Public Power - October 2008 - (Page 14)

10 Questions networks are going to suffer and be made to pay a high price.” We are just a little more tenacious than some people thought and we were very concerned that in our community we have a real broadband option. As a community, we talked long and hard about whether we were going to do this. No issue has been more discussed than was iProvo. We actually didn’t just launch right off. We spent two years testing it in one neighborhood before we undertook a citywide build-out and we learned a lot. There were things that people said would work that we found just didn’t work. We ran this test area—this little laboratory, if you will,—for over two years so we really had a handle on this thing before we launched forward. As I look back, I realize how true the old adage is that when things are going great, it’s amazing how many people are happy to take credit for it and when things aren’t going just 10 great, it’s amazing how lonely you are. This was a community project that the community wanted to undertake after they’d had a long conversation. I think, when it became politically hostile, there was a slowing in new subscribers. But, I also think the retail providers began to run out of money. They were having to share the profits they made back with the city, as the wholesale provider, and we were providing staffing and they were providing staffing. We had to have offices, they had to have offices. In some cases we couldn’t avoid duplication of expenses. Broadweave’s model will eliminate the duplication. On hindsight, did you take the right path—would you do it over again? Yes, I think there was a need to step up and do this. There are always things that you could and would do differently. Our goal was to have the infrastructure. The beauty of local elected officials is that you are accountable 24/7 and when people are accountable, they generally do a better job of meeting the needs of their community. It’s important that local elected officials are advised by people who are knowledgeable and technically competent and I think that’s one of the things that we did very well. We assembled a very good core of technically competent people. We felt like we needed this infrastructure and so we went after it and now we have it. For me and my philosophy of government I think we now have the best of both worlds. There is now a private sector player who will run this network and provide the infrastructure that others just wanted to pretend we had and now we really have it. People are using it. People like it. There is real value to having access to true high speed broadband in a city like ours. z Navigant Consulting – turn to us for direction[s]. » Energy markets » Resource procurement » Transmission » Operations improvement » Renewables » Litigation » Fuels » Benchmarking » Regulation » Energy efficiency » Policy » Generation » Demand response » Technology » Valuation » Greenhouse gas/climate change Navigant Consulting is a specialized independent consulting firm that provides management consulting and professional services to assist clients in identifying practical solutions to the challenges of uncertainty, risk and distress. We focus on large industry sectors that are typically undergoing significant change. For more information about our services or career opportunities with Navigant Consulting, please contact Laverne Gosling at 1.800.621.8390, ext. 5736, or laverne.gosling@navigantconsulting.com. ©2008 Navigant Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved. “NAVIGANT” is a service mark of Navigant International, Inc. Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NCI) is not affiliated, associated, or in any way connected with Navigant International, Inc. and NCI’s use of “NAVIGANT” is made under license from Navigant International, Inc. www.navigantconsulting.com 14 OCTOBER 2008 PUBLIC POWER http://www.navigantconsulting.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - October 2008

Public Power - October 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions The Future of Fuels in a Carbon-Constrained World An Energy Revolution Energy Policy in 2009 and Beyond A Green Reincarnation Beyond the Green Bandwagon Reliability Green Energy Community Broadband Customer Service Hometown Connections Human Resources Parting Shot

Public Power - October 2008

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