Minnesota Fiber Exchange working with Ramsey County

Minnesota Fiber Exchange will work with St Paul/Ramsey County on Round Two ARRA broadband stimulus funding application. We are working on submitting the application, which is due March 15th. MFE will manage the Private Community Fiber Network that will be open to all carriers.

We are looking for potential partners for our ARRA application. In fact if you are a provider that might be interested in taking advantage of the open access network, we would like to hear from you. Currently we are looking for two things from our potential partners; (1) a non-binding letter of intent that you have interest in utilizing such a network and/or (2) a letter of support for the project. Even though these would be non-binding documents, their inclusion in our funding application would enhance its viability.

Please feel free to contact us additional information.

Tim Walz supports Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group (SWMBG)

We’ve been busy preparing applications for Round Two of the ARRA broadband stimulus funding – and preparing to deploy our plans in Southwest Minnesota. It’s exciting and almost overwhelming. It’s been great to continue to see support for the project, such as in a recent article on Congressman Walz’s web site, where he said…

“Investing in expanded communications capabilities, like high-speed Internet and cable television, is critical to the economic vitality of our rural communities,” said Walz. “This wonderful news today means jobs for construction and a boost to businesses who can use this technology to become more innovative and efficient right here in southern Minnesota.”

Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group receives ARRA funding

We are very pleased to announce that the Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group (SWMBG) was funding. It’s been a whirlwind. We think we have a great project but it still seems a little unreal after so much preparation. Here’s our press release on the news.

Klobuchar comments on major regional telecom project

(February 18, 2010) U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar expressed excitement for the nine-city fiber-to-the-home project that received a $12.7 million federal boost yesterday afternoon.

Klobuchar appeared to be very excited about the project’s potential and impact at 3:20 p.m. Tuesday, when she called Citizen Online regarding this major development.

The project, which will be based in Windom, brings fiber optics to homes and businesses in the following communities: Jackson, Lakefield, Windom, Round Lake, Bingham Lake, Brewster, Wilder, Heron Lake, and Okabena.

“As a strong advocate for broadband development, I met with this group and I was supportive of their project,” said Klobuchar, a Minnesota-based U.S. Senator. “As a country, we have ensured that every American has access to telephone service and electricity – we must now do the same for broadband internet access. I have heard first-hand from Minnesotans about the importance of making sure they have access to fast and affordable high speed internet. This project will increase rural broadband access, and improve health, education and public safety services across southwestern Minnesota.”

The project is designed to increase high-speed Internet access in eight rural Minnesota communities, plus many rural farms and homes in between.

The funds were awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to help bring broadband services to rural unserved and underserved communities.

The funds were awarded to the Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group (SWMBG), a consortium of eight rural communities, selected to receive an almost $6.4 million loan and a $6.4 million grant to extend broadband to the eight cities. The funds, along with an $88,000 private investment, will provide high-speed Internet, voice, and cable television to the participating communities. SWMBG involves communities with over 3,300 residences, 292 businesses and 50 anchor institutions across the network.

The total population of the area affected by this funding is 7,337 persons.

Klobuchar serves on the Senate Commerce Committee, which has authority over telecommunications issues. Klobuchar was a key leader in the push to include high-speed Internet infrastructure investments in the economic recovery package to help jumpstart the economy and create new jobs. She also cosponsored the Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492), which was signed into law in October 2008.

U-reka Broadband Ventures, a Minnesota based broadband consultant group, provided expertise in preparing both the application and additional due dilligence requests from the Rural Utility Service. U-reka was responsible for development of the engineering, financial planning, operational planning and wrote the request.

“We are quite excited about SWMBG being selected by RUS. The project will truly change the economic course of the area and provides a solid foundation for future economic development for the area. It was the effort of all the community representatives who broughtz this project together and we want to thank them for their effort and their confidence in us.” John Schultz, President of U-reka Broadband Ventures.

Additional information regarding U-reka Broadband can be found at www.u-rekabroadband.com.

So what have we been up to?

Its been a while since our last post and there is really one reason, stimulus.  We have been inundated with requests for assistance and we look forward to working with all of our partners on their applications.  We are currently working on several environmental studies for clients which is a new twist on the first phase of the new application process.  Also we have entire applications that we are working on ranging from BTOP infrastructure, BIP infrastructure and sustainability and computer center applications.  For some of apps it would sure be nice to know what has been rewarded.  We will keep all of you in the loop as we progress.

End of Year Thought’s

I just wanted to pass along some end of year thoughts:

• I am glad we have completed pulling together the phase 2 information for SWMBG, now we wait and determine next steps.  Thanks to all of our associates and SWMBG members who worked so hard on the application and phase 2.
• I am glad we have customers who have entrusted us to prepare round 2 ARRA applications for them.  We look forward to working with them over the next few months.
• I am glad we are seeing a turn-around in the economy and that broadband projects are looking favorable for 2010.  Looks like there will be a lot to do.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all of you and see you again in 2010.

Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group

We are so excited to announce that our client Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group (SWMBG) has moved to the next stage of due diligence for broadband stimulus dollars.  Dan Olsen from Windomnet received the information on his fax machine this morning.  At the Blandin Foundation event in Duluth a couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of representing the project in a broadband stimulus panel and I just wanted to reiterate why we believed the project should move forward:

• A strong existing service provider with Windomnet to provide backbone voice, video and internet services
• Speed to cash flow positive with two of the member cities being the incumbent cable operator we get to move all that revenue to the network right away
• Great local champions at every level who truly believe broadband is not just a nicety but a necessity for the region to remain competitive

Special thanks go out to Dan Olsen and Mitch Jasper who spearheaded many activities, but the important thing is that every community stepped to the plate to make the application a reality.

TISP Forum

I spent this afternoon at the TISP Forum listening to a continuous discussion on the the Statewide Franchise and Telephone Exchange approval issues.  These have been topics of discussion for the last 10-15 years and we continue to harp on those issues, I think we need to look at other issues and a larger scope of the overall telecommunications landscape in Minnesota.  Here are some of the things I would like to see happen at the Legislature this year:

• We have statewide bandwidth standards and know that 6% of our population does not have access to broadband services, we have many creative groups looking at how we deliver services to those high-cost customers and the second round of stimulus funding coming.  Legislative representatives spent yesterday in a jobs summit.  What we need to do is find dollars to assist with the 20% match to reach the last 6% of the unserved residents of Minnesota to create new jobs and get us up to 100% broadband availability
• We need to stop working on these patchwork solutions to section 237 and 238 of statutes and instead re-write the entire telecommunications package to meet the standards of today’s based IP infrastructure not the antiquated technologies that current telephone and video franchising is based on
• We need to find ways to encourage public/private partnerships first and then if there are not solutions to allow the public sector to take care of their own needs

What to give thanks for in 2009?

Of course there is the obvious; friends family and the like but what do we have to give thanks for in the broadband world in 2009.

1) That the FCC is working on a National Broadband Strategy

2) That we might actually hear about some stimulus dollars being awarded yet this year or at least early 2010

3)That the State of Minnesota completed their Ultra High-Speed Task Force and we have a statewide standard that will be driven by applications which make FTTP a shoe-in as the defacto infrastructure (now if we can get the right numbers in the report!)

4) That stimulus dollars will be rewarded by September of 2010 and we can get back to looking for funding sources other than Stimulus

5) That applications such as Tele-Medicine and Over the Top video will continue to drive the bandwidth required to the home

6) That we have been able to work with such great clients and partners in 2009.  And we expect great things from them in 2010.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

My favorite new company Sezmi.

From Multichannel News:

Sezmi: ‘We’re the JetBlue’ Of Multichannel Video

Startup Wants To Provide A More Economical Alternative To $100-Per-Month Cable TV

Todd Spangler — Multichannel News, 11/19/2009 3:47:40 PM

New York — Sezmi wants to deliver a more personalized and economical multichannel video alternative to cable TV, in the same way JetBlue successfully challenged the major incumbent airlines, the startup’s president Phil Wiser said.

“We’re going to super-serve and over-serve the coach-class consumer with a better experience and a better value” than current pay-TV services, said Wiser, speaking on a panel at “Future of Television East” conference here Thursday.

Sezmi this week is kicking off a customer pilot in Los Angeles of service that provides live feeds of 23 cable networks and 50 local TV channels, video-on-demand, and Web video through its DVR set-tops. The service is delivered through a combination of multicast broadcast spectrum leased from local TV stations and Internet bandwidth.

Wiser said the startup, previously known as “Building B,” realized early on it would be critical to incorporate real TV instead of delivering only on-demand TV shows, movies or video clips.

“Our view… was that being complementary to existing pay-TV services is just not going to cut it,” he said.

After the initial pilot period, the Sezmi Supreme package, which includes the 23 cable networks, will cost $24.99 per month. “I think there’s an opportunity to drive an offering into the market that isn’t at a $100 per month price point,” Wiser said.

According to Wiser, the challenge for Internet-based set-tops like Boxee and others aspiring to provide an alternative to traditional TV is that content providers are not going to abandon their existing dual revenue streams in favor of an advertising-only service.

Boxee chief creative officer Zach Klein, who was also on the panel, acknowledged, “There are only so many content providers willing to work with companies such as ours.”

But Klein defended the service as being akin to Apple’s iPhone App Store for television, allowing developers to provide new ways to consume content on its platform.

“We’ve learned a lesson from the RIAA,” Klein said, referring to the music industry trade group that has waged a losing battle against online digital music piracy. “The consumer is going to find the path of least resistance — why not make that path a valid one, and give the consumer an opportunity to buy that content on-demand?”

He added, “We’re only going to make money if content owners make money.”

Consumer Electronics Association chief economist Shawn DuBravac said he expected 60% of TVs shipped by 2013 to have an Internet connection. “That opens up a Pandora’s Box, if you will,” to provide content from virtually any Internet source to the television screen. DuBravac added, though, that there’s no reason cable and telco TV operators won’t be able to roll out services that deliver online video to the TV, as well.

The panel was moderated by Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates. According to a recent Parks Associates forecast, 200 million Internet-connected consumer-electronics devices will be shipped per year by 2013. And, Scherf added, “I’ve been told by consumer electronics manufacturers our forecasts are too low.”

However, Scherf said, “we don’t see any evidence of cord-cutting.”

The issue isn’t cord-cutting per se, said Bernard Gershon, president of media consulting firm Gershon Media and former ABC/Disney executive. Rather, the risk to pay-TV providers is that younger consumers will never establish the cord in the first place.

Cable operators and programmers will need to adapt to an on-demand world, he noted later: “Linear TV, except for live sports and news, is dead.”

Sezmi’s Wiser agreed that everything on-demand is where television is headed. But he argued that live TV is still a critical part of the equation today: “I challenge anyone to go to mainstream America and say, ‘Replace everything you have with Hulu’ or whatever.”

FTTP Costs per Household

The Minnesota High Speed Task Force has estimates of the costs to deploy technologies to meet the bandwidth requirements of the Task Force.  While the initial costs that are provided seem very high in every FTTP instance I believe it is the numbers in small print that paint a more realistic picture of what it would really cost to deploy these technologies.  Instead of $12,000 for a rural passing it looks like some very reputable companies out there project those numbers to more in the $2,000-$2,500 range for passed and served costs.  We know that in deployments and engineering studies that U-reka has been involved in the last two years that we see successful passings in suburban areas in the $1,200 range and rural passing costs in the $2,500-$3,000 range.  Also I pulled out the passing costs that the FTTH Council submitted to the FCC in a study performed by CSMG and Corning where Minnesota deployments for passing costs were in the $500.00-$800.00 range from numbers from existing FTTP overbuilders.   The problem with putting the unrealistic costs in the report in big print and the real and more reasonable costs in the fine print is that only those who are looking for them will be able to find the real costs of what it would take to provide FTTP services to all residents of the state.