News

JUN

19

CTC Awarded NAED Phase Two Contract

CTC Principal Engineer and Analyst Tom Asp will continue to lead CTC’s effort working with the North Attleborough Electric Department (NAED) on the next phase of its fiber feasibility study. CTC was awarded the NAED phase one contract in August 2014 to develop a communications system strategy. In phase two, the CTC team will refine the benefit analysis, and develop and distribute an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) request for proposal (RFP) to guide the vendor selection process.

Published: Friday, June 19, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy

JUN

16

CTC President Presents at Colorado Municipal League Annual Conference

CTC President Joanne Hovis is an invited presenter at the Colorado Municipal League’s annual conference in Breckenridge this week. Speaking on the topic “Making Municipal Broadband a Reality,” Ms. Hovis will offer insight and practical guidance on the steps localities can take to create sustainable business plans for their community broadband initiatives.

Published: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy

JUN

07

Aspen Institute Releases 2014 Communications Policy Report

The Aspen Institute has released its 2014 Communications Policy Report. CTC Technology & Energy President Joanne Hovis contributed to the The Atomic Age of Data: Policies for the Internet of Things in August 2014, through her attendance at the twenty-ninth annual Aspen Institute Conference on Communications Policy. The report includes communications policy insights and recommendations from a range of conference attendees from the public and private sector.

Read the full report here.

 

 

Published: Sunday, June 7, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy

MAY

20

Bald Head Island, NC Releases RFP for Private Partner for FTTP Network

The Village of Bald Head Island, North Carolina today released an RFP seeking a private partner to provide services for a municipal fiber-to-the-premises network. The Village seeks to deliver world class communications services to homes and businesses and views next generation broadband as essential to its future. The RFP can be found on the Village’s website here, and questions can be directed to BaldHeadIsland@CTCnet.us.

View the full RFP here.

Published: Wednesday, May 20, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy

MAY

08

iTV-3 / UC2B Groundbreaking and Ribbon Cutting

UC2B and its private partner iTV-3 held a groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the beginning of residential construction. Representatives from both entities—along with speakers from the City of Urbana, the City of Champaign, the University of Illinois, the Urbana Free Library, and the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation—praised the Gigabit-capable network and the partnership.

The UC2B/ iTV-3 partnership was announced last May, and iTV-3’s Vice President indicated that the past several months have involved feverish behind-the-scenes work to reach this point. Network buildout will be completed in phases; neighborhoods in which at least 50 percent of households have signed up for service will be eligible for construction.

Published: Friday, May 8, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy

MAR

25

Application Window Opens for Economic Development Administration (EDA) Funding

CTC has prepared a memorandum outlining our analysis of Economic Development Assistance Programs through the Economic Development Administration (EDA), a bureau within the Department of Commerce.

The EDA has opened the application window until June 12, 2015 for eligible applicants (cities, counties, states, higher education institutions, and nonprofits). Funding is prioritized for projects benefiting economically distressed communities.

View the full memorandum here.

Published: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy

MAR

23

City of Huntsville, AL Solicits Private Partner(s) for Citywide Gigabit Connectivity

CTC is proud to be part of the City of Huntsville, Alabama’s effort to become a “Gig City” through partnering with the private sector to provide affordable, high-speed broadband Internet. The City released a request for information (RFI) last week to solicit one or more private partners to develop a research backbone fiber ring to connect key institutions in the City, and to provide fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband to homes and small businesses and broadband services to large businesses and institutions. CTC engineers and analysts will continue to work closely with City staff to further Huntsville’s vision and forge the most mutually beneficial public-private partnership.

Published: Monday, March 23, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy

FEB

18

Coalition Urges Missouri Legislature to Resist Efforts to Restrict Local Internet Choice

CTC is proud to be part of a broad coalition of associations and companies that is urging the Missouri legislature to resist efforts to restrict local Internet choice and broadband opportunity.

As the Missouri legislature considers raising new barriers to local broadband initiatives, the coalition today sent the letter excerpted below to the chairs of the committees considering the new barriers. (View the coalition’s letter to the Missouri Legislature here.)

The coalition includes Netflix, Google, NATOA, Utilities Telecom Council, Alcatel-Lucent, Atlantic Engineering Group, OnTrac, Fiber to the Home Council, American Public Power Association, Connecting for Good, Telecommunications Industry Association, and CTC Technology and Energy.

February 19, 2015

The Hon. Senator Eric Schmitt
Chairman, Senate Committee on Jobs, Economic
Development, and Local Government
201W. Capitol Avenue
Jefferson City, Missouri 65101
Dear Senator Schmitt:

We, the private-sector companies and associations listed below, urge you to not to pass SB266 because the bill, as applied to advanced communications capabilities and services, will harm both the public and private sectors, retard economic growth, prevent the creation or retention of thousands of jobs, hamper work force development, and diminish the quality of life in Missouri.In particular, these bills will hurt the private sector by derailing or unnecessarily complicating and delaying public-partnerships, by interfering with the ability of private companies to make timely sales of equipment and services to public broadband providers, by denying private companies timely access to advanced networks over which they can offer business and residential customers an endless array of modern products and services, and by impairing economic and educational opportunities that contribute to a skilled workforce from which businesses across the state will benefit.

The United States must compete in a global economy in which advanced communications networks are playing an increasingly significant role. The U.S. needs affordable access to such networks in as many communities as possible, as rapidly as possible, so that innovators can develop next-generation applications and services that will drive economic growth and global competitiveness. Unfortunately, in many of America’s communities, particularly in rural areas, the current communications service providers are unable or unwilling to invest in advanced communications networks rapidly enough to enable the communities to stay abreast of their peers elsewhere in the United States and around the world. These communities should be free of artificial barriers, including the cumbersome, time-consuming, expensive, and ambiguous requirements of SB266 and HB437, to do their part to help bring affordable high-capacity broadband connectivity to all Americans and to advance America’s global competitiveness.

Communities in Missouri and across America are eager to work with willing established carriers, enter into public-private partnerships with new entrants, develop their own networks, if necessary, or create other innovative means of acquiring affordable access to advanced communications capabilities. These are fundamentally local decisions that should be made by the communities themselves, through the processes that their duly elected and accountable local officials ordinarily use for making comparable decisions.

We support strong, fair, and open competition to ensure that users can enjoy the widest range of choices and opportunities. SB266 and HB437 would take us in the wrong direction. They are bad for Missouri communities, particularly rural communities. They are bad for the private sector, particularly high-technology companies. And they are bad for America’s global competitiveness. Please do not pass SB266 or any amendment or other measure that could significantly impair community broadband deployments or public-private partnerships in Missouri.

Sincerely,
Alcatel-Lucent
American Public Power Association
Atlantic Engineering Group
Connecting for Good
CTC Technology & Energy
Fiber to the Home Council
Google
National Association of Telecommunications
Officers and Advisors
Netflix
OnTrac
Telecommunications Industry Association
Utilities Telecom Council
cc: The Hon. Senator Kurt Schaefer
Members of the Senate Committee on Jobs, Economic Development
and Local Government

Published: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy

FEB

10

CTC Awarded Cutting Edge Work in Colorado, North Carolina

CTC received an award this week to assist the Village of Bald Head Island, NC with planning for broadband public-private partnerships. The Village, which has a year-round population of 250 and a summer population of 1,500, is committed to catalyzing the development of world-class communications infrastructure to ensure the Island’s economic future.

CTC is also proud to be part of the Advantage Engineering team that was competitively selected to assist Pitkin County/Aspen, CO with broadband planning. CTC’s role is financial modeling, market assessment, and public-private partnership strategy.

Published: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 by CTC Technology & Energy