Montgomery County, MD awarded CTC Technology & Energy a consulting and technical services contract under the Local Small Business Reserve Program (LSBRP). The LSBRP, implemented by County Executive Isiah Leggett, was designed to support the small business community. CTC is a registered Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) / Small Business Enterprise (SBE) with the state of Maryland’s Office of Minority Business Enterprise. We are an established, woman-owned small business with extensive experience providing technical and financial guidance for public communications networks, including those of local and state governments.

The USDA opened an application window for its Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program, and announced changes to the program. The Broadband Program supports “costs of construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide service” to eligible rural areas.

The program will award up to $20 million to both public and private entities. Loans will be made for at least $100,000.

One important change to the program is that the USDA has set a minimum speed requirement of 4 Megabits (Mbps) per second download and 1 Mbps upload. It also strongly encourages applicants to design networks to support speeds of 25 Mbps download / 3 Mbps upload to ensure that future needs are met.

To be eligible for funds, an area cannot be served by three or more incumbent service providers and 15 percent of households in the area must be unserved. Potential service areas also cannot overlap with an area that is served by Rural Utilities Service (RUS) loan.

Applications are due September 30, 2015; detailed information is available on the USDA’s website.

CTC would be glad to discuss this opportunity with any public or nonprofit entity that is interested in applying. Please feel free to contact us at info@CTCnet.us.

Working with the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority (NMPSFA), CTC is developing a range of strategic options for connecting every public school in New Mexico with adequate broadband. The project, which kicked off in spring, includes both engineering and business planning on a statewide basis. When the project is complete, NMPSFA will have recommendations for connecting or upgrading the broadband connections to all of its facilities.

Broadband Communities Magazine named CTC Technology and Energy to its annual Fiber-to-the-Home Top 100 List of companies. The list commends various types of companies within the broadband community for being “leaders and innovators in the fiber-to-the-home arena”. CTC was named in the “network planning, design, engineering, construction, installation” category. This is CTC’s sixth time on this list.

See the full list here.

The City of Alexandria, Virginia today released a request for information (RFI) to identify for-profit and non-profit entities interested in partnering with the City on two complementary broadband projects. The City is exploring the construction of a fiber backbone to serve local government, schools, libraries, and public safety agencies—and is also investigating the feasibility of constructing a citywide fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. The RFI is available here.

The City of Santa Cruz, California awarded CTC a contract to provide strategic guidance, prepare cost analysis, and assist the City as it pursues a possible Gigabit fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network deployment. The CTC team will provide technical, business, and financial guidance, and will examine the potential for a public–private partnership model to meet the City’s FTTP goals.

CTC President Joanne Hovis is presenting a series of workshops on the federal E-Rate program to members of the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association (TVPPA). The workshops—in Chattanooga, Huntsville, Knoxville, and three other cities—will explore the opportunities created by the FCC’s decision in December to increase the E-rate program budget by $15 billion over the next 10 years. As TVPPA’s broadband consultant, CTC offers ongoing guidance to the association’s 155 members.

Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) has awarded CTC a contract to evaluate and provide guidance on OMU’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) needs. CTC will provide strategic support, and develop a cost benefit and valuation analysis. Led by Principal Engineer and Analyst Tom Asp, the CTC team will guide OMU in development and management of a request for proposal (RFP) process and AMI vendor selection.

CTC Principal Engineer and Analyst Tom Asp will continue to lead CTC’s effort working with the North Attleborough Electric Department (NAED) on the next phase of its fiber feasibility study. CTC was awarded the NAED phase one contract in August 2014 to develop a communications system strategy. In phase two, the CTC team will refine the benefit analysis, and develop and distribute an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) request for proposal (RFP) to guide the vendor selection process.

CTC President Joanne Hovis is an invited presenter at the Colorado Municipal League’s annual conference in Breckenridge this week. Speaking on the topic “Making Municipal Broadband a Reality,” Ms. Hovis will offer insight and practical guidance on the steps localities can take to create sustainable business plans for their community broadband initiatives.