King George Wireless Authority

Joseph W. GrzeikaChairman

King George Board of Supervisors

Background

In mid 90’s Board of Supervisors added requirements on all new cell phone tower special exceptions to allow county use of tower for county communication purposes

By early 2000’s Internet Access was becoming more of an expected “utility” vice “nice to have”

Background Continued

2003 General Assembly enacted Wireless Service Authority Act (Code of Va. 15.2-5431.10)

2007 General Assembly added Wireless broadband equipment and infrastructure to definition of Public Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act (PPEA)

Project Summary 2006 King George formed Wireless

Authority Board of Directors are the Board of Supervisors Identified need;

Private suppliers (Verizon, Cable franchisee, and satellite) not serving many rural areas of county

Economic Development impacted by availability of broadband in county

Defense Contractors and employees need reliable broadband access at work and home

Commercial sector reliant upon internet Sheriff/EMS/Schools/County Admin needs reliable

county wide access to broadband

Project Summary (Continued)

2006-2007 Board developed and issued Request for Qualifications Asked for vendors to propose

solutions that would achieve 95% geographic coverage

Public-Private partnership desired Open to all approaches that achieve

the goals

Project Summary (Continued)

4 Proposals received and evaluated Various responses, pure fee for

service, franchises, etc Virginia Broad Band selected,

regional wireless company

Project Summary (Continued)

Spring 2007 Worked with VABB to develop contract

Identified existing assets (Communications and County Service Authority Towers)

Network deployment goals Financing plan

December 2007 Finalized deal Conceptually

Project Summary (Continued) January 2008 Wireless Authority/VABB

sign Contract and close on financing VABB responsible for development and

implementation of Network VABB responsible for all marketing, customer

service, billing Authority obtains Financing (Loan to VABB due

to Authority repayment schedule in contract) $740,000 obtained through local bank, incremental

disbursement based on schedule of activity Authority has applied for Stimulus funds –

none received to date

Project Summary (Continued)

Spring 2008 VABB Commences deployment Pilot equipment installed

Summer 2008 first subscribers signed up and VABB works with Schools to provide portion of their network

Project Summary (Continued)

Summer 2008 Tower Owners raise issues with

access despite provisions VABB continues installation on

unaffected towers and increase customer base

Authority works through the legal issues with tower access

Project Summary (Continued)

Current Status Issues with all but 1 of the Towers

resolved through negotiation VABB is operational on 4 towers In process of deploying on 4

additional towers (operational by end of calendar year)

Project Summary (Continued)

Current Status (Continued) 1 tower still in dispute

County provides access to towers identified as Phase 1 in contract

VABB responsible for marketing and network operations

Project Summary (Continued) Status

Delay in access to towers has impacted deployment schedule:

70% geographic coverage in Phase 1 delayed almost 1 year

Authority will conduct Network Assessment Acceptance Test upon completion of Phase 1 to ensure coverage met

VABB to provide Authority with regular progress/financial reports per contract

Project Summary (Continued) Status (Continued) Work Outstanding

Phase 2 completion (95% geographic coverage)

Network Service to Governmental Agencies Free/discounted service/training to Digital

Inclusion Residents VABB assumes payment for Phase 2 facilities Procure follow-on Network Agreement

Challenges/Lessons Tower agreement provisions need to be as

broad as possible to allow Authority use Competitors will react to deployment

Local cable provider aggressively deploying fiber; but not seeing them expand their coverage to less dense areas

Verizon does not seem interested in rural county

Broad Band is the new Utility Service residents expect

Challenges/Lessons (Continued)

Provider needs to be in tune with the market and step up to serve the new areas

Rural areas pose technical challenges that the provider needs to solve: Terrain Tree Canopy New Equipment/changes to Technology Small (5-20 house clusters) Customer Service – reflects on the county

Challenges/Lessons (Continued) Deployment takes much longer than

you expect – manage expectations Establish customer service and

marketing requirements in the contract

Competitive Environment poses challenges to obtaining reports/data while protecting the provider’s proprietary information

Conclusion

Broad Band is the “New Utility” Rural Markets are not high on the

commercial providers priority due to the density/business payoffs

Tower Access Key King George Still a work in process Questions?