[Advisors] Fwd: Fwd: [report-release-list] New Report from the Berkman Center at Harvard: "Holyoke: A Massachusetts Municipal Light Plant Seizes Internet Access Business Opportunities"

[Tracey Axelsson]

Interesting read

/tracey
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*From: *"Gretchen Weber" <gweber at cyber.law.harvard.edu>
*To: *report-release-and-press-list at eon.law.harvard.edu
*Sent: *Wednesday, July 8, 2015 8:24:22 AM
*Subject: *[report-release-list] New Report from the Berkman Center at 
Harvard: "Holyoke: A Massachusetts Municipal Light Plant Seizes Internet 
Access Business Opportunities"

The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is 
pleased to announce the publication of a new report, "Holyoke: A 
Massachusetts Municipal Light Plant Seizes Internet Access Business 
Opportunities. 
<https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2015/municipal_fiber>” The 
report is authored by David Talbot, Waide Warner, Carolyn Anderson, Kira 
Hessekiel, and Daniel Dennis Jones.

This case study documents the success of a municipally-owned electric 
utility in providing Internet access services. Massachusetts has 41 such 
“munis” –- serving more than 900,000 people and thousands of businesses 
-– but only 10 are in the Internet access business as allowed by state 
law.  The Holyoke Gas & Electric Department’s telecom division competes 
with Comcast and Charter and serves 300 business customers and numerous 
public buildings. It has shown steady growth in revenues, and $500,000 
in net earnings over the past decade. It also saves the city at least 
$300,000 a year on various Internet access and networking services. 
HG&E's telecom division is also now providing a variety of services to 
three other municipalities. Finally, the utility is considering a 
residential high-speed Internet access offering, something the muni in 
neighboring Westfield is piloting later this year. HG&E’s success in a 
competitive environment was achieved without any debt issuance, tax, or 
subsidy from electricity or gas ratepayers.

*Key Findings:*

HG&E Telecom saves city offices and HG&E itself more than $300,000 a 
year by providing Internet access and networking and telephone services 
to public agencies.

  * The utility provides approximately 300 businesses and large
    institutions with telecom services and creates competition, which
    tends to improve service offerings from all market participants,
    aiding the local economy.
  * HG&E Telecom forged inter-municipal agreements that extend services
    and accompanying benefits to the neighboring city of Chicopee and to
    the city of Greenfield, 30 miles north.
  * While HG&E Telecom has focused on selling services to businesses,
    the utility is now considering a residential fiber-to-the-home
    (FTTH) offering, given the declining market pressure to provide
    television content.
  * Demonstrating that a municipal light plant can diversify into the
    consultancy business, HG&E Telecom also recently became project and
    network manager for a FTTH project in the town of Leverett.
  * HG&E Telecom has shown steady growth in the face of competition,
    never incurred debt, and has reaped a 10 percent profit in both 2013
    and 2014.

For more information about the report, please contact David Talbot at 
dtalbot at cyber.law.harvard.edu.

*About the Berkman Center for Internet & Society*
Since its founding in 1997, the Berkman Center has been at the forefront 
of the field of Internet and Society, pursuing a unique mix of 
interdisciplinary scholarship and engagement with legal and policy 
issues. We are home to a diverse group of scholars, policy experts, and 
advocates focused on the identification of emerging problems related to 
digitally-networked society and the search for solutions. Our community 
shares a commitment to tackle the most important challenges of the 
digital age, to think big, to act with ambition and humility, and to 
maintain academic rigor while keeping a focus on tangible real-world 
impact.  As a University-wide Center, the Berkman Center informs and 
engages in the public interest through four core activities: conducting 
research, building tools and platforms, education, and creating and 
cultivating networks. More information can be found at 
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu <https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/>.





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