[1st-mile-nm] Fwd: High Speed Internet Project Launched

[Owen Densmore]

Is there a reason to limit this to "businesses and institutions"?  I guess
the main reason is the route itself.

   -- Owen


On Mon, May 20, 2013 at 9:03 AM, Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.com> wrote:

>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> May 17, 2013
>
> Contacts: Sean Moody; Project Administrator; Economic Development
> Division; 505-955-6350; sxmoody at santafenm.gov
>
> Jodi McGinnis Porter; Public Information/Multi-Media Administrator;
> 505-795-4169, jmporter at santafenm.gov
>
> HIGH SPEED INTERNET PROJECT LAUNCHED
>
> SANTA FE, NM - A $1 million broadband infrastructure project to improve
> Internet speed, pricing and availability in Santa Fe is beginning
> today.
> This has been a priority for City of Santa Fe Economic Development for
> almost five years. A Request for Qualifications is being issued to
> selected firms to compete for the opportunity to design, build, own and
> operate a fiber-optic link from downtown Santa Fe to the St. Michael's
> Drive corridor.
>
> "It's wonderful that we will finally be able to build this project and
> improve Internet in Santa Fe," said Mayor David Coss. "The City Council
> heard the request from businesses and community members and made it a
> priority for our bond funding."
>
> The project was authorized by the City Council as part of a Capital
> Improvements Program bond issue in 2012. Once complete it will enable
> local Internet providers to increase their network capacities and
> reduce
> costs. In turn this will translate into better speeds and lower prices
> for customers. Slow and expensive Internet has been a recurring
> complaint among local residents and businesses.
>
> Physically the project consists of a fiber optic cable running inside
> an
> underground pipe. Data is transmitted from one end of the cable to the
> other over strands of glass fiber using a signal composed entirely of
> visible light. This technology allows for extremely high data speeds,
> very low power consumption and no electromagnetic noise or
> interference.
> The cable will follow city streets using "directional boring"
> construction techniques which drastically reduce traffic impacts and
> asphalt cutting, trenching and patching. The only visual evidence of
> the
> completed project will be new manholes along the route.
>
> Santa Fe is considered "well-served" in a national ranking of the
> number
> of local providers, geographical availability and median level of
> service. Every home and most businesses already have two physical
> routes
> to the Internet: A telephone line and a television cable. In addition
> to
> these physical connections, mobile devices, as well as small, fixed
> antennas attached to the outside of buildings; provide Internet to an
> increasing number of individuals, residences and businesses. But in
> spite of this abundance of pathways, there is a crucial missing link in
> the infrastructure, an enduring legacy of the former telephone
> monopoly.
> This missing link spans from the central telephone office to a location
> about two miles away where several fiber optic cables emerge from the
> ground after traversing many miles of road, railroad and countryside
> from remote junctions across the state. Absent this two-mile link,
> local
> providers have only one way to connect to the outside world, and must
> pay a steep toll on the data transmitted over it. This effectively
> limits the levels of service they offer their customers. The project
> being launched today will bridge that gap, allowing providers for the
> first time to shop for better toll rates, interconnect with their
> choice
> of carriers, and increase levels of customer service.
>
> Once the project is operational, it is expected that local providers
> will begin to offer improved high speed Internet to businesses and
> institutions along the route, which will run through the Railyard to
> St.
> Michael's Drive. Airport Road and other areas will achieve similar
> availability as demand grows and providers extend the network to serve
> customers in those areas.
>
>
> --------------------------------
> Richard Lowenberg, Executive Dir.
> 1st-Mile Institute, 505-603-5200
> Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
> www.1st-mile.com  rl at 1st-mile.com
> --------------------------------
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>
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