Image
Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
City and School District Team Up for Fiber in Royal Oak, Michigan
By
on
The City of Royal Oak, Michigan, a Detroit suburb and home to 57,000 residents, just announced it will be partnering with the school district to build a fiber optic network. According to the Royal Oak Patch, the cost is estimated at $400,000 and will link together eight city facilities and nine school buildings. According to the article:
“We are spending money now to save money long term,” said Manager of Information Systems Scott Newman. “The new network will be much quicker, more reliable, have increased capacity, and cost the City less to operate.”
The cost of the project is being split between the City and the School District. The School District will own and operate the network, and the City will have dedicated fiber for its share of the network’s capacity. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer, and is planned to be completed this fall.
Update: We contacted Shawn Lewis-Larkin, Superintendent at Royal Oak Schools, for more detail on the project. He replied via email:
We obtained a price from a vendor for meeting the needs we have without constructing our own fiber network. For 60 months the cost was going to be $775,656
vs.
Our 5 Year Cost to build and operate our cooperative network with the City will be $205,192.
Savings for Royal Oak Schools: $570,463 Over 60 Months or yearly savings of $114,092
We are still amazed when public schools report such incredible savings, even though we encounter these savings on a regular basis.
Related Stories
Making Waves in Baltimore with Community-Driven Connectivity
Profile on the people behind Project Waves, a non-profit organization founded in 2018 to bring broadband to mostly low-income households in Baltimore City.
Allegan County, Michigan Zeroes in On New Open Access Fiber Network
Allegan County, Michigan is moving forward with an ambitious new plan to bring affordable fiber broadband to 12,000 unserved addresses across the county.
US Treasury Approves CPF Funds for Massachusetts, Michigan, and Wisconsin
The U.S. Treasury Department announced this week the latest cohort of states approved to receive money for broadband infrastructure from the American Rescue Plan’s $10 billion Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund: Massachusetts, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Holland, Michigan Votes to Build Citywide Open Access Fiber Network
In early August, the city of Holland, Michigan (pop. 33,000) voted to fund the construction of a citywide, open access fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network. It’s the culmination of almost a decade of consideration, education, planning, and success, and builds on decades of work by the Holland Board of Public Works (HBPW) and city officials to build and maintain resilient essential infrastructure for its citizens. It also signals the work the community has done to listen to local residents, community anchor institutions, and the business owners in pushing for an investment that will benefit every premises equally and ensure fast, affordable Internet access is universally available for decades down the road.
Rancho Cucamonga Cultivates Greenfield Fiber Vineyard
In the 1980s, Rancho Cucamonga proclaimed itself “The City with a Plan.” Back then, the plan was to remake this once rural enclave known for its vineyards into more than just one of the many sunny suburbs of Los Angeles. That forward-looking spirit was revived again 30 years later as city leaders looked to cultivate a digital vineyard with the creation of a “Fiber Optic Master Plan” – a six-year $13 million investment plan that targets the city’s new development. Today, the city along the famed Route 66 owns and operates Rancho Cucamonga Municipal Broadband in partnership with Onward, a local private Internet service provider.
New York’s First Bite of the Municipal Broadband Apple
Breaking new ground in New York, state leaders are launching the first municipal fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) projects in the Empire State with funds from its new ConnectALL Initiative. Four small rural communities in four different counties will be the beneficiaries of New York’s initial foray into municipal broadband. At the end of May, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office announced the $10 million grant award, which will fund fiber deployments to the Village of Sherburne in Chenango County, the Town of Nichols in Tioga County, the Town of Diana in Lewis County, and the Town of Pitcairn in St. Lawrence County.