[February 17, 2010] Anoka County high on high-speed Internet: Anoka County finds widespread support among residents for building a fiber-optic system using federal stimulus funds. Tweet Feb 17, 2010 (Star Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Anoka County doesn't know yet how much a new county-wide high-speed Internet system would cost, but it does know there's a lot of support from residents, businesses and city officials to seek federal stimulus money to build one. Five companies have responded to the county's request for proposals to lay about 400 miles of fiber-optic cable connecting more than 150 city, county, school and college buildings, said Cindy Kevern, director of information services for the county. She said a cost estimate is being finalized. Kevern noted that: -- Nearly all 19 Anoka County cities and one township have passed resolutions of support for a broad-band system. -- A county-wide telephone survey found 80 percent of households favored the county building a fiber-optic network that passes by every home and business. -- Many businesses surveyed indicated that they'd like to have more broad-band Internet capacity in order to send large computer files to suppliers and customers. In early March, the county board is expected to approve a stimulus grant request seeking federal money to pay for up to 80 percent of the fiber-optic system, said Commissioner Jim Kordiac, who chairs the board's information services committee. He said the county will ask the vendor selected to pay the remaining cost. Little opposition to the proposal has surfaced, although nobody has been asked to pay for anything yet, Kordiac said. Users would pay for the service. "Anoka County has no intention of being the organization that puts in the cable," said Commissioner Robyn West, a member of Kordiac's committee. "We are hoping to find a private vendor to go for the stimulus funds and make it happen." The five firms competing for the project are Qwest; Velocity Telephone of Golden Valley; Zayo Bandwith of Louisville, Colo.; UnitekUSA of Tampa, Fla., and OHIvey of Midvale, Utah. Fiber-optic broadband cable is many times more powerful than wireless Internet and other cable service. It also is more expensive to install because it must be buried and rights of way must be obtained. The county paid CCG Consulting of Beltsville, Md., about $90,000 to conduct phone and business surveys, arrange community input meetings, map cable routes, estimate system cost and handle the city's work on any stimulus grant application that may be submitted, Kevern said. The phone survey interviewed 800 county residents and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. One question asked respondents whether they thought the county should provide Internet data, TV and telephone service. Eighty percent said yes, 15 percent said maybe, and 5 percent said no. Those who said no included people who feared that taxes would rise, who said it wasn't government's role, and who said that it would be too costly. Jim Adams --612-673-7658 To see more of the Star Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.startribune.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, Star Tribune, Minneapolis Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]