Commissioners seek to boost telecommunications infrastructure
by Mark Hebert
Mineral County lost an opportunity to compete for two businesses that would have created about 75 local jobs because the area has only one Internet provider.
On Monday, county commissioners took the first steps toward studying ways to increase its telecommunications infrastructure. Paul DeWolfe of Access Engineering in Missoula described the link between telecommunications capacity and rural economic development during the regular monthly meeting of the BitterRoot RC&D in Superior.
“Rural communities are understanding now that they need access to the Internet, access to advanced services so that their businesses can access the larger markets that are out there,” he said. “They also now understand that the larger world needs to know about what you have to offer if they are going to come here to recreate or develop a business.”
According to DeWolfe, a current trend sweeping the United State is “on-shoring.” Many businesses in the US in the past five to 10 years have moved portions of their companies to locations such as India in what is known as “off-shoring.”
The idea behind on-shoring is that American businesses moving parts of the operations to smaller rural communities, with populations under 40,000, which have reputations for reasonable costs of living and an educated work force.
“That’s one example of the on-shoring phenomena that we are beginning to see developing,” said DeWolfe. “But what companies are beginning to understand is that they don’t have to go to India. Companies are beginning to understand that spinning off branches into smaller, more livable, lower-cost-of-living communities makes good business sense.”
But those businesses need to make sure that those smaller communities have telecom services, such as high-speed Internet, to communicate with the global markets.
Larger businesses looking to spin off into smaller communities have short lists of criteria: Is there reliable access to the Internet and cell telephone service, and how much does it cost?
“Affordability, availability and reliability of telecommunications are now on the short list of selection criteria that companies are using to relocate,” said DeWolfe.
Mineral County Extension Agent Kevin Chamberlain said that three years ago, two companies contacted Mineral County asking about property prices, income taxes and infrastructure. He heard back that most area services matched what they needed to move here. Most--but not all.
“They have one to five deal breakers at the top of their list,” he said. “Either you have this or you don’t have this, and if you don’t have this, we are going elsewhere. With those two businesses, we had pluses everywhere else but communication. It wasn’t just the communications--we had the bandwidth--but their presence on the web was such that if Blackfoot went down they would be in trouble.”
Blackfoot Telecommunications is the only high-speed Internet provider in Mineral County.
Chamberlain said the two businesses would have brought 65 to 75 jobs to the area, though the identities of the business were kept secret.
DeWolfe and his company recently completed a project in north central Idaho similar to Mineral County, in an area either unserved or under-served in broadband Internet service.
He said the USDA funded a two-year study and plan to help get high-speed capability into 16 different communities.
The study first identified the users and their needs and asked what was lacking. They worked with their current providers to assess the existing infrastructure--the existing fiber optic cables and broadband networks.
DeWolfe and his company pointed out the absence of fiber optic cables running into seven of the 16 Idaho communities and the lack of competition for voice or data services in all 16 communities. The area had only one telephone company and one Internet provider--the telephone company.
“There are agencies out there that will either loan you money or give you money to build the infrastructure that you need in these communities,” said DeWolfe.
DeWolfe said that the first step for Mineral County to build a stronger infrastructure would be to start a study and seek grants to fund the study.
“I think it is something we need to seriously consider,” Chamberlain advised the commissioners. “Would it be safe to say that Mineral County is interested in being a part of this study pending notification of the type of cost we are looking at?”
“I think we need to,” answered Commissioner Judy Stang.
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Mineral County lost an opportunity to compete for two businesses that would have created about 75 local jobs because the area has only one Internet provider.
On Monday, county commissioners took the first steps toward studying ways to increase its telecommunications infrastructure. Paul DeWolfe of Access Engineering in Missoula described the link between telecommunications capacity and rural economic development during the regular monthly meeting of the BitterRoot RC&D in Superior.
“Rural communities are understanding now that they need access to the Internet, access to advanced services so that their businesses can access the larger markets that are out there,” he said. “They also now understand that the larger world needs to know about what you have to offer if they are going to come here to recreate or develop a business.”
According to DeWolfe, a current trend sweeping the United State is “on-shoring.” Many businesses in the US in the past five to 10 years have moved portions of their companies to locations such as India in what is known as “off-shoring.”
The idea behind on-shoring is that American businesses moving parts of the operations to smaller rural communities, with populations under 40,000, which have reputations for reasonable costs of living and an educated work force.
“That’s one example of the on-shoring phenomena that we are beginning to see developing,” said DeWolfe. “But what companies are beginning to understand is that they don’t have to go to India. Companies are beginning to understand that spinning off branches into smaller, more livable, lower-cost-of-living communities makes good business sense.”
But those businesses need to make sure that those smaller communities have telecom services, such as high-speed Internet, to communicate with the global markets.
Larger businesses looking to spin off into smaller communities have short lists of criteria: Is there reliable access to the Internet and cell telephone service, and how much does it cost?
“Affordability, availability and reliability of telecommunications are now on the short list of selection criteria that companies are using to relocate,” said DeWolfe.
Mineral County Extension Agent Kevin Chamberlain said that three years ago, two companies contacted Mineral County asking about property prices, income taxes and infrastructure. He heard back that most area services matched what they needed to move here. Most--but not all.
“They have one to five deal breakers at the top of their list,” he said. “Either you have this or you don’t have this, and if you don’t have this, we are going elsewhere. With those two businesses, we had pluses everywhere else but communication. It wasn’t just the communications--we had the bandwidth--but their presence on the web was such that if Blackfoot went down they would be in trouble.”
Blackfoot Telecommunications is the only high-speed Internet provider in Mineral County.
Chamberlain said the two businesses would have brought 65 to 75 jobs to the area, though the identities of the business were kept secret.
DeWolfe and his company recently completed a project in north central Idaho similar to Mineral County, in an area either unserved or under-served in broadband Internet service.
He said the USDA funded a two-year study and plan to help get high-speed capability into 16 different communities.
The study first identified the users and their needs and asked what was lacking. They worked with their current providers to assess the existing infrastructure--the existing fiber optic cables and broadband networks.
DeWolfe and his company pointed out the absence of fiber optic cables running into seven of the 16 Idaho communities and the lack of competition for voice or data services in all 16 communities. The area had only one telephone company and one Internet provider--the telephone company.
“There are agencies out there that will either loan you money or give you money to build the infrastructure that you need in these communities,” said DeWolfe.
DeWolfe said that the first step for Mineral County to build a stronger infrastructure would be to start a study and seek grants to fund the study.
“I think it is something we need to seriously consider,” Chamberlain advised the commissioners. “Would it be safe to say that Mineral County is interested in being a part of this study pending notification of the type of cost we are looking at?”
“I think we need to,” answered Commissioner Judy Stang.
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