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<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:
10pt; color: #000000">Interesting read <br>
<br>
/tracey<br>
<hr id="zwchr">
<div
style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><b>From:
</b>"Gretchen Weber" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:gweber@cyber.law.harvard.edu"><gweber@cyber.law.harvard.edu></a><br>
<b>To: </b><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:report-release-and-press-list@eon.law.harvard.edu">report-release-and-press-list@eon.law.harvard.edu</a><br>
<b>Sent: </b>Wednesday, July 8, 2015 8:24:22 AM<br>
<b>Subject: </b>[report-release-list] New Report from the
Berkman Center at Harvard: "Holyoke: A Massachusetts Municipal
Light Plant Seizes Internet Access Business Opportunities"<br>
<br>
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard
University is pleased to announce the publication of a new
report, "<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications/2015/municipal_fiber"
target="_blank">Holyoke: A Massachusetts Municipal Light
Plant Seizes Internet Access Business Opportunities.</a>”
The report is authored by David Talbot, Waide Warner, Carolyn
Anderson, Kira Hessekiel, and Daniel Dennis Jones.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
<b>Key Findings:</b><br>
<br>
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.<br>
<ul>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
<li>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.</li>
</ul>
For more information about the report, please contact David
Talbot at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:dtalbot@cyber.law.harvard.edu" target="_blank">dtalbot@cyber.law.harvard.edu</a>.<br>
<br>
<b>About the Berkman Center for Internet & Society</b><br>
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 <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">http://cyber.law.harvard.edu</a>.<br>
<br>
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