I’m at the Minnesota Blandin Broadband conference today. I took the guided broadband tour of the area, led by Kevin Larson of Consolidated (CTC) and Tony Mayer of West Central Telephone Association (WCTA). My favorite line as we toured CTC’s facility was – Who would have thought that Baxter and Pillager were such leaders?”

It was fantastic to hear and see that they are. I’m going to tighten up my notes considerably – because it turns out I can’t take notes on a bus but here are some of my highlights…

The area started getting interested in fiber in 2002 and it started with a partnership between first the school district and the local telecommunications company. They recognized that Brained was in a black hole of sorts when it came to broadband. They signed up a few more partners (such as Crow Wing County and a couple of cities) and pursued fiber in the area. RUS funding (USF) has been instrumental in getting fiber to outlying communities. In fact with the financial support, often those areas are easier to reach.

In 2009 CTC worked with the Brainerd Restoration project (a downtown revitalization project) to put fiber into the downtown area. Right now 60 percent of the businesses are on fiber. A business recently moved into the area that needed 50 Mbps. They are moving in soon. It turns out that the bars and restaurants are some of the biggest broadband users thanks to Touch Tunes.

Some questions:

How expensive is FTTH and why?

WTCA has seen that rural access points have cost $10,000. The cost isn’t the fiber itself. It’s the equipment on either end and the upgrade/replacement cost of that equipment.

How do you promote broadband?

We have marketing departments now – which we didn’t have 7 years ago. We offer specials deals, which are generally met, at least in the short term, with any competitors. There is usually a percentage of customers who will always go with the cheapest option. That’s hard.

We also provide educational opportunities. We offer basic computer training and more. We have found that age and snowbird status has been the biggest determinant in broadband take rate. But older folks do attend training so there’s hope for broadband adoption. We have seen a decline in seasonal users (snowbirds) in the past few years. While we’re not certain why – it seems have if the improvements in cell coverage and cell phones may play a role.

So when it comes to competitors – we have them. All of the services we provide (voice, video, data) can be provided by someone else.

Cooperative Network Services (CNS) is an association of co-op telecommunications companies. They have built a fiber ring in west central Minnesota and are working on a connection to Minneapolis. One goal of CNS is protect themselves from mergers in the industry. As network providers they work together but there are a lot of mergers and acquisitions in the industry that have an impact on their connectivity. CNS helps politically strengthen the technical networks.

Finally we heard from a Range Printing who has been able to reach new markets with their improved broadband. About a quarter of their business actually comes out of California and they have clients from as far as Ireland.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Folks had great questions – from infrastructure to policy to adoption. Gets me excited for tomorrow!

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