Gustavus Broadband Update: Juneau Visit, Plan Update, Coverage Study

[Nathan Borson]

March 30, 2014 

Juneau Visit 

Gustavus Community Network Board Chair Wayne Howell and City Council member Tim Sunday visited Juneau on March 19 to discuss the Gustavus Broadband Project, designated the city's highest capital priority by the City Council, with legislative staff and with the Alaska Department of Communities, Commerce, and Economic Development (DCCED). Howell and Sunday met with senior staffers from Senator Dennis Egan and Representatives Sam Kitto and Cathy Munoz. They also met with DCCED commissioner Susan Bell and her staff. Howell reports that they were received warmly, that the people they met with were interested in the city's proposed broadband network and understood the importance of telecommunications, but were not very familiar with the project before their visit. The City of Gustavus has requested a $360,000 state match for a proposed federal Community Connect grant. Howell notes that the chances obtaining state funding were improved by the visit, but they remain slim.

Plan Update and Coverage Study

Broadband Planning technical consultant and plan author ICF International is working on an update to the Gustavus Broadband Plan accepted in October, 2012 by the city council. Revisions are needed to keep the plan current as we continue our funding search. One important addition will be an assessment of the 4G mobile broadband service introduced by AT&T since the plan was adopted. Corvid Computing and ICF will work on mapping the actual coverage of the 4G service, which we must know when applying for federal funding. Part of the proposed service area for the proposed last-mile broadband network is also covered by AT&T's service, which may render the overlapping area ineligible for a federal Community Connect grant, depending on eligibility requirements which change each year. Last year's eligibility requirement was that there be no existing service that provided 3 megabits/second combined upload and download speed. AT&T's service provides up to double that to those who are close enough to the tower. Eligibility for this year's Community Connect grant cycle could be higher, and will be announced later this summer.

Next Steps 

Besides the plan update and coverage study, we are inquiring with Rasmuson Foundation about whether they might be able to help with the match required for a Community Connect grant.

The broadband project web site has been updated with this post. You
can always go there to see the latest news and status:
https://sites.google.com/a/corvid.info/gustavus-broadband-plan/

Nate

Nathan Borson, Co-Owner
Corvid Computing, Project Manager
City of Gustavus Broadband Plan
http://bit.ly/r48JAh
(907) 697-2810