Aspen Wireless News & Updates

From a letter released by the White House this morning:

Project Spotlight: The Administration will award a last-mile grant to Rivada Sea Lion, an Alaska Native Corporation, to provide 4G wireless high-speed broadband Internet service to approximately 30,000 residents in 53 unserved, subsistence level communities in 13southwestern Native Alaska. Rivada will design, engineer, and construct a multi-mode 4G last-mile remote network that spans 90,000 square miles and connects homes and businesses as well as anchor institutions such as health clinics, schools, and tribal government facilities. By using wireless and satellite technology rather than copper or fiber, the project will provide the first broadband services to these Native Alaskan communities at relatively low cost.

Along with 17 other projects:

http://broadbandbreakfast.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/NEC-Broadband-Report.pdf

Aspen Wireless is excited to announce another one of our client’s applications has been escalated to Step Two of the approvals phase for the Broadband Stimulus.  this comes as another early select of a handful of project selections.

North Florida Broadband Authority (NFBA) Memorandum to Board

For Aspen Wireless this is one Last Mile and one Middle Mile escalation; one USDA BIP and one NTIA BTOP, one in snowy Alaska and one in tropical Florida.

We strongly encourage folks who are looking to apply in Round Two, or sadly miss Round One to look at our professional services to help their success potential.  Give us a call or email for a free initial consultation.

One of our clients was just notified today that their application has passed Round One of the RUS BIP / NTIA BTOP broadband stimulus application process.

Round Two is coming up quickly with the RFI in a couple of weeks and a NOFA this winter (with a 60-day application time) inside sources say.

Do you need help with Step Two? How about Round Two?

Aspen Wireless can help, contact us.

Four State Broadband Co-Op Engages Aspen Wireless Networks for Grant Preparation, Broadband Mapping and Consulting Services for Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Western Montana.

Pacific Northwest Internet Service Everywhere broadband cooperative PNWISE.org to leverage Aspen Wireless’ services portfolio and experience to provide affordable and speedy broadband to all rural areas and anchor community institutions by 2012.

Hood River, Oregon. (PRWEB) July 15, 2009—Aspen Wireless Networks, Inc., who is celebrating their 10th year as renowned broadband consultants and entrepreneurs announced today it was selected by a broadband cooperative in the Pacific Northwest known as PNWISE, who is actively working to create ubiquitous rural broadband service in four states; Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Western Montana. PNWISE is bringing together leadership in small communities, local service providers and state-level government to create the vital partnerships required to achieve rural broadband service.

Aspen Wireless Networks will be providing services to PNWISE from its extensive portfolio including broadband mapping (to the census block), financial modeling, public-private partnerships, business planning, technology engineering and systems integration to ensure PNWISE will meet its goal. Aspen Wireless will also engage in collaborative grant preparation with PNWISE for a grant submission to the NTIA and RUS under the recently announced $4 Billion first round of the total $7.2 Billion allocated for broadband under the ARRA stimulus act.

“We have been stirring this pot for years now, but Aspen Wireless is the key component to turning this dream in to a reality,” said Link Shadley, Managing Member of PNWISE. “Cooperatives brought electricity, telephone and other vital utilities to rural areas and we are committed to delivering affordable broadband as the next utility to our part of rural America.”

“We love rural broadband and always have – it was the founding reason for our company a decade ago and remains the highest priority to us today,” stated Scott Stevens, Co-Founder of Aspen Wireless. “PNWISE embodies rural broadband and has done an amazing job of fostering support and creating a real plan for delivering advanced broadband services to rural America. These guys have it nailed.”

This is not the first large-scale project Aspen Wireless has worked on. In 2002 Aspen Wireless worked on National Broadband, which leveraged relationships with WilTel, Intel and Wal-Mart to deliver middle-mile and last-mile connectivity at 422 points across 38 states. Aspen Wireless has also provided the same rural broadband solutions to companies like CenturyTel. Last year, Aspen’s principal consultant and co-founder Scott Stevens was a member of The Obama Campaign’s Technology/Media/Telecom Policy Committee.

“Although we have grown substantially, we continue to work with small providers to bring them the same success potential all our clients enjoy. PNWISE realizes the importance of these small providers through their innovative ISPartner programs,” stated Mr. Stevens. “We were inspired to take PNWISE on as a client.”

Pacific Northwest Internet Service Everywhere broadband cooperative will be leveraging wireless technology as the most cost effective and advantageous way to deliver multi-megabit service to rural America. Wireless technology allows PNWISE infrastructure to be leveraged for public safety mobility for first responders and emergency personnel as well as provide backhaul for SmartGrid, which is particularly important to utility leaders in the Northwest region. Additional infrastructure will be deployed specifically to provide hundreds of megabits and even gigabits to key community institutions in rural communities such as education, healthcare and municipal government and will feature grid independence and network redundancy.

“Wireless easily meets the current and future demand of rural America. We intend to exceed the 20Mbps service preferred by the NTIA and USDA RUS for a fraction of the cost of fiber, putting Northwest rural America ahead of general metropolitan populations,” stated Mr. Shadley. “Best of all, it will be affordable.”

About Pacific Northwest Internet Service Everywhere
PNWISE is a broadband cooperative focused on providing ‘’affordable broadband for everyone’’ without prejudice to all rural areas across the Pacific Northwest including Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Western Montana. PNWISE is continuing to seek partners in communities across the region to join and become involved in delivering the broadband utility. As a middle-mile backhaul provider, PNWISE will connect local government, economic development districts, educational school districts, higher education, healthcare and public safety facilities. PNWISE will also discuss additional needs of public safety for multi-megabit mobility and inter-agency interoperability.

For partnership or information inquiries for PNWISE please email info(at)pnwise(dot)org. For press inquiries please contact press(at)pnwise(dot)org.

About Aspen Wireless Networks
Aspen Wireless Networks is celebrating a decade of broadband consulting and market leadership. Aspen Wireless provides consulting services that leverage years of applied knowledge and leadership insight to create well-refined and realistic broadband businesses and successful deployments. The company specializes in all broadband technologies including fiber, wireless, cable and copper including hybrid networks. Aspen Wireless has served hundred of clients and worked on significant projects, providing services including; business planning, financial modeling, partnerships, network engineering, application engineering and network deployment.

For sales inquiries or for general information please visit Aspen Wireless Networks website at http://aspenwireless.net/.

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DEADLINE 6/19/09

With the assistance of Aspen Wireless our clients successfully submitted over $3M in grant applications across 4 states to the USDA RUS under the Community Connect program, which NOFA totaled $13M in available funds.

The Community Connect program is NOT a stimulus-related program but rather an annual program by the USDA RUS for the funding of broadband networks:

• UNSERVED: Communities not served by broadband AND


• RURALITY: Under 20,000 Population Ranked by tier and/or


• NEED: Below 75% State Median Household Income (MHI) ranked by tier


• MATCH: These grants last for a period of 2 years and include both capital and operational costs with only a 15% matching requirement (which can be certain in-kind contributions).

Community Connect grant applications must be submitted on a community-by-community basis, individually and show significant work with and involvement by the local community in planning.  An additional requirement is to build or create a staffed digital community center with computers and free broadband access, operating beyond the first 2 years.

Aspen Wireless created the grant applications, (wireless) broadband network engineering, and financial modeling as well as work by gaining local support from Senators, Public Safety Offices, Economic Development Districts, County and City Commissioners, Mayors and Educators.

We appreciate our clients’ trust in us and look forward to many successful grant awards for these rural communities in need of broadband.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 19, 2009 – Main Street Broadband LLC announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Broadband South LLC, whose services are branded as Main Street Broadband, has begun build out of its advanced wireless network utilizing its recently closed $34 million USDA Rural Development Loan. The loan directly supports Main Street’s efforts to bring affordable wireless broadband services to over 120 communities in southern Georgia and northern Florida, and provides a key stimulus to economic development in the region.

“This is a great program and initiative,” states Mike Mies, Co-Founder and CEO of Main Street Broadband, “The USDA’s support for making broadband services available to rural communities and Main Street’s mission to provide and manage a state-of-the-art network for high speed internet and digital voice services is a winning combination.”

The communities targeted by Main Street have limited or no access to broadband services as a result of the high cost to run cable or fiber to provide the services. Fixed and mobile wireless broadband technologies are now able to provide reliable access at higher speeds and with a greater reach, making Main Street Broadband’s voice and data services affordable for the end users.

Main Street Broadband is deploying WiMax technology to provide voice and data services to each community the company serves. Broadband services support economic development for the businesses of these small communities as well as provide high speed internet access in most homes. Main Street is launching its WiMax service in Waycross, Georgia.

Main Street Broadband is not new to providing rural broadband services. Currently the company is operating in several communities in south east Georgia through its acquisition of Coastal Broadband in 2008.

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   ABOUT MAIN STREET BROADBAND – Main Street Broadband LLC is a privately held wireless broadband service provider headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Together with its subsidiary, Broadband South LLC, Main Street is committed to bringing affordable high speed internet access and digital phone service to the un-served and underserved markets in the southeast US. Main Street Broadband utilizes the latest in wireless broadband technology for both residential and business services to develop additional economic opportunities in the communities and advance the quality of life for its residents.

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Aspen Wireless is extremely proud to announce the first major success of our new Municipal Professional Service!

Having combined efforts with our client in working with town decision-makers, we were able to formulate the most precise and applicable technology and business model. Aspen Wireless engineered an advanced network topology and unique business approach that, in combination with our client’s expertise as a service provider and a professionally written and presented proposal, won the bid over other local competition and many notable national players. The town’s choice was not made soley on technology or the business case, but rather the entire ‘eco-system’ of Aspen Wireless’ methodology appliedhand-in-hand with our client, which created the winning formula.

Let us help your community find its wireless direction!

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CenturyTel Wins Approval to Build Citywide Wi-Fi Network For Vail

MONROE, La., Aug. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/—Residents, businesses and visitors in Vail will soon have access to broadband wireless Internet service provided by CenturyTel and the Town of Vail. CenturyTel today announced that the Vail Town Council awarded the communications company a contract to build and operate a wireless broadband network for the Colorado ski resort destination.

Vail is the first Colorado city to move ahead with this type of partnership to build a municipal Wi-Fi network. The town selected CenturyTel to build its system following a competitive bid process that included proposals from six other companies. The agreement was unanimously approved by the Vail Town Council at its July 18 evening meeting.

CenturyTel will build a Wi-Fi mesh network in Vail and launch service by the end of 2006. Residents, businesses and visitors will be able to get free Internet access up to 300Kbps (kilobits per second) anywhere in town in one hour increments. Faster Internet service with speeds up to 3Mbps (megabits per second) will be available with pay plans for monthly, weekly or daily access.

“We applaud the Town of Vail for their forward thinking and initiative,” Karen Puckett, CenturyTel president and chief operating officer, said. “This is a strategic step for CenturyTel to expand our technologically advanced business outside of our traditional local telephone markets.”

CenturyTel and the Town of Vail worked together to develop additional services such as a Public Safety network and a private network for city workers. With these elements, the Town’s first responders and other public safety officials, as well as town employees will be able to securely connect to their intranet network and the Internet.

“We will have a state-of-the-art system that benefits everyone—residents, businesses, guests and our public safety personnel,” said Vail Mayor Rod Slifer. “This is the kind of innovation that continues to differentiate Vail from other ski resort destinations.”

The Wi-Fi network coverage will include the town limits/boundary of the Town of Vail. The network will deliver an affordable world-class Internet service to Vail residents, businesses and visitors. The citywide wireless system will use the latest in advanced carrier-grade mesh and wireless communications equipment to deliver high-speed wireless Internet access. Once the system is fully functional, it will be tested and fine-tuned to maximize the coverage area.

CenturyTel brings expert design and maintenance experience in building and operating communications networks. No capital will be required from the Town of Vail in the deployment or operation of the network. The company is committed to making the investment in capital and human resources to make the project a success. CenturyTel will bring advanced communications with a personal touch to the residents, businesses and visitors of Vail.

A long time customer of ours, Rural Telephone, made National headlines. Good job guys, keep up the good work!

“In scattered small towns of the prairie, one vigorous little business can make the difference between dissolution and survival. ”

The New York Times Article (registration needed)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/national/02KANS.html?th

The Rural Telephone Article (unregistered)
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031202/ZNYT01/312020347

Rural Telephone Company Web Site
http://www.ruraltelephone.com/