Hire a consultant to assist with development of a detailed public broadband network design that delivers best in the U.S. high-speed service in Marin, with a goal of 1 Gbps symmetrical wherever needed and possible, with an emphasis on providing internet services to Marin government entities such as city halls, schools, county and municipal facilities, joint power agencies (JPAs), and special districts. Consider all deployment options including public, public/private partnerships, and commercial. Wherever possible, incorporate competition, overbuilding, use of existing public and private network assets and services, local control, and community ownership into the design.
Include the following as part of the design process:
- As a top priority, determine the ability to use the strands of dark fiber in the SMART easement allocated to the County and the cities through which it passes in the License Agreement between SMART and Sonic.
- Identify ways to offset the cost of constructing an open access broadband network including analysis of current spending and performance metrics, such as the number of circuits and speeds, used by government, schools, anchor institutions, and other publicly-funded entities to reduce spending or divert funding.
- Use Magellan Advisor’s recommended conceptual network design as a basis for development of the detailed, open-access, publicly-owned network design.
- Coordinate with the State’s Open Access Middle Mile project to take advantage of available infrastructure and technical assistance. While this Plan’s actions aim to address issues of pricing, availably, and service, existing laws constrain state and local governments from regulating the activities of private providers. These and other findings show that high-quality, affordable broadband services are not as available as Marin prefers. Deploying broadband infrastructure, adopting quality standards, and increasing affordability will help to address these issues.
- Incorporate public and privately owned internet infrastructure and assets to the greatest extent possible to reduce cost and increase the speed of deployment, while still resulting in a publicly owned, controlled, or managed network, wherever possible.
- Consider all options including underground and aerial fiber, fixed wireless, wave broadband, satellite, and other available and emerging technologies.