CHEMUNG COUNTY TELECOM STUDY & FIBER ASSESSMENT INITIATIVE
Chemung County is located at the southern end of the Finger Lakes Region. The County consists of 1 city; Elmira, 11 towns and 5 villages. The population of Chemung County in 2000 was just over 91,000 residents. One of the long standing goals of Chemung County government is to create a globally competitive technology-led business environment in its local economy. The availability of advanced telecommunications infrastructure and broadband access has become critically important to establishing our area as a 21st century technology-led community.
STCRPDB Telecommunications Study and Chemung County
In 2006 ECC Technologies completed a three (3) county telecommunications study for the Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board (STCRPDB) which included Chemung County. The information in this study was gathered through a physical inventory of existing telecommunications infrastructure, interviews with current services providers and focus group meetings with telecommunications users including EMS in the three counties.
The study identified issues of lack of broadband availability in remote areas, low levels of provider competition, high cost of service, inconsistent cellular service coverage, poor system reliability and redundancy of aged wire infrastructure. Most importantly, Chemung County was described as being at a competitive disadvantage in terms of attracting new technology-based businesses in the area which was contrary to the county’s goal.
Telecommunications Study Recommendations
As part of the STC Telecommunications Report, ECC made recommendations to improve the current state of telecommunications and broadband availability in Chemung County. Of the recommendations given a community owned fiber infrastructure initiatives for county and regional purposes and economic development was chosen.
Fiber Assessment
In November of 2008 ECC Technologies was retained by Chemung County to conduct an assessment of the County’s current levels of telecommunications and infrastructure. A major component of this assessment was to determine the County position in terms of having a globally competitive (fiber based) telecommunications environment.
Under direction of a public/private steering committee that was appointed by the County Executive ECC met with many key organizations in the County to get an accurate profile of the current and future telecommunications (fiber) needs of the community. Once understood, these needs were compared to the existing infrastructure and services available in the community to identify disparities. After which fiber routes for municipally owned open access infrastructure was developed and presented to the County.
ECC’s current role included the development of the business plan, design and routing of the fiber, and initial marketing for the 125 mile, $5 million fiber system. ECC supported the County in developing a Phase 1 Stimulus submission seeking funds for the development of this fiber system. The Development of the Public Private Partnerships needed to support and sustain the fiber system is ongoing.
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