Dan
Part 5 in the Gigabit Whatcom series.
Building on years of fieldwork, public partnership progress, and evolving technology, we have drafted an updated edition of our white paper, Creating Everyone Everywhere Affordable Broadband Access: Update.
Key highlights of the updated paper
- Post-pandemic reality: The COVID-19 pandemic shifted broadband from a convenience to a critical utility. The move to remote work and digital health care makes symmetrical fiber essential.
- Whatcom County case study: An analysis of the successes and challenges of the Port of Bellingham and Whatcom PUD #1 deployments, including grant wins in East Nooksack, North Lynden, and North Ferndale, and lessons from cost and permitting delays in Point Roberts.
- TCO and construction trade-offs: A detailed look at total cost of ownership (TCO) trade-offs between aerial and buried fiber, pole replacement fees, and long-term network maintenance.
- Commercial acceleration: How municipal open-access builds have encouraged private ISPs, such as Ziply Fiber, to accelerate capital deployment in smaller communities like Lynden, Ferndale, Everson, and Maple Falls.
Next steps
- Search for commercial partners: Look for a commercial company interested in building and operating a wholesale fiber network.
- Encourage local broadband activists: Recruit community members to become local neighborhood advocates.
Previous in the series: Mapping the Divide: An Assessment of Broadband Access in Whatcom County