Community Broadband Network

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2014

Martin County Board of County Commissioners faced a problem shared by local governments across the nation: the rapidly escalating cost of telecommunications access. For ten years, the County had connected schools and other public facilities with leased lines from the local cable provider, but that provider was threatening to radically increase its prices after the lease expired in 2010. Knowing that the County had few choices and little bargaining power under Florida law, the County had to find an alternative to an 814% increase in costs in coming years. To avoid this dramatic increase, the County led by the County’s CIO, local leaders and elected officials considered building a county-owned network rather than continuing to lease services indefinitely. Analyses suggested the investment would save money for the taxpayers, provide a next-generation fiber optic network that was almost limitless, dramatically increase the reliability of network connections, and eliminate the County’s dependence on commercial providers. The County’s fiber construction project commenced on January 3rd, 2011 and the County no longer required the cable provider’s leased lines after July 31, 2011. The County first connected the sites with a single connection to make the deadline and then later added the redundant connections to complete a network comprised of seven rings. Today, nearly all public sector and non-profit organizations in the County connect to what is called the Community Broadband Network, including County, the School District, City of Stuart, Towns of Jupiter Island and Sewall’s Point, and Martin Health Systems. The entire public-sector community has become more self-reliant and has more control over its future budgets, has a much more robust and reliable underground network, and no longer has to fear rate hikes from commercial providers.