Westminster, MD, which is north of Baltimore, is building a dark fiber network in order to boost internet speeds for businesses and residents; city officials believe its path is a scalable model for other cities.
“We are building our own fiber network out of years of frustration,” Westminster City Council President Dr. Robert Wack told members of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology last week. “This project positions Westminster to survive and ensures all residents can participate in economic growth.”
The city of 18,000 residents with an additional 30,000 in the suburbs was underserved by incumbent providers despite meeting the FCC’s criteria for adequate coverage, according to Wack. In 2010 the city had about 25 MB upload and 20 MB download speeds, “patchy” DSL and some satellite service. Businesses said the slow speeds were holding them back.
After 10 years of discussions, the city used a public-private partnership to begin building what it says is the first community-wide gigabit fiber network in the mid-Atlantic region. When speaking with potential partners, the city discussed three core principals: public ownership of the network, a layered service model to partition risks and responsibilities to separate operational layers and a commitment to open access as the end state of the service level.
It capitalized on the existing Carroll County Public Network, a middle fiber network connecting schools, libraries and government buildings, funded by the county government. The network set the stage for the new “last mile” fiber network; Westminster released an RFP for business partners and closed on a $21 million loan from SunTrust that will convert to a general obligation bond.
By the end of this year some 40 percent of fiber construction will be complete, passing 2,600+ serviceable addresses; the early phases are operational. “We just didn’t want to meet current standards; we wanted to build a ‘future-proof’ system,” said Wack.
June 26, 2017
Reader Interactions