Moving forward in its Last-Mile broadband effort, the Massachusetts Broadband Institute is now seeking proposals from private technology firms “to design, build, own, operate, manage and maintain high-speed broadband internet networks” in the 40 western Massachusetts towns without broadband access.
Earlier this year, MBI used state technology grant money to partner with commercial cable providers to build out “partially served” cable towns, so that at least 96 percent of each town’s population would have high speed broadband access. Now the state broadband agency is hoping to leverage at least part of the $40 million broadband technology grant to encourage experienced broadband companies to invest in sparsely populated towns, where the company would own and operate those local networks.
The agency’s Last Mile Program Policy, revised on Sept. 29, states: “Whenever possible, towns should look to financially established, private sector partners with demonstrated experience in the residential broadband market for broadband solutions without municipal ownership of the broadband assets. This focus would remove the significant financial and administrative burden of owning and operating a broadband network.”
Because sustainability is the “linchpin” of the Last Mile Program: “MBI will work to support the technological solution which best aligns with the financial capabilities of the town, its taxpayers and the end-user customers … this goal must be balanced against the borrowing capacity of the town, the ensuing tax burden on its residents, and the subscription rates that those same taxpayers must pay to obtain service,” the new policy states.
Last week, MBI announced it is seeking qualified companies to bid on broadband build-outs for up to 40 towns without broadband access.
MBI says if companies bid on the projects and co-invest in the build-out cost, it’s possible that towns would save money on their share of build-out costs.
“The more rural, sparsely populated unserved municipalities have expressed clear concerns regarding their ability to finance and manage a broadband network,” says a statement from MBI. “A core goal of the procurement is to identify providers that can utilize the (state’s) Last Mile grant and private investment in order to ‘design, build, own, operate, manage, and maintain high-speed broadband internet networks,’ which would alleviate the operational and financial burden that a broadband network would impose upon the town.”
But some towns have raised concerns that companies will “cherry pick” the more densely populated, more profitable towns — leaving behind the smallest towns that can least afford to own and run their own fiberoptic networks.
When questioned about the prospect of businesses “cherry-picking” the most profitable towns, MBI sent out an email saying that “grant applications which propose to serve multiple towns will be viewed more favorably during the proposal review process. In addition, if two applications are received for a single town, the proposal that covers more towns will be viewed more favorably.”
Also, the letter goes on, each town will decide whether to go with a private provider. “If any town prefers a private provider option, which we have heard on a large scale, the MBI has a duty to work with towns to try to facilitate this outcome, which is our goal with this (request for proposal).”
The letter says Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration and MBI are “committed to ensuring that no town is left behind.”
WiredWest, a regional cooperative started in 2010 to bring broadband access to the hilltowns, is still hoping to play a role in the build-out process.
“We did come out with a revised plan to accommodate MBI requirements,” said David Dvore of Rowe, a member of the town’s broadband committee and an executive committee member of WiredWest. Those changes included moving from a model in which WiredWest owned the network of its member towns to a regional network of town-owned systems. Another change was that WiredWest would hire experienced internet service providers to run and maintain the fiberoptic network, and the third change was reducing a 10-year membership committment to an “easy in-easy out” membership.
Dvore and other WiredWest officials still believe a regional operation would save the towns money, because of the economies of scale. Also, it would allow for multiple town connections, that would make the networks more secure, in case a line comes down through storms or other mishaps.
“We are in talks with some vendors,” said Dvore. “We don’t consider ourselves in competition with MBI. We’d like to work with them. We’re looking at post-construction; how do you operate the network? WiredWest would like to come up with a package that covers all operations and network costs.”
Also, Dvore points out, the MBI build-out options include one for a multi-municipal consortium.