Gustavus Broadband Update: Project Funding, Middle Mile

[Nathan Borson]

Last Mile Project Funding  EDA's Public Works program no longer appears to be the best funding source for the last-mile network proposed in theGustavus Broadband Plan. Rule changes in USDA's Community Connect program (CC) make most of our project (the “unserved area”) eligible for this fund source, which is less competitive and is targeted at rural last-mile networks. CC also requires only a 15% match, vs. EDA's 20% to 50% match. When the Gustavus Broadband Plan was written, we noted that Community Connect would have been our ideal funding source, except that we were ineligible because of existing GCN and ACS broadband service. As unserved areas gradually get connected, the program's eligibility changes so that communities like Gustavus who already have some service are eligible for upgrades. At its December 18 meeting, the GCN Board agreed to pursue a community connect grant for our last-mile project, and to seek city and state CIP funds for the required 15% match. At its January 13 meeting, the Gustavus City Council will consider what capital requests to submit to the state and what their relative priorities will be. Middle Mile In telecommunications, last mile refers to the connections within a community. The Gustavus Broadband Plan proposes a last-mile hybrid fiber-coax network to connect all homes and businesses within Gustavus to each other. The term middle milerefers to connections between communities, in our case between Gustavus and Juneau. The Gustavus Broadband Plan does not address the middle mile because we already have a middle mile connection, provided by AT&T, and because it is possible to consider the last and middle mile as separate issues or projects; each is independent of the other. However, as noted in the Gustavus Broadband Plan, the middle mile does matter because our existing service from AT&T isextremely expensive, which affects the viability and sustainability of the community network and the cost to its customers. The Gustavus Broadband Plan assumes no change in the middle mile, which means no change in current GCN pricing. At $10 per gigabyte, GCN customers must pay about $10 per hour to watch video such as Netflix, Vudu, or Hulu, which are rapidly becoming the way entertainment is delivered to consumers. Some GCN broadband customers pay $200 per month or more because of these usage fees. Meanwhile, Rainforest Telecom, based in Juneau, has expanded its middle mile network to Hoonah and is now selling Internet service there for about 20% of what GCN pays to get that service. Their facility on Hoonah Mountain is working and they would love to provide service from there to Gustavus. If such a link were established, it would have a profound effect on the cost of GCN service and the viability of its operations. We could even justify borrowing part of the cost of a last-mile network because we would be able to repay it from revenues that would otherwise be needed to pay for the current expensive middle mile connection via AT&T. What is needed to establish that connection to Hoonah Mountain is a "landing site" in Gustavus, a tower that can receive the signal from Hoonah Mountain. Unfortunately, Pleasant Island blocks Hoonah Mountain from most of Gustavus. Rainforest Telecom President Wade McKeown speculates that a tower far enough East (in the Falls Creek hydroelectric project area) or West (along the park road or near the park's water towers) might be able to receive a signal, but we will need to test the actual reception to determine what location will work. In addition, there will be site control considerations such as park service or DNR permitting and agreements with the electric utility, which is undergoing an ownership change to Alaska Power & Telephone. In addition, the NPS site would require creating a connection back to Gustavus. Rainforest Telecom plans to do site testing this Spring when we can get a boom truck up to Falls Creek to simulate a tower there. GCN will be supporting that effort, and will also be discussing both last- and middle-mile broadband issues with Alaska Power and Telephone at our next opportunity. So we are planning a middle mile project even as we seek funding for the last mile project. While we do not yet know what it will take to establish a competitive middle mile connection, it will probably cost much less than the more difficult last mile project; a wild guess is $50,000 to $250,000, versus the last mile price tag of $2.4 million. Unfortunately, the middle mile project, without the last mile, will benefit only certain parts of Gustavus. Basically, these are the areas currently served by GCN broadband. Given the limitations of our existing last mile network, the main advantage of having a middle mile connection before a community-wide last mile network is built will be reduced cost to both the community network and its customers. Improving the performance, reliability, and coverage will have to wait for the last mile project proposed in the Gustavus Broadband Plan. Next Steps For additional details, and to see the specific tasks that are before GCN, please see the December, 2013 Broadband Briefing to the GCN Board.

The broadband projectweb 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

[Wayne Howell]

Great summary Nate

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