Broadband Investment

Requires ROIBill Coleman

Community Technology Advisors

Return on Investment

Who’s Making the Investment? Who’s Getting the Return?

Critical Considerations for Rational Decision-Making!

Broadband ROI BeneficiariesProviders(public, private or public-

private)

Investment Capital

Expertise

Time

Return Sales

Profit

Communities

Investment Rights of Way

Return Critical infrastructure

Employment

Entrepreneurship

Distance Education

Tele-health

E-government

Different ROI HurdlesPrivate Sector

Get capital back quickly

Generate profits to drive stock price

Financial return is the dominant measure

Public Sector

Need to meet debt obligations

Break-even, sustainable enterprise

Total community benefits are priority

Political ramifications

Cooperatives bridge across these differences!

Feasibility Studies Increase Clarity To

Improve Decision-Making

Blandin-funded Feasibility Studies

Built/under construction

Cook County*

Lac qui Parle County*

Red Wing

Southwest MN Broadband Services*

* Received ARRA $$

Waiting

Todd County

Cloquet Valley

RS Fiber

Northfield

Redwood County

Kanabec County

Feasibility Study Elements

Market Current providers

Current satisfaction

Target markets

Desired services

Required pricing

Engineering Technology choices

Use of existing assets

Fiber

Conduit

Poles

Deployment costs

Operations Funding

Products

Wholesale/retail

Long-term planning

Management Hired management

Contract management

Ownership Private

Private-public

Public

Cooperative

Connect Itasca

Testing COS Systems Service Zones Market Development

Tool

Service Zones Facilitates:

Market research

Broadband sign-up/subscription

Engineering and costing

Construction management

Uses: Survey tools

Social media and community champions

Facilitates Locally owned networks

Provider partnerships

A feasibility study should be an iterative process,

creating a path towards achievable, positive

outcomes.

And provide documentation for federal and state funding applications.

Blandin Foundation Feasibility Study Funding

Grants of up to $25,000

1 : 1 cash match

December grant deadline for January funding

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The Return from Investment in Broadband Infrastructure and

Utilization Initiatives

Insights from the 2014 SNG White Paper

Border to Border Broadband: A Call to Action February 5, 2014

Saint Paul, Minnesota

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Let’s Start With What We Know…

• There is a relationship between broadband and economic development.

• SNG research in the U.S shows…– 56% of businesses and organizations said broadband is

essential for remaining in current location– 56% of households said they would definitely/likely

relocate if broadband was not available– 32% of households work from home or have a home-

based business

• RVA studies show that a FTTH network adds $5,000 to the value of a home.

Source: SNG Digital Economy Database n = 19,951 businesses and 9,318 households

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…and Broadband Means Jobs

Percent of New Jobs Related to InternetBy Size of Employer Group

Broadband is responsible for 23.4% of all new jobs

Source: SNG Digital Economy Database n = 6,177

Small businesses create 12x more

Internet jobs relative to large

firms1 - 19

20 - 99

100 - 499

500 or more

Tota

ls

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35% 30.9% 29.1%

21.1%19.1%

23.4%

Employees

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Why Drive Utilization?

For an individual business or organization, increasing utilization by 10% means:

Increasing revenues by 24%

Decreasing costs by 7%

For a Region, it means :

Allowing businesses to be more competitive

Creating a demand for high-skilled workers

Adding fiscal revenues

Average multipliers identified by SNG from over 12,000 data records collected in 2009-10.

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Projected Impacts for Kanabec CountyMoving from 27% to 100% connectivity

• $20.4 million ↑ in total incremental impacts

• 310 jobs created

• $6.6 million ↑ household income

• Impact on GDP: $21.6 million ↑

• $2.3 million ↑ direct tax revenues

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Projected Impacts for Lac qui Parle CountyExisting 100% broadband availability

• $1.3 million↑ in total incremental impacts

• 22 jobs created

• $529,000 ↑ household income

• Impact on GDP: $1.4 million ↑

• $148,000 ↑ direct tax revenues

Want Impact?

Blandin Broadband Communities may be the

answer!

Promoting Broadband Access, Adoption and Use

Blandin Broadband Communities

Create a community team to apply; application process is open until October 17. Applying communities receive free registration to 11/18-19 conference

Two-year community commitment

Selected communities receive: Leadership development

Planning and project development facilitation

Access to project funding

Contact Information

Bill Colemanbill@communitytechnologyadvisors.comwww.communitytechnologyadvisors.com

651-491-2551

For more information on Blandin Foundationhttp://broadband.blandinfoundation.org

http://blandinonbroadband.org