Setting Goals

Goals and Options for Broadband

Armed with an understanding of the macro-level benefits that ultra-high speed broadband can have in your municipality, this section looks more closely at defining your needs and goals for enhancing broadband services. Clarity around what the broadband issues are, why they are issues, and what you can do about it may vary. This guide provides useful information and tools to provide clarity and to facilitate decisions and planning.

The situations and goals will be different for each municipality and they need to be examined thoroughly before deciding on a path forward. In the majority of cases, however, the issues with existing broadband for communities fall broadly into one or more of just a few categories:

  1. Part of the municipality is unserved by broadband.
  2. The quality of broadband is insufficient for all or part of the municipality (under-served).
  3. There is minimal choice of competitive broadband providers offering sufficient quality broadband.

Addressing these issues is also explored when reviewing network models, including broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP) business case considerations. Communities facing any of these three issues have only a few basic options to consider as a path forward:

  1. Work with existing service providers to extend and/or upgrade their networks to provide the needed service coverage and service quality.
  2. Encourage a new broadband ISP to enter the community market to provide the needed service coverage and service quality.
  3. Build your own municipal broadband network.

There are numerous variations within these options, depending on the current state of ISP options, their technologies, and their service quality.

ISP Considerations

Each solution option entails associated costs and effort over time. In an ideal world where existing ISPs are serving at least part of the municipality these options should be prioritized in the order shown above. Delivering broadband services – from network build to customer care – is the core business of ISPs and they know how to do this. Finding ways to achieve a win-win for the municipality and the ISPs only makes sense, where feasible.

Where existing ISPs cannot, or will not, meet the needs of the municipality, or in extreme cases where there is no effective existing broadband service, then bringing in a new ISP that can and will meet the community needs is the next best option. Again, the new ISP knows the business from end to end, so you do not have to. This still needs to be a win-win for the new ISP and for the municipality however. Consider that if the financial business case for the ISP was a clear win then they would likely be in your municipality already.

When existing or new ISPs will not “come to play” then building your own broadband network becomes an option. This does not mean that a municipality needs to “become an ISP,” although broadband municipal utility models have been successfully implemented. It does mean, however, that a new broadband provider needs to be established from the ground up and operated successfully.

Keeping in Mind the Issue of Affordability

Overlaid on these issues is the important factor of affordability of broadband services.

In some cases there may be sufficient broadband quality and service provider choices in some parts of a municipality and it may indeed be possible to provide those services to unserved or under-served areas. The costs for doing so, however, are often expected to be borne by the subscriber and not always at affordable rates. For example, there may be a need to install an on-premise wireless tower or to extend wireline service to a premise beyond the current service area, resulting in costs that make the available services uncompetitive in terms of affordability for some households and businesses.

When reviewing the information and methods through the rest of this chapter aim towards clarifying the current issues with broadband in your municipality, and be aware that at an appropriate point you will need to pursue at least one of these options to meet your broadband goals.

Establishing your Broadband Goals

You may already have some broad or specific goals for broadband in your municipality, as well as an economic growth plan in general. No matter where you are at in your current thinking it is advisable to review your current situation and plans to identify your strengths and weakness, your opportunities for addressing broadband needs, and your threats (risks) by not doing so.

You may also have a clear understanding of the issues and challenges you face as a municipality. What are the key issues and how do you translate these into outcome-based goals for broadband? If your municipality is losing population or businesses, or failing to attract either, is the current state of broadband contributing to this?

What should you be aiming for with respect to broadband service for your municipality? Ideally, a municipality should be aiming for:

  1. A high level of high-speed broadband service availability. A level of 100% availability may be difficult to achieve in all cases and it may take some time to get there, but this should be the goal.
  2. A minimum level of service quality, i.e. speeds and reliability that will meet the needs of the municipality for the foreseeable future.
  3. Affordable and competitively priced services, including both installation costs and ongoing subscription fees.

By achieving these broadband goals the municipality has the opportunity to gain the benefits of broadband utilization, both for users and for the municipality as a whole. As previously discussed broadband availability is only the starting point. The power of broadband is fully realized only through service adoption and effective utilization.

GOALS GRID

A useful method to aid in establishing some clear goals is to use a “goals grid”. The goals grid is a way of examining issues from a perspective of what you want versus what you have by answering the following four questions:

  1. What do you want that you don’t have? (Achieve)
  2. What do you want that you already have? (Preserve)
  3. What don’t you have that you don’t want? (Avoid)
  4. What do you have now that you don’t want? (Eliminate)

The goals grid should take a broader view of your municipal goals while retaining the perspective of if and how broadband may influence the goals. Some examples are provided, but by its nature the goals grid will look different for every municipality.

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Once you have established some clear goals for your municipality it becomes easier to evaluate in what ways high-speed broadband can contribute to achieving the goals, and solidifies the rationale behind setting goals for improving broadband services.

There are a number of dimensions that can influence achieving your broadband service goals. These may be reflected in the present situation for the municipality or in the steps to address the issues.

swot-analysis

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Evaluating Community Needs

There are several key dimensions to consider as communities define their goals and outcomes based on current issues and opportunities as well as their unique environment and situation with respect to broadband.

Each of these dimensions can be evaluated for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT). Each dimension could be viewed as a strength or weakness, depending on your current situation, and each may present opportunities or threats. For our purposes, threats may be considered as risks or undesirable outcomes.

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Review Evaluating Community Needs for further discussion about each dimension to provide context for evaluation.

Since, in many cases, a weakness for broadband availability depends on the extent to which existing or potential service providers are willing and able to offer high-speed broadband, it is important to understand the perspective of the commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP) business case[1].

Many of these dimensions materially affect the business case for broadband service providers. A market of sufficient size (customer base) will attract ISPs to build networks and to offer services. The extent to which any ISP will invest in a network fundamentally comes down to decisions based on the business case. For more information, please refer to the ISP business case overview.

While the initial goal setting and the evaluation of needs and options for the municipality can and should happen as a preparatory step, ensuring that all the key players and requirements are in place for the municipality to be ready is an important step before undertaking a broadband initiative.

[1] In this guide “business case” generally refers to the financial business case and the opportunity for broadband service provider operations to be profitable over time.