The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute (OTI) filed a significant CTC Technology & Energy technical report with the FCC as part of its response on the net neutrality docket. The engineering study, which New America commissioned to explore how net neutrality can be achieved within the framework of LTE (4G) technology, concludes that carriers can manage congestion on mobile broadband networks while abiding by open Internet principles. Following publication of the report, CTC Director of Engineering Andrew Afflerbach briefed FCC commissioners and staff on the technical issues over a two-day period.

Read OTI’s introduction here and access the full report here.

The City of Ellensburg, Washington awarded CTC a contract to prepare a strategic plan for the Telecommunications Utility. CTC will conduct analysis and market research, and provide strategic support to assist the City in its goal of designing and constructing a fiber optic network to serve public agencies.

On October 17, the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) submitted to the FCC CTC’s cost model study for fiber construction to schools and libraries. SHLB filed A Model for Understanding the Cost to Connect Schools and Libraries with Fiber Optics in the E-Rate Modernization proceeding in support of its recommendation to the FCC to fund fiber construction to schools and libraries that are not currently connected with such state-of-the-art infrastructure. The study creates a model for fiber costs across six different geographies of the United States so as to enable evaluation of the cost of construction in different regions of the country.

Read the report cover letter here and the full report here.

The filing window for the Rural Broadband Experiments (RBE) will open on Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 9:00am ET., according to a public notice released by the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau. All application and bid materials are due Friday, November 7, 2014 at 6pm ET.

Access the full RBE order here.

The City of Westminster, Maryland broke ground Monday on the construction of a citywide fiber optic network. The initial phase of the project is intended to serve two distinct pilot areas, which will encompass both residential and business customers. The City fully funded construction of the open-access network, which is intended to reach “to the curb” within the right-of-way adjacent to every business and residence, and “to the premises” in certain locations.

CTC Principal Engineer and Analyst Tom Asp will lead CTC’s effort working with the North Attleborough Electric Department (NAED) to develop a communications system strategy. CTC will provide strategic support, as well as a budgetary and feasibility analysis to aid NAED in reaching their goal of global advanced communications.

CTC Technology & Energy Director of Engineering Andrew Afflerbach will speak at the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) Summer Conference. His presentation Innovative Internet Deployment in Underserved Rural Areas: County-Initiated Wireless Broadband in Garrett County will be part of the Going the Distance – Building the “Last Mile” of Broadband Infrastructure session. The session, which is in the “Administrators” category, will be from 2:00PM to 3:00PM on Thursday, August 14, 2014 in Room #204. The conference will be held at the Roland Powell Convention Center in Ocean City, MD. More information about the conference can be found at the Maryland Association of Counties website.

CTC Technology & Energy President Joanne Hovis will speak at the Broadband Communities Conference in Springfield, MA. Hovis will be the leader and speaker at By the Numbers: Documenting Broadband’s Contribution to Economic Development in addition to presenting for the workshop A Community Fiber Toolkit Developing Fiber Projects. The Broadband Fiber Networks Conference is part of the Economic Development Conference Series, and will be held September 16-18, 2014, at the Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel in Springfield, MA.

For more information about the conference and to register, please visit Broadband Communities Magazine.

Broadband Communities Magazine has named CTC Technology and Energy to its annual Fiber-To-The-Home Top 100 List of companies. The list commends various types of companies within the broadband community for being “leaders and innovators in the fiber-to-the-home arena”. This is CTC’s fifth time on this list.