SNG’s Analysis Featured in Broadband Communities Magazine
April 20, 2017
SNG Examines the Economic Impacts of a Locally Owned Network
In advance of SNG’s announcement next month of an exciting new offering called the Economic Feasibility Assessment, SNG’s analysis was featured in the pre-Broadband Summit issue of Broadband Communities Magazine. Included in Michael Curri’s article, “A Local Ownership Approach to Broadband” is a deep dive on a case example (Ammon, ID) and the benefits. It’s a deep dive to explain how a locally owned network can pay for itself, saving the municipality, businesses, and households money.
Click to read the article >>
This article is based on the cost and benefits a locally owned network brought to the City of Ammon, Idaho. The Broadband Benefits Assessment is an application of SNG’s Economic Feasibility Assessment – a pragmatic alternative to longer and more costly feasibility studies. It is foundational to a sustainable project and first planning step because it answers the key question: Do the benefits of this broadband infrastructure investment for our community/region outweigh the costs? The Broadband Benefits Assessment applies this methodology to broadband investments that have already been made (i.e. ex-post).
The Broadband Benefits Assessment Report includes:
- Cost summary of network investment.
- Municipal cost reductions compared to prior broadband and telecommunications costs.
- Cost reductions for community anchor institutions (schools, libraries, hospitals, government buildings) compared to prior broadband and telecommunications costs.
- Cost savings for households and the accompanying consumer surplus for local spending.
- Economic growth from increased business competitiveness and productivity.
- Smart community service benefits.
Any community considering taking its broadband future into its own hands needs to understand and quantify the economic and community benefits such an investment would require. In some cases, municipal cost reductions alone outweigh the costs of building digital infrastructure.
Read Ammon, Idaho’s Broadband Benefits Assessment Report
Watch the Webinar: Is a Locally Owned Broadband Network Right for You?
