To Muni or Not To Muni FTTH?

Implications: 1.  Many municipal groups are building FTTH or broadband networks to support their economy, increase jobs, and attract businesses, but what is the true cost of doing this? 2.  Municipal groups are voted into office and some leave office while the implementation of their decisions are being realized.  When an FTTH muni build is involved, the voters have a semblance of control. Spending for such projects appears to be controlled by voting in or voting out council members that increase spending/taxation in areas that are not typically municipal.

Analysis: The Iprovo FTTH overbuild project was touted a few years ago to be the keystone city of Utah's premier municipal fiber link up between cities.  The project became focused in Provo, UT, and if you read the referenced article in the Salt Lake Tribune, you will see that the council has voted in the last couple of weeks to sell the Iprovo gear, customers and all, to Broadweave Networks for about what they paid for it.  The running of the muni FTTH project and all the service issues surrounding the project appear to have overcome the abilities or desires of the city to manage the project.  A $14M loss is mentioned, with projected losses of $15M more to have come in the future years, so the mayor hastened the council to vote quickly to hand it to Broadweave.  Going to the Broadweave site, the reader will see that this small company has already decided to replace the troubling home gateways to resolve a mass of service issues that have plagued the city over the years. 

It appears that what many of us former telco types have speculated is that cities may not have the depth of experience or talent or willingness and wherewithal to spend the money to manage such systems.  The Chattanooga Power Board FTTH project that is underway at this time may fare better, since it is being managed by a utility, rather than the city fathers.  Muni's that do decide to build their own systems need to be very studious and careful to find the proper companies or people to manage such complicated, expensive and service affecting systems.