construction of utilities or roads can provide further savings if multiple communications entities coordinate their construction and pursue a “joint trench” opportunity. In that case, multiple providers share the cost of the trenching and the design.”

DIG ONCE POLICIES 2010 FCC – National Broadband Plan Recommend “Dig Once” policy for all federally funded projects 2013 Planning survey indicated less than 5% of communities had policy 2014 UW Extension – Model Codes

PLAN FOR SUCCESS

BROADBAND PLAN OBJECTIVES Educate Build Support Vision Action Plan

PLANNING PROCESS Action Evaluate AlternativesBusiness PlanEngineeringFinancials Vision - Policy Framework GoalsNext Steps Needs Assessment InventoryKey Informant InterviewsMarket Analysis Engage Stakeholders SurveyCommunity MeetingsTask force

INVOLVE ALL STAKEHOLDERS Broadband Providers City, county, regional governments Economic Development Education (Local schools & higher ed) Health Care Libraries – community organizations Public Safety Technology Companies & Professionals Large Employers – Business Clusters Downtown Developers (Residential & Commercial) Utilities (Water, Sewer, Power, ….)

NEEDS ASSESSMENT - PLAN FOR THE FIVE C’ S Connectivity – Access to reliable broadband Capacity – Bandwidth & speed Cost – Affordable – Compare with other areas Choice – Mobility – Redundancy Community – Anchor Inst. & Digital Divide

BUSINESS MODELS Aggregate DemandCommunity NetworkHybrid Network

AGGREGATE DEMAND MODEL Leverages the collective purchasing power of its participants to enable the purchase of advanced network services at a lower cost. (AKA – Commodity Internet Purchasing)

Identify StakeholdersAssess Total Bandwidth NeedsOther Contract TermsIncentivesIssue RFI or RFP for ServicesPartners Memorandum of UnderstandingSelect Vendor & Negotiate Contract

COMMUNITY NETWORK MODEL Public entities build and own all or part of the components of the broadband network.

TYPES OF COMMUNITY NETWORKS Retail Model Last mile service Operates like a utility Open Access Wide Area Network or Middle Mile Connect to Incumbent Network Lease excess bandwidth to providers or business Institutional Wide Area Network only for institutional users Backhaul on Incumbent Network

COMMUNITY NETWORKS Source:

Identify StakeholdersAssess Bandwidth NeedsEvaluate AlternativesFeasibility StudyNetwork DesignOperational Plan Build Network Community network cost comparison

HYBRID APPROACH Includes Elements of Both Projects Joint RFP for some services Build Part of Network Hybrid Approach

FUNDING USDA – RBEG, RUS, Community Connect Grant EDA NTIA BTOP – Inactive for Now Existing expenditures for telecommunication services Revenue bonds, TIF, taxing districts, CIP, Public- Private partnerships

LESSONS LEARNED Inventory assets and leverage them in RFP’s Even just the threat of competition will often result in better pricing Upload speeds are becoming increasingly important Community partners can bring additional resources to project and reduces risks Any of these models can be operated as public-private partnerships

FOR MORE INFO Kate McMahon Applied Communications