Big Cities Hope to Upgrade to Fiber through Stimulus
Big cities hope some of the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus money will go toward fiber-to-the-home technologies rather than wireless or lower-speed connections, according to technology officials from several that plan to make applications. Some cities plan to use broadband plans, put on hold as the recession hit and tax revenue plummeted, in applying for funds.
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Seattle will apply for the federal funds with plans of a fiber network that have been in the works the past four years, said the city’s chief technology officer, Bill Shrier. About $25 million is need to complete the fiber-to-the-home project. The original plan, to include smart-grid technology and automatic meter reading, would cost about $110 million, he said.
For many cities, especially those where broadband is widely available, the stimulus provides a chance for an upgrade from cable. “Any premise that doesn’t have fiber is basically unserved,” Shrier said.
Besides being faster than cable, fiber would allow cities to adjust quickly as technologies improve, said Thomas Cohen, a lawyer for the Fiber-to-the-Home Council, which promotes FTTH. Improved Internet access could be provided without a complete overhaul, he said.
The push for fiber, which Cohen said costs about $1,500 a home, is similar in Portland, Ore., which recently did a feasability study for FTTH and developed a broadband business plan. The plan involves about 4.7 million feet of fiber and would cost about $10 million, said Mary Beth Henry, deputy director of Portland’s Office of Cable Communications. The city’s broadband providers, Qwest and Comcast, aren’t interested in upgrading their networks, she said. They “want to squeeze everything out of legacy networks,” Henry said. By providing fiber, Portland could help the small businesses that employ 90 percent of the city’s employees, she said. Broadband stimulus money “will ensure Portland remains competitive,” Henry said.
San Francisco’s chief information officer, Chris Vein, said he hopes “to do something with fiber.” He added, “We are facing a record deficit. … We have little or no money to do anything, so any money would be useful.”
Some consider fiber-to-the-home overkill for stimulus projects, since some consumers are still using speeds well below what most consider broadband. “We would have some concerns for municipalities getting money to do fiber-to-the- home,” said Tom Wacker, the vice president of government affairs of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. “There are still vast segments of the country that don’t have beyond dial-up.”