Fiber Proposal Worries Local Internet Providers

For several years, the Door County Economic Development Corporation (DCEDC) has been working with the county government in a lurching effort to improve the peninsula’s Internet infrastructure with an expanded fiber network.

Now, funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including $7.2 billion to improve broadband access in rural and underserved areas, have brought a sense of urgency to the on-again, off-again process.

But local wireless Internet providers say they’ve been left at the curb as the county negotiates with Indiana-based Norlight Communications.

Tim Ullman, the county’s Information Systems Director, says a fiber system would enhance communications among municipal entities. This includes town and village governments, libraries, and schools, but also emergency services such as police, fire departments, and hospitals. These entities would all be on one network and could communicate as if operating within the same office.

Last year the county put out a Request For Proposals to bring fiber to nearly every home in Door County. After reviewing responses from three companies, the county decided to reject them all as not viable but chose to continue negotiating with Norlight to try to create a scaled down network.

Norlight has proposed an outline of a network that would include a fiber ring in Sturgeon Bay and Northern Door, with a line connecting the two, and continuing through Southern Door to Green Bay.

Government entities would see improved services from such a pipeline, as would some businesses along the pipeline that are large Internet users. The average citizen, however, would witness little change in their services. The pipe would not provide new high-speed Internet access to most of the homes in rural areas that don’t have it now.

Norlight would partner with a company called Ridgeviewtel to provide wireless services to homes not reached by the fiber line. The county is working with a build out estimate of $10 – $15 million for the total project, with $6 million for the initial build and the rest covering monthly service fees for the first 10 years. The county would apply for federal stimulus dollars to pay for it.

“We can’t do this on our own or with bonding,” Ullman said. “The only way this will come to Door County is if they can get federal dollars.”

Most sources contacted by the Pulse for this story said the enhanced fiber backbone may be a good idea. It’s the partnership with Ridgeviewtel that raises eyebrows with local providers.

Northeast Wisconsin Wireless Internet Services (NEWWIS), owned by Rick and Joan Gordon and based in Fish Creek, began building a wireless Internet network in 2002. NEWWIS now touts 800 users, most of whom paid about $400 for installation and about $50 per month for services. Not cheap, but NEWWIS now says they are lowering their install cost to $200.

Meanwhile, Northern Door Communications, a Cellcom 5-Star dealer in Sister Bay, began a pilot program to offer residential broadband Internet in Door County last June for Cellcom. The service is now available throughout Northeast Wisconsin, with several hundred subscribers throughout the region. Customers must invest about $100 in equipment to get started with Cellcom’s service and monthly service fees range from $40 – $50.

A similar Norlight project to that proposed for Door County was begun in rural Kentucky last December. Installation for those services was $199.95 with Internet services costing $29 – $49 per month.

Greg Diltz, owner of Northern Door Communications a member of the county’s Communications Advisory Technical subcommittee, gave Ullman credit for bringing the idea forward.

“It’s a great concept, and worth investigating,” Diltz said. “But where I get concerned is when they say that nobody’s providing an alternative service now. I’m concerned that the county would be subsidizing an outside company to compete against local entrepreneurs who’ve put a lot of money into providing this service in Door County.”

Nate Bell, Network Administrator for NEWWIS, is asking the same question and said he’s received a lukewarm response from the county and DCEDC.

Door County Administrator Mike Serpe said he would love to see local providers get a piece of the pie, but he doesn’t believe they’re owed special consideration or communication from the county.

“They had a chance to respond to the RFP, but they didn’t,” he said. “It wasn’t secret. Why would I not want the local vendors to get it?”

Serpe said the county did not specifically notify the local providers, but solicited RFPs in the public manner they always do.

Asked if the county would urge Norlight to use a local partner on the project, Serpe said that question is between the vendors and Norlight.

“They have to contact Norlight and talk to them,” he said. Bell contacted Norlight in mid-April and has yet to receive a response. Representatives from Norlight did not respond to several messages seeking comment for this article.

Bill Chaudoir, DCEDC Executive Director, said he is sympathetic to the concerns of local service providers.

“The local providers want to be able to compete on the same terms as Ridgeviewtel,” Chaudoir said. “That would be my interest as well.”

But Chaudoir said he was only made aware of NEWWIS’s desire to be involved in the last two weeks.

Bell, who provides services to several municipalities and has attended Information Systems Committee meetings since January, said it’s all he can do to keep up with the ongoing negotiations between the county and Norlight that have altered the original plan drastically. The original RFP was for fiber to the home, and the county has since negotiated it down to a fiber backbone with wireless hubs. Sister Bay Village Administrator Bob Kufrin said it’s not fair to criticize local providers for not responding to the original RFP since the current proposal is a far cry from the original.

“There was no communication that I’m aware of sent to anyone to ask if they could compete on the wireless services,” Kufrin said.

Bell and Diltz said their companies have worked hard to come up with innovative ways to provide Internet services to the community, and Bell pointed out that NEWWIS has done so without government subsidies.

“We’ve already got most of this wireless infrastructure in place,” Bell said. “We’ve been building this up over years. This proposal would basically be handing it to Ridgeviewtel.”

Tim Vowell, Director of Government Services for Charter Communications, said he’s not familiar with the specifics of Norlight’s proposal but said it doesn’t appear to be an entirely new infrastructure.

“We have a hybrid fiber/ coaxial network to Sister Bay now,” Vowell said. “From what I understand, the Norlight loop would be a substantial duplication of what Charter has in place now.”

Building a pipeline in Door County is expensive, since you have to dig through solid rock to lay lines. Vowell said Charter has invested “a substantial sum of money in the county” to provide requested services over the years.

But Chaudoir said business owners are not getting competitive prices from Charter. A meeting of large Internet users in Sturgeon Bay revealed frustrations, Chaudoir said.

“It’s fair to say customers are paying well in excess of 10 percent more than necessary,” Chaudoir said. Charter has not approached DCEDC about lowering its costs.

“We offer substantial value at a comparable price,” Vowell said.

Norlight is finishing its proposal, and a new version will be reviewed at the Internet Services meeting May 6.