Network Sierra has seemed pretty dormant for the last several weeks but there has in fact been activity on the county level that could move the broadband agenda forward. Following the Conxx Presentation made to Network Sierra on April 18th, which was attended by several members of county government, efforts are underway to bring the Conxx team back to Sonora in June to make a presentation to the County Board of Supervisors. Teri Murrison (Supervisor, District 3) has been instrumental in keeping the process moving. She writes in her latest newsletter:
...opportunity is here too. The county is investigating a possible regional project to build a hi-tech backbone system that would host broadband, cell phone service, and police and fire radio communications. We will evaluate the technology over the next few months and if everything lines up and makes sense, may do a feasibility study and implementation within the next year or so. Such a system could benefit our local economy significantly and help attract new business opportunities.
Notice that the scope of this system goes well beyond providing county-wide broadband Internet service. The Conxx system provides nothing less than a replacement telecommunications system for the county. It also offers the scalability to expand to a multi-county regional system.
Of course, the claims that Conxx makes for their system cannot be taken at face value. If the county decides to proceed, they will need to do their due diligence and research other projects that Conxx has taken on in the past. This will require the dedication of staff resources, although Network Sierra members are more than willing to help with this phase of the project. It is worth noting that the Conxx system is already operating in a rural county in Maryland, that has many similarities to Tuolumne County. Ed Fernandez, of Network Sierra, has been in contact with some of the managers at
AllCoNet and they report a mainly positive experience with their system.
If the Board of Supervisors agrees to move forward following the Conxx presentation in June, I believe that the next job of Network Sierra will be to raise the awareness of both the general public and potential stakeholders in a system like Conxx. Having an alternative telco infrastructure is
not a trivial change to the status quo. We will need to make every effort to win broad support for this far-reaching project.
Update: Teri reports that there probably won't be any action until after the Board approves the budget (last Tuesday in June) and the first step will be a Board discussion of economic development goals. This will probably push any Conxx presentation into July.
