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Branford is looking into a gigabit project that would bring high-speed internet service to residents and businesses — -for a price.
While that sounds intriguing, most people aren’t sure what it involves. That’s why the town is distributing information and conducting a survey to assess interest. Copies of the survey are available on the town’s web site and were also mailed with tax bills this month.
Connecticut is hoping to become the first gigabit state in the nation and at this point Branford is part of the consortium.
In September, New Haven, Hartford and Stamford announced interest in a statewide CT Gig Project, followed by about 100 municipalities.
Debi Caron, the town’s director of Information Technology, said Branford is part of the state consortium, but is exploring its own possibilities. She said projects that might be right for big cities may not work as well for towns the size of Branford. “We continue to be a member of the consortium…but there hasn’t been movement at this point,” she said.
Caron will be at the Branford Festival this Saturday to answer questions and distribute surveys about Branford’s potential project.
“Right now the project is exploratory,” Caron told the Eagle. “The survey is important because we want to hear from people who live or work or have businesses in Branford.” The purpose of the survey, she said, is to determine if people are interested in having high-speed internet at an affordable cost.
“This is something we feel would be an asset to the town,” Caron said. “We are not looking to burden people with any additional costs.”
Cosgrove Describes Benefits
First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove announced last month that Branford is considering a project to build a municipal fiber network that would offer internet speeds in excess of 1,000 megabits per second (1 gigabit per second). He said the project would have a multitude of economic and educational benefits, improve communications for public safety departments, and offer high speed wireless connectivity throughout the town.
Caron said one misconception is that Branford would become an internet service provider. “The town doesn’t want to be an internet provider,” she said, explaining that the town would form a partnership with a service provider.
One survey question asks how much you would be willing to pay for monthly services, with prices starting at $75 per month and ranging up to $250. The project would only include internet service, not television.
Caron said people would not be required to sign up for the new service, and could stay with any plan or service provider they want. “This is bringing more options,” she said.
Another survey question asks if people would be willing to a pay a monthly town-wide utility fee to help defray the cost of building a fiber network. Caron said the town is hoping to form a public-private partnership to build a fiber network, instead of paying to lay its own fiber.
Caron said she and Cosgrove have been talking with private vendors to find out the possibilities. “Our plan is to try to find a vendor to partner with without having to have a utility fee,” she said.
State Gigabit Project
The CT Gig Project is a coalition of local and state officials who are trying to bring high-speed, low-cost internet to Connecticut. According to a CT Gig Project page on the State Controllers web site, the project would be good for economic development, consumer choice, and technological innovation. www.osc.ct.gov/gig
According to state estimates, the average residential internet speed in Connecticut is 9 megabits per second. The cost of 1 gigabit (1,000 megabits) in Connecticut ranges between $1,500 and $3,000 per month, where the service is available.
State Rep. Lonnie Reed, (D‑Branford), co-chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, said access to high speed internet is valuable to both residents and businesses.
“When we held hearings and informational sessions on a gigabit project for Connecticut, we heard not only from municipalities, but from a lot of companies that are eager for high speed, high capacity, and affordable internet connectivity. They would love to access it through the state or their municipality,” Reed told the Eagle.
Reed said the challenge of creating a municipal gigabit project is making sure it is technologically competitive. “That means ensuring the ongoing funding necessary to keep it growing and progressing with the latest technological breakthroughs,” she said. “So, there is the considerable original capital outlay to get it up and running and the ongoing investments to keep it current.” She said public-private partnerships are an option.
The state consortium issued a request for qualifications and received 11 responses from private vendors and financiers. The group chose to continue discussions with financial firm Macquarie Capital.
Branford’s Next Step
Caron said if there is interest in the project, the next step would be to look into various options such as public-private partnerships. “I think it’s important we start doing some planning,” she said, adding that this is an investment in the future.
She said the actual fiber cable is usually strung on utility poles within the area that is designated for municipal use.
Caron said another benefit of the project would be creating a community-wide wireless mesh network that could be used by police and fire departments and by the community at various locations in town.
If the public is not interested in high-speed connectivity, Caron said the town would not move forward at this time.
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this is a non-starter. check out groton taxpayers...on the hook for $27million in taxes, for a $30million system they built, then sold, $550k...a huge loss for a dream the municipality could not manage.
this really is the last thing us tax-payers need, more taxes for something that is already here. let the telecoms handle this.