The Southern California city of Signal Hill is the latest addition to a regional effort to extend a high-speed fiber-optic backbone to more than two dozen government facilities.
The $104 million grant-funded undertaking, led by the Gateway Cities Council of Governments (GCCOG) in partnership with the California Department of Technology and California Public Utilities Commission, aims to extend the network infrastructure across 24 cities.
During a City Council meeting Nov. 25, officials voted unanimously to authorize an agreement for the fiber buildout within the city’s right of way, and granted permission to connect City Hall and install two dark fiber lines from existing conduit infrastructure in neighboring Long Beach. That installation would come at no cost to the city and could be used for “non-commercial, municipal” purposes.
The city would be responsible for external connections to the network as well as any equipment needed to operate the network, which could be expanded from those first two strands.
According to a map presented to the City Council, nine public institutions near the project area could be connected to the network in the future. City staff estimated that the cost to connect these entities to the network could range between $5,000 to $15,000 per location.
“December of next year, all of this has to be done by December of 2026. That’s the grant timeframe by the California Public Utilities Commission and by the California Department of Technology,” GCCOG Executive Director Hector De La Torre told the council.
As for operating the network, GCCOG is currently looking for a qualified Internet service provider (ISP) — or multiple ISPs, as the case may be — to light up the fiber through an active request for qualification. Each city would be responsible for footing the bill for its own Internet service under the agreement.
This regional model is not novel, however. The South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG), a coalition of 16 local governments in the greater Los Angeles area, did a similar project a few years ago, De La Torre noted, and was able to realize a “dramatic drop in their price for their connectivity” and a tenfold increase in speed.
“That’s what we expect to have with this system for ourselves,” De La Torre said.
Signal Hill is the 23rd local government of 27 represented by GCCOG to sign on to the fiber compact. The council of governments is in talks with the city of Long Beach, though a finalized path forward has not been identified, De La Torre told the council members.
“You’re going to have a Ferrari, we’re going to give you the keys, it’s going to be in your driveway and you decide what you want to do with it,” De La Torre said.
The executive director said cities are taking a variety of approaches with the network, opting in some cases to focus on business districts while others work to identify use cases for residents.
Aside from the opportunity this broader project presents to ISPs working with local government, there are also opportunities related to supplying participating cities with the equipment they need to connect other facilities to the high-speed network.
A workshop is being planned for early next year to discuss the funding and use options available to the 24 partner cities.
Southern California Fiber Collective Gains Another Member
Efforts to roll out a high-speed fiber-optic network to city halls throughout Southern California enrolled another participant. The city of Signal Hill joining the coalition brings its number to nearly two dozen members. An RFQ is also in play.
