3. Broadband Development Process
o Learn from area
residents,
businesses,
community
institutions
o Go to a
conference
o Personal
broadband
circumstance
o Review public
broadband data
o Review
broadband maps
o Learn about
community best
practices
o Host community
meeting(s)
o Survey the
community
o Interview existing
providers
Proceed to next
column!
o Examine what other
communities have
done
o Determine local
financial capabilities
and available tools
o Determine decision
maker engagement
appetite
o Recognize resulting
opportunity or
barrier
If no local commitment,
regroup to earlier steps
With sufficient
commitment, go to next
column!
o Understand their
current
improvement
plans
o Ensure their plans
meet your needs
and vision
If not, proceed to
next column.
If yes, continue below
o Negotiate deal
structure
o Pursue funding as
needed
Infrastructure
improved.
Celebrate!
o Understand
market demand /
revenues
o Understand
technology
options – wired
and wireless
o Understand
construction/
operational costs
o Understand the
resulting business
pro-formas and
need for subsidy
o Select preferred
option(s)
o Build local support
Proceed to next
column!
o Decide what you are
seeking in a partner
o Identify preferred
and likely partners
o Share feasibility study
results and
community vision
o Select preferred
partner
o Negotiate deal
structure
o Pursue other funding
as needed.
Infrastructure improved.
Celebrate!
Awakening Gather Data
Begin to determine
the range of
acceptable
community roles
Assess incumbent
provider(s) as
prospective
partner(s)
Conduct Feasibility
Study
Identify and select
provider partner(s)
4. Agenda
• Technology Overview
• Bill Coleman, Community
Technology Advisors
• Panel Discussion
• Joe Buttweiler, CTC
• Justin Forde, Midco
• Barbara Klein, LeSueur County
• Whitney Ridlon, Iron Range
Resources and Rehabilitation
• Kyle Moorhead, Hometown Fiber
• Mark Mrla, Finley Engineering
6. Satellite
Geo-synchronous
• Few satellites remain
overhead
• High latency/delay
• 600 ms
• Speeds max out at FCC
minimum of 25/3 Mbps
• Data caps
Low Earth Orbit
• Many satellites crossing
sky
• Better latency
• Variable ~60 ms
• Average speeds of up to
100/14 Mbps
• No data caps
• Leaving Beta 10/21
7. Fixed Wireless
Fiber-fed towers can deliver 100/50 Mbps
Speed drops with distance
Tower to tower hops slows speeds and adds latency
Emerging Trends
T-Mobile 5G Home for $50 over mid-band spectrum
CBRS shared spectrum over LTE
Fixed wireless to low-income housing developments
8. Wired Technologies
• Fiber optics
• Supports symmetric 10
Gbps services
• Very low operating
expense
• Long life
• Can support multiple
ISPs over an open
access network
• Can be engineered via
PON or Ethernet
• Fiber hybrid solutions
• Fiber coaxial cable
• Up to 1 Gbps download
• Up to 50 Mbps upload
• 10 Gbps in testing
• Requires network
upgrades
• Fiber twisted pair
• Used for DSL service
• Very distance sensitive
• Outdated technology
• Cannot meet 100/20
state broadband goal
9. For more info:
Blandin Broadband
Leadership Webinar
Series
https://blandinonbroadband.org/2020/04/0
7/blandin-broadband-leadership-webinar-
broadband-101-archive/
10. Panel
Discussion
• Joe Buttweiler
• CTC
• Justin Forde
• Midco
• Barbara Klein
• LeSueur County
• Whitney Ridlon
• Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation
• Kyle Moorhead
• Hometown Fiber
• Mark Mrla
• Finley Engineering
Editor's Notes
If only achieving broadband improvements were this simple! Like flipping a switch – click! Unfortunately, as Bernadine said, if you are participating in this webinar, you understand that can be a very difficult path towards ensuring that your community has broadband infrastructure and services that, at a minimum, meets state broadband goals and ideally positions your community for growth.
This table BEGINS to demonstrate the depth and complexity of the community broadband development process. I know that some of you have been working on this process for several years. If you were to map your efforts, there would be many more arrows on this page, most pointing back towards the beginning, engaging multiple times with incumbent and prospective providers as well as repeated efforts to engage local elected leadership.
In addition, some community efforts begin someplace in the middle of the chart and circle back towards the first and second columns.
Other communities, with better luck, managed to skip many of these steps due to quality private sector partners or extraordinary local elected officials. Some with little struggle have moved almost directly to the Celebrate phase! Lucky them!