WASHINGTON, July 14, 2010 – Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties want $43 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration fund for high-speed internet.
$12 million in matching or in-kind contributions have already been promised to build about 312 miles of broadband fiber from downtown Santa Cruz into rural parts of Monterey and San Benito County.
This initiative is public-private partnership and the majority costs, about $55 million, will be paid for by the government, internet provider Cruzio is acting as the project manager of the grant and will oversee construction.
Cruzio and the other companies and contributors of the initial $12 million would help install 112 miles of underground fiber and 200 miles of above ground fiber that would provide internet speeds 10 to 100 times faster than what is currently available.
The project would give high-speed internet access to 237 schools, colleges, libraries, healthcare and public safety providers.
If the grant is awarded, the area from Santa Cruz to Watsonville could be completed as soon 2011, Salinas to Monterey by 2012, and King City to Greenfield by 2013.
About Mark Milliman
Mark Milliman is a Principal Consultant at Inphotonics Research driving the adoption and assisting local governments to plan, build, operate, and lease access open-access municipal broadband networks. Additionally, he works with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to increase the value of their intellectual capital through the creation of strategic product plans and execution of innovative marketing strategies. With more than 22 years of experience in the telecommunications industry that began at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Mark has built fiber, cable, and wireless networks around the world to deliver voice, video, and data services. His thorough knowledge of all aspects of service delivery from content creation to the design, operation, and management of the network is utilized by carriers and equipment manufacturers. Mark conceived and developed one of the industry's first multi-service provisioning platform and is multiple patent holder. He is active in the IEEE as a senior member. Mark received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
This initiative is public-private partnership and the majority costs, about $55 million, will be paid for by the government, internet provider Cruzio is acting as the project manager of the grant and will oversee construction.