Feasibility
This portion of the site presents a collection of feasibility studies we performed over the past few years on almost thirty towns in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The key factor we did not include was the franchise costs which we have discussed extensively elsewhere. In all of these towns we presented the results. In towns qualifying for RUS without exception the demand under a franchise regime was near full coverage, exceeding typically by a factor of two the existing incumbent. These studies now represent a set of work which could not reach fulfillment due solely to the irrationality of the franchise process.
We have continued some of these efforts looking at areas ranging from New England to the Middle Atlantic Region. We continue to perform analyses of possible target locations.
| Amherst, NH Amherst is a small residential town with many homes spread out across a large area. It is near the larger towns such as Merrimack but is primarily a residential area. Engineering, Market, Feasibility Feasibility 2
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| Belmont, MA Belmont is a close suburb of Boston. It is a mixture of multiple dwelling units, single homes, and more up-scale residences. The study performed here was done in conjunction with the power company. This was the first such power company town. It does not qualify as a Rural Utility Service town but is a power company town. We examined several such towns in Massachusetts and they all had issues which made them difficult. Our experience with power company towns led us to see that such entities were difficult. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Colebrook, NH
Colebrook is near the Canadian border. It is one of several towns in the isolated northern region of New Hampshire. Although we never completed a market study, meetings wit local town officials and business people led us to see great demand but difficult interconnection issues. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Goffstown, NH Goffstown is a larger town just west of Nashua. It is an old industrial town with great demand. It is typical of such towns in that most of the build would be aerial. It does represent a good market for wireless. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Hampton, NH Hampton is a seaside resort town with a high summer population. We saw a great possibility but the cable company was very powerful and represented a strong competitor. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Hanover, NH Hanover is also the home of Dartmouth with also has a campus wide wireless network. Hanover was a very difficult town with franchising. Although we were able to get a franchise its terms were unacceptable. It required twice the coverage of the incumbent cable company plus coverage of town facilities such as public safety towers which made it economically impossible. It took eighteen months to get the franchise through and still it was not a level playing field. Hanover subsequently was successful in getting passed the NH legislation to let it do its own fiber network without a franchise! Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Harrisville, NH Harrisville is just east of Keene and west of Peterborough. It is a beautiful old nineteenth century town in an idyllic location. It was just too small to develop on its own. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Hooksett, NH Hooksett is also an ideal town and is rapidly growing with good density. It is just south of Concord the state capitol. The local cable company was strong and competitive. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Jaffrey, NH Jaffrey is south of Peterborough and north of Rindge. It is an ideal town if Internet backbones were available. We had some initial problems since the Franchise would be joint with several other towns. However it represents the typical market. Good residential areas and a strong demand Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Keene, NH Keene was too large for RUS financing. It is an ideal town with strong interest and great support from the local government. The cable company is a strong competitor but not as aggressive as some of the other towns. It represents a ideal town for a wireless infrastructure Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Lebanon, NH Lebanon is a city but is small enough to be RUS financial. It has dense and sparse areas. From a franchise perspective it was unique because when we first started it never had a franchise with any company, even the local cable operator. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Merrimack, NH Merrimack is a dense town and not RUS compliant. It is ideal for deployment of a fiber overbuild. There is also a strong commercial base. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Milford, NH Milford is like Goffstown. It was a supportive political environment but still would have taken great effort on the franchise front. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Peterborough, NH Peterborough is a very upscale town with great potential. However it still has an Internet backbone problem and when we first started negotiating the franchise they demanded 100% coverage which was not financially viable for a fiber build. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Princeton, MA Princeton was another power company town. Like Belmont, and also like Concord, MA, we found these opportunities very difficult to deal with. The power companies were entities unto themselves and they wanted total control. However their experience in networks was de minimis. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Rindge, NH Rindge is a rural town on the Massachusetts border. The demand is high, the demographics very good and the town government was very supportive of the effort. The problem is that it economically cannot be a stand alone fiber town, it does have strong potential for wireless, however Internet backbone access is very difficult under current conditions. It was the most supportive town we dealt with. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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| Westwood, MA Westwood was the first town. It is too large for RUS. However after we left Verizon chose it as one of its first fiber towns. It is a strong Comcast town and Comcast has aggressively expanded its service. The demographics are perfect for fiber build. Engineering, Market, Feasibility
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