Broadband Boosts Economic Growth in Bristol

Bristol, Va., a community of 18,000 residents in southwest Virginia, is home to the Bristol Motor Speedway for NASCAR events and the Country Music Alliance Museum. The city is one of the first entities in the nation to offer voice, data and video to residents via fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) technology. All this was made possible by Bristol Virginia Utilities’ (BVU) 800-mile and growing broadband network run by the utility’s OptiNet division. The network has been funded with revenue bonds and grants from the Virginia Tobacco Commission’s technology committee.

Bristol Virginia Utilities fiber network is revitalizing SW Virginia

There was a time when Bristol, Va., and other mountain communities yearned for better roads — ribbons of asphalt that would link them with the world beyond. Today, an impressive network of highways crisscrosses this region in Southwest Virginia.

Now leaders of this city of 18,000 at the Tennessee state line have turned their attention to building a different kind of highway over which voice, data and video can travel at lightning speeds.They’re laying cables of hair-thin glass fibers — fiber optics. Their goal remains unchanged: to link with the outside world so that the region can stay in the game when it comes to economic development. Build it and they will come.

Why towns have built their own broadband

By Jeffrey R. Lee, Medill News Service

Two years ago Princeton, a town of about 7,500 two hours west of Chicago, was staring at a potentially grim future. One of the community’s largest employers had just moved its manufacturing facilities to Chattanooga, Tenn.

LCN, a division of Ingersoll Rand Co. Ltd., had just hired a new plant manager for its Princeton factory, and he had a wake-up call for the town’s industrial board.

“He said that if Ingersoll Rand was looking to relocate a new facility, Princeton would not be on the list,” recalled Jason Bird, superintendent of the town’s electric and telecommunications utility. The town simply did not have the communications capacity that modern companies need.

That conversation was enough to scare the town council and the mayor into action. Last October, the town started construction of a $400,000, 12-mile fiber optic network, and on Dec. 15, it announced it would take the fiber optic cable to any customer that wanted it.

Broadband and Economic Development: A Municipal Case Study From Florida

In this paper, George S. Ford and Thomas M. Koutsy explore whether broadband investment by municipalities has an effect on economic growth. To do so, they employ an econometric model to compare economic growth in Lake County, Florida, with other similar Florida counties. In 2001, Lake County – a small county in central Florida – began generally offering private businesses and municipal institutions access to one of Florida’s most extensive, municipally-owned broadband networks, with fiber optic connections to hospitals, doctor offices, private businesses, and 44 schools. Lake County has experienced approximately 100% greater growth in economic activity – a doubling – relative to comparable Florida counties since making its municipal broadband network generally available to businesses and municipal institutions in the county.

Does Municipal Supply of Communications Crowd-Out Private Communications Investment?

There are 2,007 municipalities across the United States that provide electricity service to their constituents. Of these, over 600 provide some sort of communications services to the community. An important policy question is whether or not public investment in communications crowds out private investment, or whether such investment encourages additional entry by creating wholesale markets and economic growth.

Study of Economic and Community Benefits of Cedar Falls, Iowa’s Municipal Telecommunications Network

The purpose of this study was to investigate the economic growth and quality of life benefits a municipal communications system stimulates. Data was collected to compare the level of activity within two adjoining communities, Cedar Falls and Waterloo commonly referred to as the “Cedar Valley”. The specific areas measured include economic development (business recruitment, business retention and expansion), enhanced education, improved healthcare, competitive advantages and population growth. The following presents the findings in each of these identified areas.

South Dundas Economic Impact Study

The Township of South Dundas invested $750,000 CAD in 2000 to build a fibre optic network. The goal of this investment was to provide broadband connectivity to South Dundas and promote local economic development. To conduct an economic impact study of the South Dundas fibre network, SNG collected data from the network subscribers, identified the direct effects to those organizations, and assessed those impacts on the local economy

Broadband: The Next Utility

by John W. McCurry, Site Selection magazine

Broadband Internet access is rapidly being perceived by governments and business as an essential utility which will soon be as important as water or electricity to economic development. Cities or regions that embrace this concept and make this new utility widely available are variously described as being “intelligent, smart or wired.”

Wired cities: working-class communities build next frontier of high-speed connectivity

When Mitch Davis needed a high-speed launching pad for his startup Internet company, he ditched high-priced Seattle for its blue-collar neighbor some 35 miles to the south: Tacoma. When John Gorst needed a place to set up his Internet utility company that provides Web hosting of applications for small businesses around the country, he moved to Broadway — that is, 1101 Broadway Plaza in downtown Tacoma. And when e-commerce giant Amazon.com went searching for a site for its next-generation call center, guess where it landed? Tacoma.