1. Regional Broadband 101 Efforts and Impacts
Nate Walowitz
Regional Broadband Program Director

2. Broadband Drivers Increased property values and sales
Economic Development
Attract and keep businesses in Northwest Colorado
Access to regional, national, and international economy and market
Maintain population base and young families by supporting their career and lifestyle choices
Benefit for part time residents and tourists driving business and sales tax revenues
Education and healthcare
Public Safety
Increased property values and sales

3. NWCCOG Regional Broadband Program
Regional Broadband Director
Technical Assistance
Advisory Services
Planning, RFP, and Deployment Support
Collaboration across jurisdictions
Coordinate support from State OIT
FirstNet and Public Safety Communications
Grant support for DOLA, DORA, SIPA
Federal grant support for USDA, FCC

4. Broadband Speeds
1 Gbps
100 Mbps
25 Mbps
10 Mbps
1.5 Mbps

5. Broadband Definition
Speed and bandwidth is measured in Megabits per second and Gigabits per second
1.5 Mbps down/768 kbps up
10 Mbps down/1 Mbps up
BROADBAND MINIMUM 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up 50 Mbps down/50 Mbps up
1 Gbps down/35 Mbps up
1 Gbps down/1 Gbps up

6. Bandwidth Symmetric Asymmetric Download Upload Speed 100Mbps/100Mbps

7. Terms and Network Technologies
FTTH/FTTP
Fiber
Wireless
WiFi, LTE
Point to Point
Point to Multipoint
Cellular 4G/5G
Macrocell, Microcell, Small Cell
IOT
Public Safety Radio
Colorado DTRS
VHF
FirstNet

8. Broadband Infrastructure

9. Fiber Infrastructure

10. Wireless Infrastructure

11. Local Broadband Process
Broadband Engineering Study
Funding and Political Approval
Project Plans
Decision Point
Expand on Regional Broadband Plan
Local Study and Gap Analysis
Community Interest Survey

12. Broadband Project Implementation
Build Network
Fiber/Wireless
Roll Out Services
Decision Point
Aggregate CAIs
Obtain Funding
Projects
Invest to Support Existing Providers
Develop Open Access Network for all providers

13. Funding Options Public Funding Private Funding
Local Bonding, Sales Tax, EID
FCC, USDA, DOLA, DORA
Private Funding
Venture Capital
Private telecom funding (match contributions)
CDOT funding linked to DOT and NTIA

14. Local Broadband Initiatives
Local efforts
Dig-Once
Small Cell Policy
Local Building Code and Standards
Opportunities for additional providers
Bury open-access conduit when ground is opened
Municipal fiber network

15. Local Broadband Aggregation
Jurisdiction-wide network access and usage aggregation
Jurisdiction efforts to create county-wide network
Local Governments, Schools, and Healthcare can lead efforts
Helps support lower costs and increased reliability
Jurisdiction-wide network connects to Project THOR

16. PROJECT THOR
Deliver reasonably priced resilient broadband network infrastructure
Geographically diverse network
Reliability of 99.9 % availability
Multiple routes to Denver IXC
Aggregation of total bandwidth reduces costs overall
COSTCO Model
Make network available through Meet Me Centers to government, schools, healthcare, service providers, business…..

17. Resilient Network

18. Project THOR Network Elements
Meet Me Centers – A bus or train depot
Middle Mile Lit Fiber, Dark Fiber
Existing local government networks
Local ISPs Contracts for services

19. Why Project THOR Network Availability Bandwidth costs
Due to current provider network architecture
A single fiber cut from Denver through the region causes the entire region to fail
Fiber cuts are common and outages range from hours to multiple days
Outages affect
Government and Public Safety
Schools
Businesses
Internet providers and Cell phone providers
Bandwidth costs

20. Existing Government Connections

21. NWCCOG PROJECT THOR

22. Project THOR Management
NWCCOG
Regional Broadband Committee
Network Operator
Mammoth Networks
Network Administrator
Anchor Institutions and Last Mile ISPs

23. Regional Impacts
Leverage both commercial and government value for Project THOR network architecture
Meet-Me-Center provides opportunity for local government to directly help broadband
Provide additional redundancy with access to additional Internet POPs
Provide additional synergies across multi site organizations and districts
Potential Partners include:
Region 10
SWCCOG
CDOT
State of Colorado

24. Local Broadband Takeaways
Every community is unique
One size doesn’t fit all
Multiple technology solutions
Community and Regional collaboration is essential

25. Conversation