sifi networks – Steve Blum's Blog

Competition will make or, likely, break Pacific Grove muni FTTH business model

17 July 2015 by Steve Blum
community networks, ftth, municipal broadband, sifi networks

The business case for a muni fiber-to-the-home play is the number one worry as the Pacific Grove city council considers whether to pay SiFi Networks about a million dollars a year for the next 30 years to build and operate a system.

At its meeting on Wednesday evening, the council heard a presentation from Lee Afflerbach, principal engineer with CTC Consulting, who was asked to evaluate the technology. The questions afterward, though, were all about the business model: would the system make enough money to pay the lease, or would taxpayers be on the hook?… More

Muni FTTH pitch in Pacific Grove goes from no cost, no risk to pay us $1 million a year

10 July 2015 by Steve Blum
community networks, ftth, municipal broadband, sifi networks

Bawtree-Jobson in Pacific Grove yesterday.

A fiber to the home plan for the Monterey Peninsula city of Pacific Grove has transformed from a commercial business venture into an appeal for public money. SiFi Networks, a British company with a corporate heritage of real estate development, began last year by putting a simple proposition in front of several Californian cities: give us unlimited access to your streets, sidewalks and, yes, sewers and we’ll build fiber to every home and business in town.… More