They claim they are on target to hit break even in 5 years (a year from now). Guessing that means that revenue covers the cost of paying back the bond + OPEX which seems about right assuming they continue to add subs at a reasonable clip. Despite all the hype, this seems like a pretty good deal for the citizens of this town who took the risk taking out the bond. Who cares if no one wants the gig service now? Doesn't really seem relevant to the question of wether the project makes fiscal sense or not. Being able to get money for next to nothing over 20 years does a heck of a lot towards making FTTH make sense.
Now for the real question. Once the town starts making a profit, is it reasonable for them to take that money and plow it into other things or should they start cutting prices so as to cover expenses and not make a profit? It would seem to me that it would make sense to fund a future maintenance/upgrade fund, and then cut prices. My feeling is that it is appropriate for governments to run utilities, but not for governments to run utilities as profit centers to fund other operations. Hard to compete with, but it makes a ton of sense if you have an efficient local government that knows what they are doing working at the bequest of its citizens. On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 5:19 PM, Josh Luthman <j...@imaginenetworksllc.com> wrote: > Takes a long time to pay 43m back with 500/mo revenue. > > > Josh Luthman > Office: 937-552-2340 > Direct: 937-552-2343 > 1100 Wayne St > Suite 1337 > Troy, OH 45373 > > On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 5:17 PM, CBB - Jay Fuller < > par...@cyberbroadband.net> wrote: > >> >> But how do you pay for your fiber installation if you don't charge $500 >> for gig speeds? >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> *From:* Rory Conaway <r...@triadwireless.net> >> *To:* af@afmug.com >> *Sent:* Thursday, September 15, 2016 12:37 PM >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] The latest gig city >> >> I’ve written about this multiple times and if I remember right Mike, you >> hammered me. >> >> >> >> We are also doing marketing tests right now and found that even if >> CenturyLink can’t maintain NetFlix without buffering with a supposed 10Mbps >> circuit, offering 50Mbps at the same price doesn’t get people to change >> although that’s early results. We are finding price is better. >> >> >> >> Rory >> >> >> >> *From:* Af [mailto:af-boun...@afmug.com] *On Behalf Of *CBB - Jay Fuller >> *Sent:* Thursday, September 15, 2016 9:40 AM >> *To:* af@afmug.com >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] The latest gig city >> >> >> >> >> >> I remember hearing Chuck Hogg and Gerard Dupont @ Shelby Wireless explain >> when they started fiber they left it wide open for a few months just to >> see....they did not see an unusually large change just because service was >> wide open.... >> >> >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> >> *From:* ch...@wbmfg.com >> >> *To:* af@afmug.com >> >> *Sent:* Thursday, September 15, 2016 11:02 AM >> >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] The latest gig city >> >> >> >> Back in the early days, I doubled the speeds of all of our customers 2 or >> 3 times due to competitive pressures and advancements in Canopy. I never >> increased the price, just went from 256 to 512 to 1024. Never saw an >> increase in the bandwidth usage on our uplinks. >> >> >> >> What could a Bob and Sally homeowner and their kids do to make a >> significant usage of a Gig? Of course everyone thinks it is sexy and the >> next thing you gotta have, but there only so many 4K 3D TVs a person can >> watch at one time. I guess they could host a server farm etc, but most >> folks will not even fully utilize 50M in the near future. >> >> >> >> *From:* Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> >> >> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 14, 2016 11:12 PM >> >> *To:* af@afmug.com >> >> *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] The latest gig city >> >> >> >> Interesting. >> >> >> >> Of course, one way to read the numbers is they could “upgrade” all the >> 110/50 customers to 1000/1000 and the only change would be $400 less >> revenue per month, and probably no more bandwidth usage. This is probably >> the marketing approach of most gigabit ISPs. If some killer app comes out >> that actually uses gigabit speeds, their bluff is called. >> >> >> >> >> >> *From:* CBB - Jay Fuller <par...@cyberbroadband.net> >> >> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 14, 2016 11:40 PM >> >> *To:* af@afmug.com >> >> *Subject:* [AFMUG] The latest gig city >> >> >> >> >> >> One subscriber at the gig level.... >> >> >> >> http://spectator.org/alabamas-gig-city-has-one-gigabit-broad >> band-subscriber/ >> >> >> >> Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone >> >> >> >> > -- Carl Peterson *PORT NETWORKS* 401 E Pratt St, Ste 2553 Baltimore, MD 21202 (410) 637-3707
