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For presentation to Minnesota Senate Committee
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SMBS Update2/14/2012
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Who is SMBS?
• Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services• Joint Powers Agreement between eight
communities in the southwestern corner of the state
• JPA created a not-for-profit corporation• At project completion we will pass over 3,700
homes and businesses in our member communities• Awarded a $12.8 million loan/grant by the Rural
Utility Service
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SMBS Member Communities
• SMBS Membership– Bingham Lake– Brewster– Heron Lake– Lakefield– Jackson– Okabena– Round Lake– Wilder
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How did we get here?
• Member cities met in spring of 2008 to prepare for a broadband stimulus application
• Utilized Blandin Foundation dollars to build a feasibility study for a community wide Fiber-to-the-Premise network
• Used that document to prepare a successful stimulus application
• Member communities and Jackson County provided the additional $1.5 million dollars to fund the project
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Service Provider Partner
• SMBS partnered with the City of Windom to provide backbone services to the project
• Eliminated the need to build our own voice switch, ISP infrastructure and video headend
• Also share a General Manager between the two projects
• The partnership allowed us to turn up services faster and to eliminate approximately $2 million in capital costs
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Current Progress
• Have built 58 miles of the transport ring • Have completed construction in five communities and
1,700 passings• Currently 300 customers on the network• Planned to have 1,100 customers by turned up by
May (65% penetration)• Construction of rest of network to begin after thaw,
will complete in 2012• Have begun deploying a wireless overlay to create
mobility and a solution for the more rural customers
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Why does it work?
• Community is served by it own residents• Control stays local• Dollars stay in the community• Continues a tradition of the rural communities
stepping to the forefront when the market will not serve them
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For Additional Information
John Schultz
www.u-rekabroadband.comwww.mysmbs.com
