Broadband Asset Assessment

Tilson will develop a checklist of potentially useful broadband assets that may be present in the region and identify which are present, and where. These will include, but not be limited to:

• Towers
• Other potential sites for wireless nodes with adjacent communications infrastructure
• Fiber – long haul, middle mile, and local
• Potential interconnection points

In addition, Tilson will gather FCC Form 477 data from the region to get a baseline of current service offerings. Form 477 data provides good baseline information on which providers are active in a given area and the type of service they claim to be capable of providing, though it has certain limitations.

We will request FiberLocator data in order to fill in gaps in the Form 477 data. FiberLocator is a third-party service that provides maps of existing fiber and wireless infrastructure in a given area. This data will provide the basis of the inventory of current assets.

Tilson will use a 3rd party product called CrowdFiber (more on which later) for communications and outreach. The outreach strategy we propose will largely rest in setting up CrowdFiber and sending targeted invitations to take the survey. We will work with the Commission and data from FiberLocator and Form 477 to arrive at an initial list of invitees. The CrowdFiber platform can be used to disseminate a short questionnaire targeted at infrastructure owners that asks about information for key assets (e.g., towers, fiber, existing services). The findings will be used to provide additional detail on existing infrastructure previously identified via FiberLocator, or on infrastructure not included in FiberLocator’s data but that still exists.

Tilson uses both ESRI ArcGIS and QGIS for its GIS work. All GIS deliverables will be provided in compatible shapefiles. For high-level fiber network designs, we use Fiber PlanIt and 3-GIS. Tilson uses the Microsoft Office suite for documents.