Update: The July 18 OPALCO Board Meeting will NOT discuss the purchase of the wireless spectrum, due to an absent board member and a new board member.

By Margie Doyle

Ever felt you wasted your time trying to get better service from CenturyLink? It seems, from over 30 recent responses (orcasissues.com/did-internet-outage-affect-your-business?) that many contributors to the island economy have been crippled by, not just power outages and failures on the CenturyLink system, but also by the customer DIS-service encountered when trying to “work” with CenturyLink customer service personnel.

It’s obvious that CenturyLink has put the cart before the horse in changing their name from CenturyTel, emphasizing telephone service, to CenturyLink, emphasizing internet service. But relying on DSL and copper lines, they have over-promised and under-delivered.

I hate to sound smug, but here in the San Juans, we take the opposite approach, of underpromising and overdelivering. Starting with OPALCO’s investment in fiber optics in 2001, and with the ball carried forward by the San Juan (Island) Community Foundation and the County Economic Development Council, providing better internet service has been a goal of our “small, remote islands.” At monthly meetings of the Eastsound Planning Review Committee (EPRC) in the past two years, EPRC member — and now County Councilman — Rick Hughes has joined with other EPRC members to push the increased internet capacity (broadband) through linkage with OPALCO’s fiber optic infrastructure.

CenturyLink has resisted the internet advancement on the grounds that our small population and remote location makes a poor investment. And so, when CenturyLink’s copper-based linkage system is “saturated” or “exhausted” we country bumpkins are out of luck.

But the results of system exhaustion or not limited to the convenience of chatting online, keeping in touch through social media like Facebook or learning of ferry service disruptions. In the 21st century, reliable internet connectivity is essential to making a living. We have the luxury of “doing business”  with an in-person meeting, a smile and/or a handshake , but we have the critical need of being able to use the internet, and to have productive service, even if it’s an admission of inadequacy, when we can’t use the internet.

Which brings us to the decision before the OPALCO board this Thursday morning, July 18.

OPALCO’s broadband goal has always been to improve its co-op members’ access to internet service countywide.

OPALCO explored expanding its fiber-optic network to serve the county, at a cost of $74 million, and dismissed that solution as being too expensive. It proposed a $34 million hybrid solution of expanding the fiber optic lines to distribution locations where wireless connectivity can be made possible; that solution had two results:

1) CenturyLink became engaged in the business venture and began discussions with OPALCO

2) OPALCO member input modified the plan so that OPALCO is now taking an “infrastructure provider” approach for providing members with better access to OPALCO’s data communication infrastructure.

“The main areas for potential deployment include, but are not limited to, fiber-optic backhaul support for [Internet Service Providers] ISPs (e.g. CenturyLink, Rock Island, Orcas Online, Island Network, etc.), wireless infrastructure and direct fiber optic connection (fiber to the premises—FTTP)” (From the draft OPALCO board minutes, June 2013

In addition to providing this “backbone” infrastructure for current ISPs and negotiating lease agreements with CenturyLink, the OPALCO Board will tomorrow discuss findings and decide upon the purchase of a licensed wireless frequency that the county could own through OPALCO.

As approved in a 4-to-1 vote at the OPALCO Board’s June meeting, the board will discuss the “purchase of the 700 MHz licensed spectrum as a backbone infrastructure component and explore potential leasing options with ISPs.”

At the public forum in June, OPALCO leadership emphasized the importance of the wireless component in reaching more remote areas in the County for improved public safety communication (two-way radios) and with true high-speed Internet. Where DSL cannot serve and fiber direct to homes and businesses is too costly, wireless solutions will level the playing field and give access to those in the outlying areas. Without wireless infrastructure in the mix, the digital divide status quo will continue: a county of haves and have nots.

The vote included a directive to obtain financial information regarding costs associated with using the spectrum. That information will be presented in summary at the Thursday meeting.

We see this investment potential as a responsible step towards improving Internet connectivity that, like it or not, is essential to our Orcas Island and our County economy.

We urge the OPALCO Board, on behalf of its members, to approve this purchase, in the spirit of investment and promise, from the rural electric cooperative that maintains its reputation of customer service delivery.

We also encourage the public to attend the meeting at 8:30 a.m. in the OPALCO conference room on Mt. Baker Road, in order to better inform themselves of the considerations in making this investment. Public comment will be taken.

Thank you OPALCO Board, Administration and Staff.

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