The town of Shelby, OH and its 9,300 residents located midway between Columbus and Cleveland in Richland County issued an RFP for a feasibility study on bringing in a municipal fiber optic broadband network. About 6.5 square miles in size, the town owns and operates its own electric utility, considered a plus if it goes ahead with deploying a network system.
With proposals due December 20, the RFP is asking for:
- Need Assessment
- Infrastructure and Deployment Recommendations
- Financial Expectations
The city’s residents, according to the RFP, are currently serviced by two internet service providers, (CenturyLink and Spectrum) that would be considered broadband providers by federal standards. Everstream has installed fiber in certain sections of the City, and is currently providing wholesale service to certain targeted non-residential customers.
Everstream established a fiber route through Shelby in 2013 and operates a fiber hub within a municipally-owned facility. The municipal facilities are networked and utilize Everstream as their Internet Service Provider. Everstream can provide symmetrical broadband up to GBps service. The City has had discussions with Everstream about potentially building out its system to allow the City to provide retail internet service to nonresidential and residential customers throughout the City. The City is also considering partnering with other internet service providers depending on the service and cost benefits that may be achieved by partnering with another provider.
December 2, 2019
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