Key Groups To Involve In Your Municipal Fiber Project

Establishing a municipal telecommunications service to provide high-speed broadband service requires a substantial capital investment like the investments once made to construct streets and sanitary sewer projects. Because it involves public money, it’s essential to involve many people and often more than one local organization in the effort to construct this increasingly essential infrastructure.

In this post, we will be sharing how to identify and communicate with various groups in the community to build support for your municipal telecom project.

Economic Development Agencies

The need for high-speed broadband is a topic economic development agencies are acutely aware of. Communities without high-speed broadband aren’t prime targets for businesses looking for new locations. Most businesses today run many essential systems through their internet connection, and they can’t function well without sufficient bandwidth.

There’s no need to think only about attracting outside investment. Hometown businesses often pay a premium for service in communities without high-speed broadband and pay again as their employees and customers wait for transactions to process or information to be available. Service outages are also more likely to occur with old systems running on cable TV or phone lines. In short, better internet connectivity is a productivity-booster for local businesses.

Another substantial economic impact of high-speed broadband is the value of residential property. Research has shown a strong relationship between high-speed broadband and home values.

Service & Community Groups

When large public projects with a big impact on the community are being discussed, keeping service groups like Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis clubs informed can be very beneficial. Most groups welcome speakers sharing information of importance to the community and the group’s members. A basic checklist for speaking to community groups includes:

• Understand the time allotted and be brief to allow time for questions

• Understand the group’s meeting routine

• Arrange to arrive early

• Be very early if you need audio-visual capabilities (bring old-school paper handouts to be safe)

• Ask members for their contact information if permitted

• Leave your contact information and encourage the audience to be in touch

• Ask for volunteers to help if you’re at that stage of the process

Older Citizens

Don’t assume that older citizens aren’t interested in better broadband service. Every age group uses their internet connection for essential tasks, and older citizens are no exception. They may not stream entertainment as much as younger people, but they still keep up to date with family members through social media, check email, and use the internet to find health information is high.

Especially in small and rural communities, older citizens are sensitive to the negative impact on families and the community when young people move away and don’t return. They know from first-hand experience that younger people rely on high-speed internet for work, education, and entertainment.

City Government

In many communities, a new broadband utility is easier to form through an existing utility, such as a municipal electric utility. In other communities, especially those without a municipal electric utility, the city council will be an essential part of the effort.

A city council can establish a commission or board to oversee broadband communications. That group, in cooperation with the city council, can take the steps needed to establish a new utility. It makes good sense to reach out early to elected officials, explaining the importance of high-speed broadband, and sharing how they can help bring about this community improvement.

Interested Individuals

With all the work to be done, it’s vital to have a committee of individuals interested in moving the project forward. Recruiting is easier than ever with social media, but it’s also important to reach out beyond just the group that is easiest to reach. A broad cross-section of ages and socio-economic groups will help disseminate information more broadly and help appeal to the entire community.

A lot of factors will determine the cost of a telecommunications project. Small communities with favorable density and terrain will still require an investment of several million dollars. The cost quickly grows into the tens of millions as community size increases. Expenditures of this size that aren’t mandated like water treatment, for example, will require substantial public support. Involving a broad cross-section of the community in the effort is the best way to assure success.