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Princeton Broadband Committee
Meeting Minutes August 21, 2013 7:00pm Town Hall, Princeton, MA
Meeting called to order at 7:03 PM. Committee Members Present:
Ned Utzig
Rich Wagner
Bill Dino
Phil Obrien
Dag Olsen
Petr Spacek
Stan Moss
Jason Whittet, Christine Hatch, Matt Sullivan from MBI attended. Chris Lynch from Matrix Design Group also attended.
Discussion
- Stan gave a backgrounder on current PBBC activity and schedule.
- Jason – $90M, 30 year asset, checking middle mile completely before lighting it, system unstable during build so deployment delayed until network is done.
- 355 communities in MA, 45 are “unserved”, (less than 4mb download speed available/prevalent), Princeton is one.
- Princeton owning their own poles is a major advantage / removes many roadblocks to installation process.
- $55k/mile to install MBI middle mile network (35K poles, 1200 miles fiber), Princeton should get a cheaper rate than that as MBI install costs are higher.
- Jason suggested Tilson technologies of Maine as a possible vendor for doing last mile estimates for Princeton
- MBI caps what Axia can charge to ISPs.
- MBI has a 10 year contract with Axia.
- Discussion on chap 149 vs. 30b procuirement processes as they apply to Princeton Broadband
- Discussion on costs that ISPs have quoted for supporting public buildings when we get the ONTs lit. Jason mentioned that MBI caps what Axia charges to ISPs but can’t say what ISP costs are. Jason/MBI offered to look at any ISP quotes we are getting.
- Jason suggests pledge cards to get subscribers to commit to service by paying $15 up front.
- Jason thinks aggregating towns to a single ISP may make sense, and provide attractive rates compared to each town contracting an ISP for a small number of subscribers.
- Jason suggested writing congressman for funding from universal service fund / Connect America Fund 2. As a possible source of last mile funding.
- State funding ends next October. State proposing an additional $40M for last mile assistance for 45 unserved MA communities, in bill HR3331(?) Process to spend it is TBD.
- RUS loan definition for Princeton is underserved, where MBI defines Princeton as Unserved – could be important at a future time when PBBC explores infrastructure financing options.
- No scenario under which MBI can complete wiring of last mile for 45 unserved communities within four years. Additional 100k poles, 25k households.
- Jason: talk to legislative delegation about adopting FCC rules on poles for Massachusetts.
- Petr briefly excused from meeting due to inappropriate parking in front of a fire truck.
- Jason said chance of making December date to light Princeton is “100%”
New Action Items
Short-Term Action Items
- Talk to Sterling about their cable service and possibly providing service over Princeton Fiber. (Steve)
- Report on meeting with Verizon RE: fiber backhaul. (Bill)
- Forward Support BBC press release to committee. (Ned)
- Stan/John + Subcommittee to work on RFI.
- Rich/Phil to work on newsletter layouts, John can contribute graphic design expertise. (Rich/Phil/John)
- Stan will discuss matter of last-mile funding / MBI with state rep Kim Ferguson. (Stan)
- Rich & Phil – strategy / final white paper. (Rich/Phil)
- Chris & Peter Johnson – provide more example town data. (Chris L.)
- Research/find more example towns (All)
Ongoing Business / Long Term Action Items
- Decide date of special town meeting (All)
- Talk to Cell tower customers & tower providers (Brian Allen) about connecting to fiber / getting an ONT, could be a source of revenue. (Stan)
- John/Stan to work on revised depreciation plan. (John/Stan)
- Meet with pole survey volunteers, organize further work (John)
- Ideas for content for possible newsletters to town (All)
- Meet with pole survey volunteers, organize further work (John)
Agenda for 8/28
- Updates on ongoing committee work, new business.
Meeting adjourned 9:03 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Ned Utzig
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