DATE:
Wednesday, February 4, 2014
FROM:
(Name – Title) Alyssa Clemsen- Manager Industry Affairs
(Entity Applying) RBC Cooperative/Municipality
TO:
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Staff
SUBJECT:
Expression of Interest – Rural Trials
Docket No. 10-90
Background
(Paragraph about your utility: Who you are – describe what being a coop or muni means.
Additionally talk about why you are starting to consider this project.)
RBC is a member-owned electric utility/municipality serving 10,000 residential, agricultural,
commercial and industrial customers in Prince William County, Virginia. We also provide propane
services, water heater sales, and computer repair services to our members. In the past, we have
provided dial-up and satellite Internet, but found both solutions inadequate for our members,
business, and anchor institution’s needs. We are fully committed to a fiber solution as we have
found other platforms to be less-reliable and of insufficient capacity and speed. Our member
owners have repeatedly requested robust, reliable and affordable broadband services, our
cooperative/municipality is ready to step up and provide them with this essential service.
RBC at this time does not have an ETC license, but if funding were to be provided we would meet
the requirements set forth by the FCC.
Geographic Territory –
(Description, size, Census Block Numbers, number of customers to be served and density)
RBC is proposing to serve their entire territory with FTTH. We cover Prince William County and
Census block 901416 (http://www.usa.com/VA153901416.html). This will provide 10,000 members
covering 1500 square miles. Our population density averages 7.5 homes per mile.
List of Anchor Institutions
(Schools, Libraries, Health Care Centers, Hospitals, and Government)
Schools: Lake Ridge Middle School, Woodbridge High School, Rockledge Elementary School, Old
Bridge Elementary School, and Antietam Elementary School
Libraries: Chinn Library
Government Centers: PW Co Government Offices, Dept of Health, Alcohol Beverage Control
Offices
Health Centers/Hospitals: Potomac Hospital, Patient First, Emergency/Urgent Care Clinic
Proposed technology
(Describe Technology, Services Offered & Proposed Speeds to be offered, Price)
We are planning on offering FTTH services. Our offerings will include voice, television, and
broadband services. Our initial speed offerings will start at 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps, 50 Mbps, and 100
Mbps. We do have plans to offer Gigabit services within three years to our residential customers.
Anchor institutions will be offered the ability to receive Gigabit connections. These service offerings
will be priced according to the tiers of service on a monthly fee of $40 (10 Mbps), $70 (20 Mbps),
$100 (100 Mbps).
State and/or Local or Tribal Government Participation in and/or Support for Project
(Describe funding, expedited permitting, access to rights of way, etc)
We are currently receiving broadband funding from the state of Virginia in the amount of $100,000,
which is matched 50-percent with investment by the utility. The project leverages the utility’s rights
of way and infrastructure, which reduces costs and accelerates deployment.
Existing Providers
(If there are any- state who and where and if service is insufficient to needs)
There is one provider that overlaps 10% of our territory in the SW corner. They are currently
offering 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up. This is insufficient for today’s needs, let alone for future
applications. In addition, they are not providing anchor institutions with the needed bandwidth at
prices that are not competitive, let alone affordable.
Project Timeline
(Estimate of readiness)
RBC is shovel ready.
or
RBC is completing its engineering and financial feasibility study and will be shovel ready within
three months.
or
RBC is just beginning to explore offering broadband services to its members.
Scalability
(Describe how and if project is scalable)
RBC has mapped out a four phase plan to provide broadband service to its 10,000 members. The
project could be done in 2500 member increments or completed simultaneously to offer service to
all 10,000 members.
Total Utility Investment
$20 million
One Time Capital Infrastructure Investment Needed
$20 million
Total Project Cost
$40 million