Alameda Power & TelecomAn Enterprise of the City of Alameda

ENTERING THE

BROADBAND BUSINESS

Who We Are• Municipal Enterprise - City Department

– Serving citizens since 1887

• Telecom utility established in 1998– City Charter revision Nov 1998 – Granted Franchise November 1999

• Construction Jan 2001• First customer June 2001

– Currently 9,711 customers

• Public Utilities Board oversight

Where is Alameda?

Why?

• Base Closure– General economic downturn– Find and develop other revenue sources

• Approaching Electric Deregulation in CA– Build command & control system

• Needed fiber for Distribution Automation (DA) and Automated Meter Reading (AMR) to be cost effective

• Citizen Dissatisfaction– Four providers over 10 years; limited local customer service– Task Force recommendation to prepare feasibility study

with goal of local service, latest technology

Vision

NationalInformation

Infrastructure

NationalInformation

InfrastructureTelecommunications Transport System

Utility Network-Monitoring & Control-Energy Services-System Automation-Auto. Meter Reading

Residential Network-Residential Services-CATV/HSD Services-Information Services-Security Systems

Community Network-Government Offices-Libraries-Schools and College-Hospital

Enterprise Network-Industrial-Financial-Commercial-Information ProvidersA Municipally Owned

Broadband Network

...Reliable Telecommunications...Lowest Cost...

Universal Access...Variety of Services...

Source: Businness Plan Figures 1.1 and 1.2

Business Plan Summary

Own and Operate Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial Network

Provide TV and Data (Internet) Services Built to provide alarm monitoring and

telephonyPriced below competition

administrative efficiencies with electric utilitymarketing advantage – local ownership; no stockholdersnewer plant means lower maintenance costs

CATVInternet Service

Plant Characteristics• 860 MHz

– Comcast is at 450MHz with upgrade to 750 MHz in process– Higher capacity, speed and clarity of signal

• Fiber to the node– Reduced maintenance costs

• Coaxial cable to the user• 500 users per node

– Ability to “split” to 250 with higher penetrations– Comcast usually at 750 users per node

• Wi-Fi or Broadband over Power Line options – Under review for commercial areas

Construction of CATV/Internet Service Plant

• Plant completed: 24 miles underground77 miles aerial

• Node Status:– 52 nodes certified (26,000 users)– 3 nodes in progress (1,000 users)– 37 nodes to be built (incl partially complete nodes)

• 25 Main Island (12,500 users)• 12 Bay Farm Island (6,000 users)

Preparing for thePublicity Battle

How to thwart the incumbent providers• Tell your story…be proactive and do it early. Don’t let the

competition tell your story • Champion local connection to the community constantly• Capitalize on relationships with the local media• Respond to all claims from the competition that municipal

broadband does not work• Ballot measures: have a campaign plan; take it to the streets• Develop FAQS and scripts for staff, commissioners, city council

members and other municipal departments• Ensure that staff has information and review continuously• Remember…public power wears the “white hat”

in your community

Development ofNew Utility Policies

• Revise “Rules and Regulations” to

accommodate telecom operations

• Examples: service agreements, service

rules, billing policies, credit and collection

policies, discontinuance of service policies,

etc.

• Citizen programming committee