The DCEDC Technology Council is a group of IT professionals from leading area companies, local elected officials and other concerned citizen who have been working since 2000 to improve reliability and access to the most up-to-date telecommunications technology for the entire county.
Council members have taken the lead in educating the community on the importance of broadband telecommunications for future economic development. The Council has commissioned and released studies on the available telecommunications infrastructure in the County, a Technology Needs and Market Study, and a feasibility study for a new fiber-to-the-home telecommunications deployment.
The Technology Council also engages with incumbent service providers to continually lobby for service upgrades and improvements. The Council has worked to speed up the deployment of DSL service to the City of Sturgeon Bay, supported a new redundant fiber link recently installed in the County and encouraged the extension of cable services in Northern Door County. In 2007, Charter Communications, supprted by DCEDC, completed a $33,000 upgrade to their facilities to include the Sturgeon Bay Industrial Park for deployment of their “triple-play” data/voice/video services.
In 2009-10, DCEDC worked closely with Nsight/Cellcom on an application for federal broadband stimulus funds to improve the countywide telecommunications network. Although the grant application was not funded, the process created opportunity for greater collaboration and support for deployment of a fiber optic telecommunications backbone around the county. The Nsight Board will vote on funding the proposed investments in December 2010.
2010 also saw a new telecommunications service provider for the area. In July, Frontier Communications purcahsed the service area in Northern Door Conty from Verizon. In their legacy territories, they had a 98% penetration of DSL to rural customers, versus 63% for Verizon. There is no timeline for deploying DSL to Northern Door at this time. They are currently focused on replacing old and neglected cable plant and assessing what upgrades will be required to roll out DSL in the area.
To join the DCEDC Technology Council, please contact Sam Perlman.
