New Haven to Pursue Citywide Fiber-Optic Cable Network

The City Plan Commission gave the go-ahead to the Board of Alders to take the first steps toward bringing fiber-optic cable to every household in New Haven (CT). William Vallee Jr., the broadband project coordinator for the state, told the members that having access to a state-of-the-art open fiber-optic network that would reach every home and business is as important as building roads and bringing water and electricity to residents. A collaboration of municipalities put out a request for proposals for a private investor to work with cities to accomplish this and Macquarie Capital was selected to do it. Macquarie requires, as a condition to participate in what is the called CTgig Project, an interlocal agreement be signed among towns interesting in working with them.

New Haven would be the first to enter into an agreement for Macquarie to develop a citywide feasibility study to determine the baseline engineering data and design criteria and establish the probable costs of a fiber network in the city. The resolution states that despite the demand for gigabit-level access speeds, the current supply is either unavailable or prohibitively expensive. It states that it is up to the towns to work together to go around the current providers “who have largely ceased investing in advanced technologies due to huge sunk costs in legacy copper and coaxial cable infrastructure, leading these companies to merely harvest profits from their historical investments.” Vallee said New Haven is a prime city to get involved in this and get a feasibility study underway, and he credited Mayor Toni Harp’s interest in it.