Why to Attend | Broadband Communities Summit

MDU PROGRAM REFLECTS HUGE CHANGES Owners and managers of multiple dwelling unit properties will be hearing about how the changed carrier lineup, new technology, new regulations, expanding needs to accommodate in-building cellular reception, and yes, new ways to make deployments profitable, have chan

MDU PROGRAM REFLECTS HUGE CHANGES
Owners and managers of multiple dwelling unit properties will be hearing about how the changed carrier lineup, new technology, new regulations, expanding needs to accommodate in-building cellular reception, and yes, new ways to make deployments profitable, have changed things for the better in 2016 — but have set new traps for the unwary. Kept up with emerging agreements on home run wiring and net neutrality? Thinking of succumbing to entreaties of one locally dominant cellular provider to handle your building? Planning to serve that new college dorm just as you did the last one? Realize that cable companies are expanding fiber deployments in 2016?  

Checked the new advantages many providers using the “private cable operator” model can offer property owners of all sizes?  

We’ve already been discussing this exciting new environment with our team of MDU experts — staff working for owners and managers, people that sign or review contracts with providers every day before breakfast. At the Summit, the legal, technical, and financial experts we’re lining up will give it to you straight: What works best for today’s tenants and unit owners, in various diverse situations.  

Can you afford NOT to be in Austin this April?
Meet The Mayors With Deb Socia

Next Century Cities founder Deb Socia will host a panel of mayors who have made broadband access a reality in their communities. Get all the details of how their leadership led to success – how they involved stakeholders, educated (and listened to) other officials, residents and business owners, lobbied state and regional power brokers, and explored all the alternatives. The panel is selected from among mayors from communities of all sizes, in all parts of the country. You don’t have to be an elected official to benefit from the mayors’ insights on regulation, marketing, finance, and the potential for cooperation with incumbents.

Student Housing Workshop
It will take a 2-hour deep-dive workshop to get through all the new technical and financial challenges faced by developers of on-campus student housing. David Daugherty will lead a table full of experts who have been walking the walk at colleges and universities across the country. From large institutions to small, public and private, students need – and demand – more broadband, in more ways, and with more reliability than ever before. Colleges need to be, well, educated about what student fees might be necessary to pay for the infrastructure and why various features are needed. Not doing student housing now? Consider attending anyway. Student housing is the canary in the broadband coal mine. It’s an early warning system for what everyone will want in a few years.
Rural Telecommunications Congress Explores New Funding Opportunities And New Needs

State, Federal and private funding opportunities for broadband to enhance rural healthcare, small businesses, and education highlight this year’s RTC annual meeting, held in conjunction with Summit 2016.

The best source of funding for rural broadband might be at the EPA, HUD, DOE or Justice! On the agenda are two panels explaining how to identifying potential partners and best practices for broadband spending under 18 federal agency programs due for Broadband Opportunity Council rule revisions that are scheduled to be finalized in 2016. Those agencies spend $10 billion a year on activities that could be enhanced with broadband, but that have typically ignored funding broadband up to now.

There’s also a panel on leveraging the evolving Connect America Fund rules, and another on extending middle mile networks to homes in rural areas. Two panels focus on the details of justifying — and funding — broadband deployments in tribal areas. Those areas have traditionally relied on Rural Utilities Services loans, but RUS money is somewhat sparse these days.

Mark Johnson, CTO of MCNC, will moderate a panel on how the emerging Internet of Things will impact rural America, both financially and socially.

Summit registrants can attend all RTC sessions free! There’s no extra charge.

 

MDU Deep-Dive Workshop
Multiple Dwelling Unit construction and greenfield broadband opportunities are at a 10-year high, while MDU residents craving gigabit access and seamless cellular have continued to grow in number as well. MDU broadband is not just for students and employees of high-tech companies anymore! MDUs now must accommodate cord-cutters, work-at-home professionals in fields ranging from medicine to teaching piano, and even 4K TV watchers. Building upon his wildly acclaimed Summit workshops over the past years, Richard Holtz and a panel of innovative deployers and technical experts will take you on an enlightening journey. They’re prepared to answer your toughest questions, too. No holds barred.

Catch The Wave!
New buildings to Gigafy: Greenfield housing construction has recovered, with MDU builds leading the way.
New Fiber-to-the-Home and Fiber-to-the-Basement technology: Better DSL, clever G.fast, the cable industry’s impressive DOCSIS 3.1, 10 Gig Ethernet and GPON…
New Interconnections: Fiber to cell towers, Stimulus- and now state-funded middle-mile support network builders offering gigabit access.
New Deployment Tricks: Modern software-defined networks (SDN) make it easier to serve new giga-hungry business customers and flexible intermixing of fiber with copper and point-to-point wireless.
New Services to Offer: Tele-medicine, health care, education, security and entertainment offerings continue to expand, driven by giga-nets, new technology, and demographic trends. Now add data centers to the mix. They scale small – small enough to add to a central office or network operating center.
New Management: Organizations are emerging to guide deployers and property owners from concept to construction to financing to ongoing management.
New Money, New Business Cases: It is easier than ever for even small operators and communities to fund new projects.
We’ve Got Your Back!  
No one covers it all like we do at Broadband Communities. So of course we’ll be bringing the latest to Summit 2016. Detailed workshops. Wide-ranging panels. Super-star keynoters. Plenty of time to ask questions and connect with your peers!
Property Owners And Managers, Financial Experts, Network Deployers, Municipal And State Officials, Economic Development Specialists
Our staff, our original research, and our blue-ribbon user (not vendor!) advisory committees will make sure you get the legal, technical, and financial information you need. You’ll hear the best advice, from people who are already in the swim.
Greenfield Opportunities Multiply
US housing starts rose to 1.2 million in 2015, best since 2007. But what’s really exciting is that annual multiple dwelling unit starts are running well over 600,000 with another bump expected in 2016. That’s an all-time high! Before the recession, MDUs were less than a third of new housing. Now they are more than half. Most are rental units, most are being occupied by broadband-savvy tenants under 30, and most are well-positioned to fatten franchise broadband providers’ bottom lines or to attract CLECs, traditional private cable operators, and current cable franchise operators (MSOs).
More opportunities and choices for property owners and managers, even as MSOs and RBOCs consolidate! More care needed when writing the service contracts! More ways to differentiate buildings on what our surveys say is the number one amenity tenants and owners want: Great Broadband.

Summit 2016 will cover all that, of course. But what about the financing options? New companies (and plenty of evolving old ones) that can manage – and even build and finance – projects? Deep dives into regulatory and contract issues? New services such as security, energy management, and cellular access? We’ve got your back there as well!

Workshop On Broadband Business Modeling
Step your use of our free business modeling and cash flow analysis tools up a notch – or more – by attending our free pre-conference workshops. Editor-at-large Steve Ross, the models’ author, will take you through the process, concentrating on use of our tool for determining the return on various broadband investments in a subdivision or multiple dwelling unit environment.
Attendees get free thumb drives with all five models, documentation, and real-world use examples as well. Join hundreds of property owners and managers, ISPs, private cable operators, consultants and investors who already use these tools to build a business case or track monthly cash flow.

One example pursued by a 2013 attendee at this 2-hour workshop: An owner of four MDU properties got bank financing to install fiber-to-the-basement with Ethernet delivery over copper in the building with the best wiring. He’s been using the great cash flow to bootstrap full fiber-to-the-tenant unit in the other MDUs, intending to swing back and upgrade the first building in about 5 years. This year, that strategy looks better than ever, with DOCSIS 3.1 or G.fast in the mix.

Cable Is In The Gigabit Game!
Cable companies now have a clear upgrade path for fiber all the way to customers. DOCSIS 3.1, out of the box, ups available bandwidth by 50 percent. Deployments started in 2014, as we first announced. They’ll be mainstream in 2016. But wait! There’s more! DOCSIS 3.1 has an FTTx option – fiber to customers or to equipment rooms in multiple dwelling unit buildings and commercial or office complexes. It’s already being deployed, with customers getting as much as 2 Gbps downloads and 1 Gbps upstream.
Split a DOCSIS node to serve 32 or 64 customers, supply it with fiber running on new 10 GB switches, and it begins to look like a passive optical network as far as bandwidth is concerned, although with generally higher latency and a tad less reliability.

What does it mean for cable companies? Customers? MDU owners and managers? Old municipal hybrid fiber coax systems? Telco competitors? Those questions and more will be discussed in depth at Summit 2016.
New Options For Municipal Builds
No one says muni broadband is easy. But it is becoming easier. There are now more than 200 municipalities served by more than 165 Fiber-to-the-Home systems alone. The secret: Muni systems just have to break even in the long run. Much of the payback is in economic and population growth, quality of life, and “insurance” from the vagaries of a global economy that can put single-industry towns out of business in a heartbeat.
Our Summit and our regional economic development conferences always give municipal and state officials as well as local activists the latest on how to detect what is pie-in-the-sky and what might be a real business plan. And options are exploding in 2016. There’s new technology, a new regulatory outlook with interest by the FCC and the White House, new financial players including state funding, and a revitalized public-private partnership model that many may find attractive.

It all makes Summit 16 a “can’t miss” for state and local officials and broadband activists, existing operators (especially Tier 3 incumbents), electric coop operators, economic development experts, and corporate site selection consultants and staff members.
Strategies For Muni Electrics And Electric Coops
Seems easy enough. You already know your customers. Your community needs broadband. You have assets to pledge. Hah! Korcett CEO David Daugherty will lead a group of experienced coop managers and engineers on a blow-by-blow trip through the technical, regulatory, political, managerial and financial paths that must be navigated.
His blue-ribbon experts – your electric coop peers – will show you how to look ahead to emerging technologies and financial options, and to ways to compete or partner with others in your footprint.  
Bridging The Digital Divide
No wonder you can’t define it. The divide and its cures vary from community to community. But aside from the moral issue – it is not a bad idea to use broadband access to raise living standards, to improve job and educational opportunities, and deliver health care – there’s a great business case, too. Network providers get more customers! And better take rates make better networks possible.
Summit 2016 will offer examples and success stories in rural and urban settings nationwide. But it boils down to this: Bridging the digital divide – often with educational outreach, custom services, and special product packages – is worthy of a bit of your marketing budget whether you operate on a Native American reservation, an urban neighborhood, or a community that skews elderly.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.bbcmag.com

This exciting program is beginning to take shape! The Rural Telecommunications Congress will play a significant role in the event this April 2016!

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