[1st-mile-nm] Fiber Installation Creates 'Digital Backbone' in Albuquerque, N.M.

[catch all]

Greetings:

On the surface this seems like a great idea.  But as is always the case,
the devil is in the details.

Recently CABQ's CIO stated that it would cost $250K per mile to build this
fiber project.
When asked for the details of what is included in that $250K per mile cost,
the CIO was unable to provide
details.  Further requests have yet to produce a specific cost detail that
gets to $250K per mile.

Compared with our construction costs to place fiber in the ground, this
$250K is very expensive.
Our typical costs have been below $100K per mile in downtown to place fiber
underground, all done
all finished and ready for service.

With the economies of scale that the other parts of this ART project
brings, one would expect the cost
per mile to be even lower.


The City has not produced any sort of detail on network architecture or
design.

The City has not produced any sort of pricing for use of this fiber.

The City has not answered many questions about who is responsible for
construction of laterals off of this
fiber backbone.   For example:  Lets say Lobo.Net wanted to use this fiber
to connect a customer.  But that
customer is 150 feet from where the City's conduit/fiber is located.  Who
pays for that lateral construction?
Who owns that lateral ?  Who owns the fiber in that lateral ?  If Lobo.net
is responsible for that lateral, then
does Lobo.Net need to get a Rights of Way ("Franchise") agreement with the
City and then pay additional
fees to the City ??

The City has not provided any sort of information about SLA, repairs,
response to repair, etc

What happens two years from now when someone on the north side of Central
wants service, yet the
fiber is on the south side of the street ?   Will the City allow their new
ART road to be trenched / cut ??

With 288 strands of fiber in the initial cable, at best that is 288
customers, all home run feed back to
some aggregation point.  Sure, you could split that, but then you still
need additional equipment.

Will this be dark fiber, or is the City putting electronics on it.


Yet, The City of ABQ has been presented a fully funded proposal that would
have brought more than 100 miles
of dark fiber to the City of Albuquerque

It would have provided 12 strands of Dark Fiber to every school in
Albuquerque for FREE.
Thats every Pre-K thru 12th Grade, Public or Private

It would have provided 12 strands of Dark Fiber to every MAJOR healthcare
provider in the city for FREE
One healthcare provider I know spends more than $300K a month on telecom
costs.  That would be evaporated.!

It would have provided 24 strands of Dark Fiber to every CABQ building and
site.
It would have provided FREE WiFi to every Park and Community Center in the
City for FREE.
Imagine sitting at a park and having reliable 802.11ac WiFi available?

It would have enabled a 4.9Ghz public safety network that would allow First
Responders high speed network
access around the City.

It would have provided gun-shot detection to help solve violent crimes
quicker and at less cost.

It would have provided GIGABIT service to homes for $79.95 a month and to
businesses for $595 a month
Full true Gigabit, Fully symmetrical Gigabit.

All for a single one time cost that could have been paid out over 5 years.
All completely NEUTRAL to the City's Budget.  (Read NO NEW TAXES OR FEES)
After the one time payment there would NEVER HAVE BEEN ANOTHER CHECK
WRITTEN BY THE CITY.
This would represent a savings of more than $2,000,000.00 per year FOR EVER!

Yet, the City's Director of Innovation, hasn't been able to sort out how to
move it forward, and wants to spend
2 to 3x the cost to build a short little segment on Central Ave.

Why must we continue to be myopic in this State, this City ??

I've been silent about the extreme waste that exists in our state with
respects to broadband.  No more!
I've spent the last year executing IRPA's and have compiled a large amount
of data on how the many entities
are wasting huge amounts of tax payer money.  Report will be published soon.

Its time we truly elevate the infra-structure and not just talk about it.
 its time for real action

With respects
John Brown, CEO
CityLink Telecommunications NM, LLC
And yes I DO SPEAK FOR MY COMPANY


ps: Hopefully Richard doesn't censor this email

On Tue, Dec 6, 2016 at 9:46 AM, Richard Lowenberg <rl at 1st-mile.org> wrote:

> Fiber Installation Creates 'Digital Backbone' in Albuquerque, N.M.
>
> Albuquerque is paying $1 million for the line, half of what it would have
> cost if the city didn't include the fiber installation in an ongoing
> private-sector project.
>
> BY KEVIN ROBINSON-AVILA, ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL (ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) /
> DECEMBER 5, 2016
>
> http://www.govtech.com/dc/articles/Fiber-Installation-Create
> s-Digital-Backbone-in-Albuquerque-NM.html
>
> (TNS) -- Businesses and neighborhoods along Central Avenue could soon be
> getting high-speed internet service at an affordable price, thanks to a
> fiber optic line the city is installing from Louisiana to Coors as part of
> the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project.
>
> The city included the fiber line in its contract with HDR, the engineering
> firm managing ART construction. The fiber line will cost less than half
> what it would as a separate project, because ART contractors are already
> ripping up streets and digging ditches where the line will be installed,
> said Peter Ambs, the city’s chief information officer.
>
> Albuquerque is paying $1 million for the line, using city bond money
> approved by voters in 2013. Had the fiber been laid separately from ART, it
> could have cost about $243,000 per mile, or a total of about $2.5 million,
> according to estimates by CTC Technology and Energy, a Washington, D.C.,
> consulting firm contracted by HDR.
>
> Installation will run parallel to the ART construction timeline, allowing
> the fiber to come online as rapid transit service begins in late 2017, Ambs
> said.
>
> The city will own the fiber infrastructure. But it will provide open
> access for community broadband and internet service providers to hook up
> businesses, institutions and neighborhoods to the system. That could allow
> those providers to offer broadband access to end users at lower costs than
> what is available today, Ambs said.
>
> “We’ll provide open access to the fiber backbone, making it available to
> any and all community groups and internet providers to offer broadband
> services to constituents along Central Avenue and adjoining neighborhoods,”
> Ambs said. “This can help them provide internet services at lower costs
> because the core foundation will already be installed.”
>
> In addition, the project will connect the emerging Innovation District
> along Central Avenue, the University of New Mexico and the city’s own
> networks together into a high-speed platform that could significantly
> advance research, development and deployment of next-generation “smart
> city” initiatives and potentially entice more private sector investment
> Downtown.
>
> “It’s all part of our revitalization efforts along Central Avenue,” Mayor
> Richard Berry told the Journal. “It’s a digital backbone for connecting our
> citizens with public services online and connecting businesses along
> Central to high-speed internet. It can be a catalyst for investment.”
>
> The fiber line will help facilitate plans for new digital services and
> infrastructure, such as smart LED street lighting, mobile pay and ticketing
> for ART users and smart parking meters, Berry said.
>
> The new fiber line will immediately offer huge broadband capacity, plus
> ability for easy upgrades in the future, Ambs said. The line itself
> includes 288 strands of fiber.
>
> “With just a pair of fiber strands, you can provide gigabits of
> capability, so with 288 strands, it’s almost unlimited what you can do with
> it,” Ambs said.
>
> The piping that holds the fiber has four separate tubes, with the current
> line occupying just one of those tubes. That means more fiber can be pulled
> through the other tubes as needed to increase capacity in the future
> without ripping up the streets again.
>
> “We want to see the Google fiber-type service that exists in other cities
> become available here, with gigabit speeds at about $79 per month and 100
> megabits at $49,” Ambs said.
>
> Ricardo Aguilar, founder and CEO of the cloud-based computer, storage and
> network infrastructure provider Seamlus LLC, said the new fiber line could
> significantly improve the availability of affordable broadband by making
> the market more competitive for more internet service providers.
>
> “It will provide the infrastructure needed for smaller guys to tap into
> and start bringing down costs,” Aguilar said. “It could allow them to
> better compete with the bigger players by offering more affordable
> services. That will give our citizens and our universities and research
> institutions better access to high-speed internet.”
>
> ©2016 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) Distributed by Tribune
> Content Agency, LLC.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
> 1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
> Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
> rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
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