THE DISTRICT'S NET GAIN

The development of municipally owned telecommunications systems is on the rise. According to the Progress and Freedom Foundation, there were 58 municipal utilities leasing fiber in 2000, 18 providing local telephone service and 10 offering long-distance. Now Washington, D.C., is joining the fray of municipally owned networks with DC Net, a fiber optic infrastructure engineered and constructed by the District.

Municipally owned networks aren't a new phenomenon. They continue to be built across the country to allow municipalities to provide better services to citizens at lower costs. This trend usually stems from government frustration with increasing charges by telecom providers, slow or no high-speed data rollout in rural areas, and inconsistent service. Many cities build their own networks to save money, increase community development, and generate revenue by leasing network space to private providers. DC Net, for example, will annually save the District $10 million in city communication costs.

While the District recognizes these concerns and opportunities, its primary focus in developing DC Net is on improving public safety. In September 2002, the District administered a cross-city survey asking residents what they'd most like to derive from a publicly owned telecom network. As residents of the nation's capital, they were particularly interested in the improved public safety components of the DC Net initiative. One of the most notable findings revealed that 10% of calls made to 911 within the District were disconnected for a variety of reasons.

With the current telecom system, it is difficult to track and pinpoint where and why the system may fail, be it due to the performance of 911 call center personnel or the reliability of the technical infrastructure. DC Net gives the city the ability to build a network from the ground up, implementing proven procedures to ensure high speeds and 100% reliability. DC Net gives the District the total control and management of its telecom infrastructure not possible with a privately owned system.

But while the District will own and manage DC Net, it does not intend to push private telecom vendors out of the mix. In fact, like many municipalities with public systems, the District intends to sub-contract significant portions of DC Net's operations and construction to a number of private vendors. Vendors will have the opportunity to perform projects such as adding and deleting phone service, performing routine maintenance and managing the physical elements of the network. In the case of municipal networks, the service provider's loss is truly vendor's gain.

DOSSIER: PETER R. ROY

Occupation: Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the District of Columbia

Location: Washington, D.C.

Current reading: Pulver.com's “Telecom Antitrust Intelligence Report”

Favorite Web site: www.google.com

Hobbies: Golf, scuba diving, skiing

Next project: D.C.'s Unified Communications Center for E-911 and citizen calls