It was exciting to recently attend a gathering of State, City of Prattville and Elmore County leaders as the Alabama Department of Public Health announced their intention to build two new facilities in that part of Prattville located in Elmore County. A $30 Million investment and 175 jobs moving to the area will provide a multitude of benefits to the City of Prattville, City of Millbrook, Elmore County and surrounding areas.
One of the two buildings will house a training facility. A benefit we will realize from this facility is that it will draw many people into the area from out of town annually. This will mean an increase in restaurant sales, hotel room rental nights, gas purchases and other transactions that an area visitor might make while away from home.
We are very excited about this project and look forward to continuing to work with the all eight of the municipalities present in Elmore County.
Broadband Access Solution:
The lack of High Speed Broadband Internet adversely affects our citizens’ quality of life, our students, the operation of our businesses and limits the ability for functioning in the 21st century and some areas in the county to realize growth. The way we access information now is totally different than just a few years ago. When I was attending school and needed to write a report about a certain topic, I had to use a World Book Encyclopedia as a research source or have my parents take me to the library, just as many of us did. A few months back, I was at home sitting in our den with my daughter. It was quiet in the room (which is very odd for my house), I was reading and she was working on a report for school about Samuel F.B. Morse, the inventor of Morse code. The stillness in the room was interrupted by her leaning towards her phone and saying, “Hey Siri, when was Samuel F.B. Morse born?” She then tapped her phone screen once, looked at the results of the internet search, leaned back over and continued writing. Not many years ago if I needed the answer to that same question it would have taken 10 minutes to find, but the way we access information is different now.
We have been working with the Elmore County Economic Development Authority (ECEDA) to address broadband access issues in the county. More and more broadband access is a key factor for companies looking to locate their new business in our county. In some situations the lack of broadband limits our present companies ability to be competitive and to operate as efficiently as possible. ECEDA has been working with many broadband providers making them aware Elmore County is a great place invest and a great place to do business.
Spectrum is a major company in the broadband arena in Elmore County. Many of our citizens depend on them for their internet needs. Recently Spectrum notified the Commission of their intentions to increase rates on Cable TV related services due to in-part them “enhancing our services”. Since the Commission has nothing to do with the business operations of Spectrum, we are not sure how this enhancement of services, as Spectrum referred to it, will affect our citizens or relate to broadband. We have invited Spectrum to attend an upcoming Commission meeting to share their plans. We specifically hope to find some of these “enhancements” will address broadband access issues. If it is determined this “enhancement of services” by Spectrum does not include addressing broadband access issues, it should not be assumed that the broadband enhancements in Elmore County will not happen. I am confident other broadband access options will be available to citizens in the future.
While Spectrum/Charter owns the majority of the infrastructure that is currently delivering broadband services to most Elmore County citizens, it does not have exclusive right to be the only broadband provider.
Like Spectrum, many privately owned businesses are beginning to deliver broadband service and high speed internet. However due to Spectrum having such a large presence in the county, we would hope their business model allows for the upgrade and expansion of infrastructure in the county that would address the many broadband access related issues we presently are enduring. We appreciate the investment in infrastructure Spectrum has made in Elmore County but we may find their business model will not allow for additional investment which would lead to greater broadband access.
Currently utility companies that provide water and electricity do so in a defined geographical Service Area. Broadband providers are not limited to a defined Service Area. Companies that provide broadband access are only limited by their business model, their ability and desire to make capital investments in infrastructure and the available customer base. There is a great investment opportunity in the delivery of broadband in Elmore County. Solving the access issue will require a combination of broadband delivery by fiber lines and wireless devices. With the introduction of reliable delivery of broadband through wireless infrastructure, our research shows the capital investment required to deliver such services is reducing. These very reliable wireless devices do not require many tall towers but instead can be mounted on street lights, water towers and many similar structures already present in the landscape. With the presence of a wholesale internet access point in the River Region area, an initial investment in providing broadband will be drastically lower than required in other locations. ECEDA is currently working with broadband providers and new investors to bring the best services to Elmore County citizens and businesses.
We live in a market driven economy and I anticipate the strong influences in the present economy will allow this broadband issue to be solved sooner rather than later, and we look forward to being a part of that solution.
Thanks
Bart
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