BbTF Minutes 04-07-2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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pair up with govt; when NCACC is ready to lobby for specific legislation, they will let us know so we can get involved o Sen Foushee-County caucus, working on Senate Bill 689 (draft) (bipartisan - introduced yesterday)will expand BB in unserved areas, create partnership to allow use of county asset; another bill on house side; bill that senate is pushing that will allow financial assistance to residents who don't have means to access high-speed internet in their area Grants updates: Jim/Travis—trying to get up with the state to go through which are available and not;American Rescue Plan $$-still don't have guidance but BB is listed though don't have restriction info yet; must be spent by end of Dec2024 Bureaucratic mechanisms: Travis—should funding be authorized, have to take a couple of different legislative actions to spend money, RFP/bid ->evaluate (OC and members of public)—Task Force would be good audience for that;then would need to be approved so can take some months; once details are laid out,Jim/Travis can move quickly Jim—what happens in the case of no $$? How would bonds work? Travis—general obligation bond can be approved by voters Update on "What's out there": In past meetings talked about disruptive technologies; fiber strategic plans;Jim shares map (proposed fiber that we wanted to install ourselves)with group; fiber assessment to show all the kinds of fiber in the county ie. Cable TV fiber around the county(2017)—highlights the tale of two cities,fiber in populated areas but not in northern/western OC; combined map—DSL investment (green line) is where you see telephone fiber; no home run back to H'boro where Century Link is providing service; if need copies of maps individually, contact Jim. Leveraging fiber —not a good business case to expand fiber to places without BB; fixed wireless, LED, satellite (NetStat, Starlink); radio spectrum has limited bandwidth, LTE much better; cell phone companies have infrastructure but can't lower rates which would be required to be more affordble County success models—Person County project where state let private industry on their towers (Highway Patrol); Rowan County—dept manager, contracting with Open Broadband; struggling to get that off the ground and having same challenges as OC—lack of vertical assets, not looking to build towers. OC in year 3 of 3 year contract, OBB learned a lot Need to approve minutes/notes from last meeting Meeting frequency every other week!!! Review Action Register - Hear from Piedmont Electric, River Street and Open Broadband next meeting - Anecdotally—Ting Fiber Internet (Holly Springs) -offers cellphone service and high speed internet—lowers price and increases speed (currently advertising$89/mo+startup costs)