City of Bristow - Economic Development

PROJECT PURPOSE

Provide accessible broadband to all residents and businesses in the City of Bristow with download speeds up to 1Gbps.

EVIDENCE

Several metrics and studies can be cited from census to socio-economic reports for Bristow. Speaking directly from the community, Bristow lost 1,200 jobs due to manufacturing moving to Mexico. Bringing in new jobs has struggled in the 21st century due to lack of required high-speed internet. Over 90% of Bristow school children qualify for free and reduced lunches, which identifies a significant gap. Job/business growth translates to positive economic impact. Education benefits of broadband access translate to quality of life. Therefore, it is clear to the City of Bristow that we must make long-term investment and commitment in this area.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

The need for symmetrical high-speed internet has become critical to basic services and quality of life. Medical professionals are using more telemedicine and two-way video for appointments. Those without adequate service are left out. Education has suffered from remote learning without high-speed internet where children live. Even with classroom internet, many children do not have reliable or affordable internet at home for homework or research projects. This is commonly referred to as the ?homework gap?. One study found that 50% of students surveyed were unable to complete homework and 42% said they received a lower grade due to lack of broadband. Employers have also moved toward remote work, which often means they are sharing home internet with their children?s homework needs. If adequate or affordable service is not where they live, then they will have to consider relocation or alternate employment. All these issues have an economic impact as people gravitate to areas with high-speed service to the home. Studies show this effectively leaves rural areas, lower income areas, and people of color further behind in the information age. The lack of rural broadband has hurt, is hurting, and will continue to hurt small towns.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Preliminary project performance can be measured by polling citizen and business take rate via water billing notification. Responses based on water account meter would provide heat map of interest, average throughput/subscription, and buildout priority for immediate progress and revenue. After/during implementation, the project performance can be measure in build schedule and customer turn-up schedule against preliminary forecast/baseline. We already have a network design as well as professional fiber outside plant and telecom engineers engaged on this project. Bristow is both disadvantaged economically and is underserved in broadband. High speed internet is critical for economic development that the city is poised to achieve.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma