By Theresa-Marie Wilson~
The information superhighway is about to get a lot faster in Grover Beach. High-speed fiber optic Internet technology could soon make Grover Beach a hub for broadband communications on the west coast.
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Grover Beach Mayor John Shoals. “There are literally four of what they call beachfront landing areas or stations. One is in Grover Beach, one is in Washington, one is in Canada and the other is in a different part of Japan. We are talking about a trans-Pacific fiber optic cable that connects us to the Asian market. It comes directly from Japan to Grover Beach.”
The city officially made utilizing the submarine communications cable landing site part of its master plan in 2010. Last May, the city council approved the initial phase of a 10-year fiber agreement to bring the high-speed fiber optic Internet connectivity to the area’s 727 businesses. An agreement with the city has been reached for Digital West to deliver the much-needed infrastructure to key industrial and commercial areas of the city.
Grover is sitting on ideal conditions to make the project viable. The city’s proximity to the trans-Pacific fiber optic cable landing station, which connects networks across the world through submarine cables, gives businesses direct access to North and South American, Asian and other international markets.
City officials believe Digital West’s fiber connectivity throughout the region and to the cable landing station will drive businesses to Grover Beach and be a valuable asset to the communities connected to the fiber at speeds and capacities typically found only in major cities.
“This is going to set us apart from neighboring cities, and most other cities in the county and the region,” said Shoals. “We are proactively installing fiber optics equipment in the city to create property that will be ready for green tech or any other type of businesses that are looking to come to the area who want fast Internet speeds. Installing this equipment into the industrial area, which is 135 acres, no one else in the Five Cities has that.”
The terms of the contract call for Digital West to place new fiber optic cable in the city’s key commercial and industrial areas with multiple connection points. The city will own the installed conduit infrastructure and Digital West will pull fiber through the conduit and manage the broadband system. In the future, the high-speed fiber may also be made available to the community’s 5,800 residential units.
The Network will be a backbone system with the capability of expanding throughout the city based on a demand and market for the services. In addition, the county has indicated its interest in also partnering in the project to ensure the County offices located on Longbranch Avenue and South 15th Street are served by a fiber optic system.
The combined project cost for the city and the county is estimated at $825,598 with Grover taking on about $530,000 of that, which includes the city’s share of the engineering and design and the construction management and administration. To date, the city has committed $85,689 to Digital West Network Inc. for the engineering and design services for the Municipal Broadband Network. Staff expects to fund $51,413 from the fiscal year16 budget for the first 3 parts of the completed design and $34,276 from FY17 Budget for the remaining two parts.
That leaves $451,350 remaining for the engineering and design services for the Municipal Broadband Network, which will come from the wastewater fund and the general fund. The loan will be repaid over a five- year period at an annual debt service amount of approximately $95.896.
Digital West will pay the city an annual recurring charge of 5.1% of gross revenues generated by the Network. The actual annual amount of revenue is unknown at this time, but it is estimated to grow from $4,437 in the first year to $112,302 in year 10, for a total $602,285 over the first 10 years.
Digital West, which would ultimately own the fiber optics, would take on marketing and servicing of the network for customers as well as day-to-day operation responsibilities, and replacement of capital.
“The speed and reliability of our pure fiber network have the potential to position Grover Beach as the ‘silicon dunes’ on the West Coast,” said Tim Williams, the CEO of Digital West. “We fully expect that Grover Beach will create new jobs and expand economically as new businesses decide to relocate here.”
The next phase of the project would be a formal bid process for the underground construction. Once a contractor is selected, work could start as early as August.
Digital West is a data infrastructure provider, delivering connectivity, colocation and cloud services. Based in San Luis Obispo, California, Digital West currently serves 1,000 commercial clients, including carriers and medium to large enterprise clients with custom infrastructure needs. The company also serves small businesses, providing a core set of IT services to position them for growth and stability. Visit them at www.digitalwest.com.
