The Oregonian has the scoop on Ashland’s money-loosing Muni fiber project [Text to Speech MP-3]:
While Portland prepares for a city-sponsored Wi-Fi network, two other Oregon communities are moving in opposite directions on their own municipal telecom projects.
Ashland finally decided this week to give up on its money-losing cable TV service, according to the Ashland Daily Tidings. But the Ashland Fiber Network will continue providing Internet service, the paper reports.
Meanwhile, Monmouth and Independence have just launched (scroll down after clicking to read about it) their own municipal broadband utility, called MInet. The network offers cable TV and high-speed Internet access, and operators plan to begin providing phone service this summer.
Ashland, Monmouth and Independence all aimed to bring big-city telecom services to small towns. Such projects have mixed track records: The Ashland Fiber Network leaves $15.5 million in debt and a good deal of ill-will and controversy, but it still has plenty of believers.
Unlike these small-town projects, Portland doesn’t plan to use city funds to build the Rose City’s Wi-Fi network (contractor MetroFi would fund and operate the network itself, billing Portland for services if the city subscribes to the network). But Portland hasn’t ruled out using city money to build a municipal fiber network somewhere down the road.
According to the Ashland paper, State Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland, credited the municipally-built fiber network for the Ashland’s economic development.
“It was a big factor in the entire city taking off,” he said, after the meeting. To the more than 20 people who attended the forum at the A Street Marketplace, he said, “Ashland has blossomed … largely because of AFN.”
Bates said 15 years ago Ashland was not the successful community it has grown into today. “Half the city was boarded up,” he said. “Ashland was a dusty little town.”
Then, he pointed out, “Ashland decided to build [the AFN] infrastructure.” This resulted in both businesses and individuals who wanted to move here, in part, because of the services the city offers, he said. “Businesses moved in,” he said.
Phase II of the Monmouth Independence NETwork (MINET) will bring fiber to the premise (FTTP).
Opinions may differ about the success of Ashland Fiber, but no such equivocation surrounds The Dalles’ municipally built fiber project. They attracted Google (above). A rose amid the thorns.
