Such an upgrade allows the city, schools, libraries and hospitals to offer better and faster access to services online and over wireless devices. It also improves the quality of such service for businesses and individual customers.
Under the five-year contract, Connected Nation Exchange will develop a map for the city that shows where Columbus owns properties that can be used to expand broadband networks. Those properties include buildings, rooftops, towers, utility poles, signs, water tanks and existing fiber-optic lines, said Connected Nation Exchange CEO Brian Mefford.
The city already has installed 500 miles of fiber-optic lines, and the mapping will allow the city to more easily lease access to wireless companies. Such an arrangement also allows companies to provide ultra-high-speed service without making massive investment.
Wireless companies, including the largest players, such as AT&T and Verizon, need to find places where they can economically place new fiber, antennas and towers.
AT&T knows very well how expensive such updates can be. The company spent nearly $300?m illion from 2012 through 2014 to update its network in just the Columbus area, AT&T spokeswoman Sarah Briggs said.
Making those improvements in a city isn’t easy, Mefford said.
“When you get into a dense city, it becomes difficult,” he said. “It’s difficult to build unsightly towers, and there are only so many places antennas can be placed. And, if you’re laying new fiber, you’re talking about picking up streets, sidewalks, diverting traffic — that becomes expensive.”
Using proprietary computer technology, Connected Nation Exchange is able to pinpoint places that the city can lease. As a for-profit spin-off of nonprofit broadband mapping group Connected Nation, Connected Nation Exchange has access to the data showing where such companies as AT&T and Verizon already have broadband.
“You start seeing patterns in cities,” Mefford said. “Over time, we’ve identified those patterns in building our software. We can say, so, OK, this instance in Columbus looks a whole lot like Dallas or Chicago, so this is best process to build a solution there.
“That’s what makes it enticing to cities. It makes it easier.”
The mapping should take a couple of months to complete, and at the same time, Connected Nation Exchange will reach out to potential customers, such as Internet service providers and mobile carriers.
“Different companies will have different interests in how they might be able to best use city fiber,” Mefford said. “We are in discussions with companies that are interested in using city fiber to extend fiber of their own to offer business and residential service, as well.”
Making the company’s task even easier is the fact that Columbus already has installed fiber line and knows where it is.
“We know where all the fiber is, what manhole cover to go to if something is cut,” said Gary Cavin, director of technology and chief information officer for the city of Columbus. “We’re pretty far into this game. I don’t think people really understand how far along we are.”
That means that the five-year contract with Connected Nation Exchange has “no upfront costs for the city,” Mefford said. “Our revenue is based on what we’re able to generate on behalf of the city. They get the majority of the revenue coming in.”
The contract is so new that wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon are still talking with city officials and Connected Nation Exchange about details. However, AT&T’s Briggs said, “ we look forward to working with the city of Columbus, which is a valued customer of ours, to learn more about the partnership with CNX.”
The city’s goal is to have the ultra-fast 100-gigabit service available everywhere, Cavin said. Such service is essentially what Google has launched over the past four years or will launch in the coming year in Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Charlotte, N.C.; Kansas City, Mo.; Nashville, Tenn.; Provo, Utah; and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
The 100-gigabit service has been a huge boost for economic development wherever it has been launched.
“We see the impact in other cities,” Mefford said. “It’s a win, win, win, because you have more and better and cheaper services, you’ve got carriers able to build out their networks, and you’ve got a city using its assets in very smart ways to create revenue.
“It does allow more companies to come in,” he said. “It helps change the map for companies looking to invest in the city.”
©2015 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
