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Interlocal project could provide faster Internet access
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| By: Mark J. Crawford, Editor |
November 06, 2009 |
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Jeff Hendry led a community meeting in Bradford County last week
Hendry is the executive director of the North Florida Economic Development Partnership, an organization of 14 counties including Bradford and Union that was formed to develop partnerships and promote economic development in the region.
One of these projects involves applying for economic stimulus dollars to expand broadband Internet access, and participants from those counties formed the North Florida Broadband Authority by interlocal agreement to govern such a utility. The authority is working with Government Services Group Inc. to perform a needs study and engineer the broadband project.
Local representatives on the 20-member authority's governing board include Chris Thurow, Bradford County IT director, Tim Allen from the Union County office of Emergency Management and John Rimes, a city commissioner from Worthington Springs.
Hendry said they are particularly proud of how quickly the authority has been pulled together-just a matter of weeks-to work on a common purpose.
"For 14 counties and seven cities to come together and unify like they have ... was nothing short of unbelievable," Hendry said.
They have been effective, too. The North Florida Broadband Authority grant application is one of eight high profile applications for the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program being considered by the governor's office.
Throughout the region, some areas are well covered by high-speed Internet service, while other areas are underserved.
The authority would not provide Internet to end users in most cases but to Internet service providers who would buy capacity and turn around and sell it to their customers. It is a "middle mile" project, meaning it will connect these ISPs (or "last mile" providers) to the rest of the world. By tapping the Internet backbone at several points, the authority aims to create an Internet infrastructure with huge capacity and redundancy.
Revenue generated would go back into operating the broadband utility.
The federal government defines broadband as 786 kilobits per second download speed and 200 kbps upload speed, according to Government Services Group Project Manager Pat Lien. That's too slow for many modern operations, he said.
The authority's network would supply speeds of up to one gigabit per second.
The purpose of a community forum held in four locations-including the Bradford County Courthouse-last week was to provide a progress report and update on the North Florida Broadband Feasibility and Sustainability Study and receive input from those interested in the project.
In attendance were representatives from local governments, businesses, school districts, libraries, hospitals, etc. Community institutions like the Bradford County School District and Lake Butler Hospital were told they would benefit from higher speed access to enhance learning opportunities, provide faster emergency services and enhance healthcare. Companies present saw opportunities to expand their business and provide better, more reliable service to their customers.
The grant would be providing infrastructure they couldn't provide themselves.
The study, a needs assessment for broadband service covering 9,100 square miles and 380,000 residents, should be completed by mid-November. Most grant awards will be announced in the first quarter of 2010.
The authority hopes to obtain millions of dollars to put the infrastructure necessary for the network in place. It already has a number of agreements or offers to use existing towers to install the equipment for its wireless system.
More information is available at www.nfba-fl.org, and site visitors can take a survey that will help the authority gather information about the need for faster Internet service in this area.
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©Bradford County Telegraph 2009
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