Manassas ready to model BPL success

The first U.S. citywide broadband over power line network debuted in Manassas, Va., Wednesday, ready to be a model for other municipalities even as it works to bring customers onto the network.

City, state and federal officials were on hand for the official network unveiling, which included a national teleconference. Broadband over power line technology has been touted as an alternative means of access into the home, in addition to cable and telephone lines, and specifically as a means for municipally owned utilities to get into broadband service quickly.

Alan H. Richardson, president and CEO of the American Public Power Association said the Manassas deployment would be a model and inspiration for other public utility companies, particularly those who have deployed fiber optic network backbones.

Communication Technologies owns and operates the network, which was built by city of Manassas utility crews and uses the public utility’s fiber optic backbone. To date, 700 customers are getting broadband Interrnet service and another 500 have ordered the service, according to COMTek Founder and CEO Joseph E. Fergus. The network passes 12,500 homes and about 2500 businesses in Manassas, a Northern Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. with a population of 37,000.

“This isn’t an experiment, it is commercial deployment,” he said. “Power companies around the country are looking closely at what we are doing here in Manassas. This is a way to cost effectively deploy broadband services quickly. We expect to be getting back to you with more news very soon.”

Citywide deployment was accomplished in two years, said Manassas Mayer Douglas Waldron, “in a low-cost, non-intrusive fashion without the disruption that taking new lines to every home would cause, such as trenching.”

The public-private partnership enabled Manassas workers to focus on their core competencies of installing and maintaining the utility network while COMTek focused on the business of providing broadband service, he added.

U. S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., views telecommuting as one of the major benefits of the new operation, especially in a congested metropolitan area known for its traffic and with rising gas prices, and said the federal government could soon move to penalize agencies that don’t offer telework for their employees.

“This is an opportunity for the environment,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for moms and dads to spend more time with their children and be active in their communities.”

Karen Jackson, vice president of broadband programs for the state of Virginia’s technology office, said rural communities in that state “now have a model to follow.”

“The work is not over,” she added. “People will be watching. It’s great that you‘ve got the infrastructure. There is value in infrastructure, but the true value of this infrastructure is what runs across it. It’s the richness for people that live here and the opportunity for companies that are here.”

The challenge, Jackson added, is to bring local residents “up to speed” and make sure that everyone benefits from the possibilities.

Two immediate benefits to the city has been the addition of automatic meter reading for the utility network, and the faster identification of electrical problems, Fergus said. With the coming addition of automatic distribution switching, Manassas will also be able to restore power more quickly.