City scales back fiber network

City scales back fiber network

August 28, 2001

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

A scaled-back version of the city of Cortez’s planned fiber-optics network should be completed "before the snow flies," city officials have announced.

In January, the Cortez City Council voted to build a four-loop network design that would serve city and county government, Cortez schools, Southwest Memorial Hospital, and eventually businesses and private homes. The network would have initially connected approximately 67 city and county entities.

Since January, the hospital and the Re-1 school district have refused to hook up to the network and to financially contribute to the original project, which would have needed over $400,000 in additional community support for completion.

As a result, the city will invest its $500,000 in a system which connects 10 city and county entities and provides basic services that can be expanded over time.

The city is counting on a state grant of $601,695 to help complete the network, which will run from the City Service Center north of town to North Broadway, Empire, Chestnut Street, North Park Street, and Main Street.

"What we’re trying to put in is a solid foundation to build advanced services," said Rick Smith, the city’s director of general services.

The city has already expended $50,000 to install 11,450 linear feet of empty conduit in the city, and 2,900 linear feet of conduit with fiber. An extra 10,250 linear feet of conduit and approximately 21,700 linear feet of fiber-optic cable is left to install before the network is completed.

"This will be the first step that we can build on in later years, but certainly not what we planned originally," said City Manager Hal Shepherd.

Shepherd said the city approached the Re-1 district school board several months ago, and the board refused to participate, even though the city was willing to find grant money to cover the district’s portion of the costs.

Re-1’s business manager, Jim Riffey, said at the time the board was concerned about protecting existing infrastructure prior to expanding into another area — especially since the community turned down a bond in the last election that would have been used to replace furnaces and roofs in school buildings.

The prospective administrator of the former four-loop network, Fone.Net, a Cortez-based telecommunications company, is still evaluating whether there is enough of a business case to become involved with the city’s network now that it is scaled down.

"We did not receive the community support for it to happen, that’s what it boils down to, so the city is proceeding with its own network and at this point it is uncertain whether Fone.Net will play a role in that or not," explained John Van Cleve, the general manager of Farmers Telephone Company.

"Obviously, we’re still working with the city and talking with them, but the network that will be built would not be nearly as useful as the network that was proposed, so it’s doubtful that we can make a business case to participate meaningfully in this new venture. But we are available to provide services to the city, under whatever terms we can negotiate," Van Cleve said.

In return for maintaining the network and providing the equipment to light the fiber, Fone.Net originally agreed to use 12 fiber strands of the city’s 48 network fibers for the next 10 years, and private businesses would have been able to lease or use the remaining 24 strands from the city.

"We were hoping to provide services to the entire community using that network as a backbone, but that isn’t going to happen," Van Cleve explained.

A state "beanpole" grant of $1.37 million has been awarded to the Region 9 economic development district to help bring fiber-optic advanced services to the region. The money will be split evenly between Montezuma and La Plata counties, and the city of Cortez will likely become the administrator of the county’s portion.

The grant goes hand in hand with the multi-use network telecommunications project, a state fiber-optics grant that connects public offices in each of Colorado’s 64 county seat with state government in Denver.

Qwest, formerly U S West, was awarded the over-$60-million project and is in year two of the four-year project. Qwest is ready to connect Montezuma and La Plata counties, according to Qwest regional spokesman Abel Chavez, but must wait until the counties pay the administrative fees to the state.

As to how Qwest will connect the counties to Denver, several options are still under consideration, said Chavez.

As of Aug. 1, Pathnet, the lead partner in building a fiber-optics line from Albuquerque to Grand Junction, had to shut down its lit fibers because of imminent bankruptcy proceedings in Alexandria, Va., where it’s based.

Before Pathnet’s bankruptcy, Qwest leased dark fibers from Pathnet and installed its own equipment to light the fibers, but says that is only one option for connecting the Southwestern Colorado multi-use network to the outside world.

"Part of what we were planning to do originally was to lease Pathnet’s fiber capacity that went through Southwest Colorado, now with Pathnet’s financial situation we are now looking at all of the options to be able to provide the services. Nonetheless we are committed to providing the fiber capacity as is required of the MNT project, and with or without Pathnet we will have connectivity so that we have MNT access points in Southwest Colorado," said Chavez.

Ironically, the four regional rural electric cooperatives and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association banded together in 1998 with Pathnet to build the $50 million fiber-optics line and bring telecommunications business to the area to compete with U S West, now Qwest.

The electric associations involved included Empire Electric in Cortez and La Plata, San Miguel, and Delta-Montrose electric associations.

Neal Stephens, the general manager of Empire, said the investors are closely watching the bankruptcy proceedings in Virginia to see whether they might be able to acquire more or all of the network when it’s sold off to pay Pathnet’s creditors.

"The four co-ops and Tri-State jointly have employed a council just to monitor what’s taking place back there. Right now we’re still looking and deciding what we’re going to do," explained Stephens.

"Whatever we end up doing, we’re going to have to protect whatever our investment is in that project. Ultimately, we’ll figure out a way to do that."