broadband – Page 120 – Steve Blum's Blog

User-financed FTTP fails in a competitive market

7 June 2012 by Steve Blum
broadband, business, community networks, dark fiber, feasibilty study, fiber market study, finance, ftth, fttp, municipal broadband, palo alto, telecommunications, telecoms

A user-financed, municipal fiber-to-the-premises broadband system would be a financial nightmare if launched into a market with mainstream competition, even if it’s subsidized and supported by a profitable city-owned utility.

That’s the finding of a study presented to the City of Palo Alto’s Utility Advisory Commission last night by Tellus Venture Associates. The report assessed the financial potential of user-financed municipal FTTP options, including upfront payments ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, substantial capital contributions by the City and ongoing subsidies of up to $2,000,000 per year.… More

San Leandro joins elite group of dark fiber cities

14 February 2012 by Steve Blum
broadband, business, commercial real estate, community networks, dark fiber, east bay broadband consortium, ebbc, economic development, fiber market study, finance, lit san leandro, palo alto, san leandro

Source: Lit San Leandro

Lit San Leandro is putting fiber in the ground. A launch party attracted about a hundred out-of-town development prospects and local business people who heard about the project’s big picture benefits and the specific real estate opportunities it creates. The Hayward Daily Review and San Leandro Patch have good articles on the event. Patrick Kennedy’s Lit San Leandro blog also has good updates and pictures.

Speakers at the event included Sean Tario, the CEO of Open Spectrum Inc.

… More

Public perception of broadband rights and dangers challenges regulators, industry

11 October 2011 by Steve Blum
att, broadband, fcc, mobile, mobile broadband, rural broadband, sprint

“Broadband has become to the 21st Century what electricity was the to last century,” said Amy Levine, a special counsel at the FCC and the legal advisor to the chairman, Jules Genachowski. That expectation of universal access was one of the major telecommunications policy drivers identified at the CTIA Enterprise & Applications show today in San Diego.

Levine joined with other regulators and industry representatives for a wide ranging discussion of what each expects from the other.… More

Best Practices Highlight Wireless Broadband Feasibility Study for the City of Oakland

13 May 2010 by Steve Blum
ARRA, broadband, broadband stimulus, BTOP, business model, feasibility study, Google broadband, municipal broadband, NTIA, Oakland

Download the Oakland Wireless Feasibility Study

Like nearly every government agency in California, the City of Oakland was faced with increasing demand for public services and a decreasing budget. An evaluation was needed of the potential for wireless technology to make municipal staff more efficient and allow them to stay in the field longer, and to provide Internet service to residents, either directly in their homes and businesses or indirectly through community anchor institutions. This evaluation needed to focus specifically on Oakland’s diverse population, needs and terrain.… More