Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ Yesterday at Salisbury’s city council retreat the gathering heard a report about how Chattanooga utilized its fiber optic infrastructure EPB Fi to create a national stir last October when they turned Chattanooga into a “GIG City”. Becoming a “Gig City” is a definite plus if your city is already attractive to technological entrepreneurs as the much larger and far less challenged city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga, unlike Salisbury, is not challenged by Salisbury’s smaller and poorer population, a notable 28% soaring poverty rate, high crime, and poor performing schools. Get it straight–Salisbury lacks several core essentials: folks with a lot of spendable income, top notch public schools, low crime, tech entrepreneurs, and large businesses requiring gig speeds. And the ugliness of Salisbury’s plight is that many other cities in North Carolina possess the livability essentials and they ARE getting a gig sometime within the next few months. Here’s Salisbury’s competition:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2014/03/11/rst-fiber-activates-100-gigabit-fiber-network.html
RST SUPER MONSTER 100 GIGABYTE FIBER OPTIC NETWORK THREATENS TO TAKEOVER N.C.
http://rstfiber.com/releases/rst-fiber-activates-americas-first-gigabit-state/
Yesterday’s talk by Chattanooga’s EPB (Electric Power Board) corperate communications vice-president rekindled fond memories of EPB Fi municipal’s successful rollout of their fiber optic network. Unlike Fibrant’s reeling soft rollout the same year, EPB Fi’s rollout in 2009/2010 was guided by experienced broadband leaders who immediately sold 100 Mbps at cheap prices, used redundancy from the get, and employed savvy technicians. They also did not rollout against an already overcrowded field of deep-pocketed incumbents like Salisbury had. Nor did EPB purchase mismatching and recycled equipment like Fibrant or was run by an inexperienced crony. Fibrant went debacle within months and was sucking for air by June 2011 when it burned through the last of its $33 Million dollar certificates of participation. Soon thereafter Fibrant was dipping into Salisbury’s general funds for millions and as well as other municipalities SKU funds. D-E-B-A-C-L-E.
If Fibrant ever matched the gig speeds and bargain basement prices of EPB Fi, I’d sign up with them in a heartbeat. Check the EPB Fi’s website out and their speeds and prices:
Right now Fibrant offers 100 Mbps and Time Warner Cable will soon be offering 100 Mbps toward the end of the year. Yesterday my TWC internet ramped up. TWC must’ve been running tests in my area because my normally 40 Mbps (Their Extreme is advertised at 30 Mbps) was flying between 80 Mbps and 100 Mbps yesterday afternoon. I’m not complaining.
Fibrant bringing gigabit speeds to Salisbury is highly unlikely. Why?
• Save for Fibrant’s fiber optic wire, Fibrant doesn’t have the modems yet and much of the equipment required to handle a gig.
• There’s no real call for a gig here. Most of the high flyers in the city find 100 Mbps more than enough for their needs. Most consumers require lesser speeds.
• TWC and U-Verse have more serviceable fiber optic throughout the Salisbury than Fibrant. They are far and away the largest high-speed internet providers in Salisbury with deep pockets and their savvy tech crews not charged with changing traffic lights or plowing snow.
• Fibrant is stone broke after June 2011 when they burned up their certificates of participation $33 million and now owe somewhere in the vicinity of 70 plus million. Not to mention $7 million owed to the general fund.
• Fibrant simply lacks the money to purchase the millions of dollars in equipment it would take to build the current system up to gigabit speeds.
• In reality no call exists here for gigabit speeds and if there were, Time Warner Cable or U-Verse could more capably handle it. Fibrant has trouble enough trying to hustle 100 Mbps to a few buyers. Time Warner Cable will likely be putting out 100 Mbps toward the end of 2014. Salisbury simply is not a technological hub and because of its reputation for crime, poor public schools, and soaring 28% poverty is a non factor in the gigabit race. Since Winston, Carey, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh will soon have a gigabit fiber optic networks and are far more livable urban areas, they would be superior draws for technological businesses and entrapaneurs.
