In the year 2000, it is realistic to say that the future of our communities will depend on the quality of their telecommunications infrastructure. Poor and small communities are at risk of becoming victims in an investment war that places high-quality infrastructure in the most prosperous areas, while ignoring the needs of rural and blighted urban areas. The goals of this article are to share experiences that may simplify the telecommunications issue for managers and to help local leaders make informed policy choices.

I freely confess that I majored in liberal arts in college and consequently understand next to nothing about the science or engineering of telecommunications technology. My advice is based on a frustrating four-year experience trying to bring fiber-optic telephone service to La Grande, Oregon. When I began, I only knew that we didn’t have it, that we needed it, and that our task was to sort out how to get it.

La Grande (population 13,000) is the county seat of Union County and home to Eastern Oregon University. Located on Interstate Highway 84, it has at least three interstate fiber-optic cables running through it. Proximity to a fiber-optic cable is, of course, something like living next door to a productive gold mine; there is no guarantee that you will be able to share in the wealth.

What’s a POP?
The city’s telecommunications adventures began when the vice president of a national software support company visited us to consider siting a call center here. During one meeting that included the mayor, county commissioners, business leaders, and university president, the visiting vice president casually asked if La Grande had a POP. Because none of us could think of an intelligent way to evade the question, we humbly asked, “What’s a POP?”

A fiber-optic point of presence, we learned, is a threshold requirement of many industries. The visiting VP also explained that a point of presence is to a fiber-optic telecommunications cable what an interchange is to a freeway. In short, a POP allows local governments access to an interstate resource. We soon said our farewells to the executive and to the prospect of his locating his company in La Grande.

Rejection was a catalyst that generated collaboration among leaders from the city, Union County, and Eastern Oregon University toward connecting with the cable running through the area. We would not have achieved anything without some farsighted leaders and their good will, trust, and willingness to put aside individual interests to reach a common goal.

Our first attempts were crude but served the purpose of publicizing La Grande’s interest in advanced telecommunication service. A national communications company proposed to run an interstate cable through the county and, in order to do so, required a conditional use permit before beginning work. The county’s planning commission, at the suggestion of our ad hoc telecommunications committee, required the company to allow access to their cable as a condition of passing through the community.

Following debate with a prestigious metropolitan law firm representing the cable owner, the county settled for a vague promise of access when it could be financially justified. Our civilized form of blackmail caught the attention of a telecommunications entrepreneur, who was intrigued by a rural community’s interest in new technology. His interest led to the founding of a new telephone company and to greater pressure to improve local infrastructure.

Ultimately, we achieved success through a combination of persistence and willingness to spend local resources. A fiber-optic point of presence (POP) was installed in August 1999, after the city, county, and state had spent $165,000 to defray the investment of a private provider. This investment in telecommunications made possible the location of an Oregon Dental Service (ODS) insurance claims processing center that immediately created 50 jobs, with the assurance of 50 more within two years.

Stage by Stage
Here, then, is a 10-step program recommended for communities wishing to chalkup a similar achievement. It does not always represent the steps we took but rather what we probably should have done, if we had known what we know now:
 

1. Convene interested parties.
2. Determine what elements of telecommunications infrastructure you have already.
3. Contact phone, cable, electric company, and other sources of technical information.
4. Determine what you want.
5. Assess the wants and needs of schools, businesses, health care organizations, and other local governments.
6. Develop a plan for getting what you want.
7. Determine potential funding sources.
8. Identify possible sources of technical assistance.
9. Implement your plan.
10. Evaluate your results.

Convene interested parties. Schools, businesses, hospitals, and other organizations are recognizing the need for advanced telecommunications infrastructure. Unfortunately, most communities lack even the beginning of a common understanding about what is wanted, needed, or possible.

Calling together people who share common interests is a simple first step toward understanding and beginning to plan. A small planning group is a good way to get things started, if it is followed by widely attended public meetings. Well-informed media representatives can be of great help, particularly during the early stages of alerting the community to the issue’s importance. Uninformed media will confuse a complex issue and just make more work for telecommunications advocates.

Determine what you already have. Everyone wants those exciting features they have read about in recent magazines. The local phone or cable companies may be able to provide them immediately, or they may be years away. Phone companies are often reluctant to discuss in detail the capacity of the local system. Knowing what you have already is essential. The community needs to know whether switches are modern, if a POP has been installed, where fiber has been deployed, and the answers to a host of other questions.

Service providers should explain their systems in understandable terms for lay leaders. Do not give up if the companies are unresponsive. Use all appropriate means to make them give you necessary information. Talk to regulatory agencies, home offices, or large customers. Do whatever is necessary to know precisely what is in place in the community. Union County and the city of La Grande jointly hired a telecommunications consultant to help understand the existing system’s architecture and to plan for the future. The partnership budgeted $25,000 for the consultant and spent approximately $10,000.

Contact the phone company and others. Someone knows exactly what systems are in place in your community and what they will do. This information needs to be shared and understood. The phone company is the place to start. Community leaders rarely communicate with the phone company about important issues. Because many companies will not locate in places without modern telecommunications infrastructure, planning in this field is no less important than planning for water, roads, wastewater treatment, and other essential services.

La Grande eventually developed a partnership with the local provider, GTE, which led to the installation of fiber-optic service. The continuing dialogue with GTE over the fiber project has greatly improved local understanding of the community’s telecommunications infrastructure capacity and needs.

Determine what you want. You probably want everything and if you don’t, then you should. A community’s goal should be unlimited access to unlimited bandwidth at an affordable price. Small communities are in direct competition with larger places for economic growth, population, and prosperity. If there is not an affordable modern telecommunications infrastructure in place, the community will not prosper. Fiber-optic service should be the goal of any regional trading center, regardless of its size.

In small communities, it may take time to reach this goal. Digital microwave equipment can provide service comparable to fiber, but it may not be acceptable to some businesses. On the other hand, satellite or wireless technology is progressing at a fast pace and may or may not be able to substitute for fiber within the next few years.

Assess the needs of schools, businesses, and other organizations. Leaders from all sectors of the community should learn how telecommunications technology is being applied in their fields and should begin making decisions about what might be useful and possible locally. A survey conducted in La Grande two years ago revealed that many of us were just starting to understand the possibilities of advanced telecommunications.

At that time, most of our economic development and relocation prospects did not even mention telecommunications requirements. Now, nearly all companies list them as a high priority. We have learned that companies are starting to integrate high-speed communications into their operations in much the same way as they adopted computers, fax machines, and other technological innovations. Many local companies require the use of dedicated circuits connecting to home offices for the purpose of high-speed, broad-band data transmission.

Regional colleges and universities want to offer courses using two-way interactive video. It is a local value to afford instant access to the Internet with the capability to download information quickly. A hospital needs to send and receive high-resolution images. These services will move rapidly from the desirable category into the essential one. Wants and needs, as well as assumptions and conclusions, should be tested through a group process. Most people do not like to confess ignorance about an important subject, yet ignorance prevails in the telecommunications field. Technology changes so quickly that yesterday’s newfound knowledge becomes today’s misinformation.

Develop the plan. The steps preceding formal plan development are the most difficult part of the planning process. As General Eisenhower once observed, “Planning is everything; the plan is nothing.” Start with a simple plan to achieve reasonable goals, and be willing to adapt the plan as circumstances and opportunities arise. Eastern Oregon University’s Regional Services Institute (RSI) was a vital part of plan development in La Grande. RSI conducted surveys, linked the community to other parts of the state, organized a regional conference, and lobbied the legislature for additional resources.

Find funding sources. Money for telecommunications is available in many places. Federal, state, and local governments all have resources that can be applied toward this effort. Foundations and private industry also are interested in promoting the cause of advanced technology. In Oregon, the state recently traded some regulatory authority for money to deploy telecommunications technology in rural communities. Money always will be an issue, but it should never be the reason for inactivity. No funding agency will be interested in giving money to a community without a realistic plan.

Get technical assistance. Finding technical assistance could easily be the first step in moving toward adequate telecommunications service. State government should be providing this service to rural communities, and in some cases it does. If the state is not filling this role, however, universities, the state’s county and municipal associations, industry sources, and private consultants may be of help. Many people seem to know more than they really do, so it is prudent to verify information. The Internet also is a source both of good and of utterly useless information.

Implement your plan. Implementing the plan usually means spending money. Implementation also requires trust and common agreement on who will be responsible for specified tasks. Whoever is in charge should take pains to keep all interested parties informed and involved. The Union County/La Grande partnership continues to meet regularly to discuss important milestones and how to take the next step. And GTE conducts monthly phone conferences with the community to monitor the progress of the fiber-optic and Oregon Dental Service projects.

Evaluate your results. There is no end to this process. Just as maintaining roads or a water system continues to demand money, time, and energy, so will maintaining adequate telecommunications technology. The service delivery may be in private hands, but the responsibility for ensuring adequate service belongs to the community. A regional or local technology committee may be appropriate for this purpose.

Rural America’s Potential
People who write articles obviously think the subjects they’re writing about are important. To me, telecommunications is not just important; it is perhaps the most critical factor affecting the development potential of rural America and underdeveloped areas throughout the world. Every component of civilization is being transformed by the new communications technology. Government, business, education, health care, and even interpersonal communications are in the midst of a transformation. We cannot rely on enlightened federal and state policies to react quickly enough to serve local interests. Communities must begin taking responsibility for this issue or be willing to accept permanent social and economic blight.