from the 2016 broadband conference

1. RS FIBER COOPERATIVE:
GAINING LOCAL SUPPORT AND TRACTION
IN A COMMUNITY-BASED FIBER PROJECT
Blandin Broadband Conference
September 12-13-, 2016
Duluth, Minnesota

3. RS FIBER COOPERATIVE AT A GLANCE
 Newly formed $50 million cooperative based project
 Public/private financing partnership with $1 Million OBD grant
 Fiber to the home and farm serving 10 communities &17 townships
 Two phases with wired and wireless approach
 Voice, video and data offerings, plus emerging services
 Capable of symmetrical gigabit connections to every home
 Three year University of Minnesota 4-H collaboration
 Innovation Center and STEM curriculum for public, parochial and charter schools and
broadcast journalism component
 Construction complete by 2022

4. WHAT MAKES OUR PARTNERSHIP
MODEL SUCCESSFUL?
 Shared vision by all partners for fiber project
 Rural and city partners work collaboratively
 Cooperative approach
 Outreach to all schools in the project footprint
 US Ignite partnership helps us imagine the possibilties

5. CULTIVATING LOCAL & PUBLIC SUPPORT
 Core group of committed leaders from both cities and farms
 100+ Public meetings (Every community and township)
 Scores of additional private meetings and presentations
 Sustained advertising in six area weekly newspapers.
 Social Media outreach helped spread the word
 Two mass mailings to every home in the project footprint
 Message was honest and forthright
 Message spoke to the future viability of our communities

6. IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A PROVIDER PARTNER
 The provide you bring into your project can make or break it. The choice of a provider is
primary to a project’s success. Make sure they share your vision and your values.
 RS Fiber approached Winthrop Telephone, Frontier Communications, CenturyLink and
Mediacom with an offer to work cooperatively. The response was, with the exception of
Winthrop Telephone, very negative.
 When we went to Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC) the response was positive
and supportive.
 HBC has vision and values that fit community-based and cooperatively run fiber projects.
 Having HBC on board was and will continue to be a critical key component that will
ultimately determine the success of the project

7. www.rsfiber.coop