Talbot County, Maryland, has issued a Request for Information for Partnership for Deployment of High-Speed Broadband (RFI). Submissions are due no later than September 1. The deadline for submitting questions is August 4.
The RFI describes the county’s desire to work with a private sector partner who can bring gigabit capacity (1,000 Megabits-per-second) to the community. While county leaders prefer Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP), they note the rural character and geography of the region may require a hybrid fiber/wireless solution.
The county plans on offering assistance in obtaining grant funding, providing access to rights-of-way and existing public assets, and easing any partner through the permitting process. The county encourages all types of entities to submit responses, including incumbents, cooperatives, and nonprofits.
The County may also consider models which could include, but are not limited to, the following scenarios:
- Private construction, operation, and maintenance of privately-owned fiber optic infrastructure;
- Publicly or privately constructed open-access infrastructure that allows other qualified providers to offer service over the network;
- Private provisioning of services over infrastructure that is constructed, owned, operated, and maintained by the Partner.
The County will also consider any combination of these models as well as alternative suggestions proposed by respondents.
August 3, 2017
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