MIAMI VALLEY COMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL
Point Broadband another choice in “how fast they want their internet to be and what they pay for their internet.”Wifi-to-home installation is expected to start this fall in Centerville and Kettering in a deal that also includes providing broadband service to Miamisburg, Moraine, Oakwood and West Carrollton.
The Miami Valley Communications Council’s agreement with Point Broadband to give six of its eight member cities more fiber-optic choices for residents and businesses will begin with Centerville and Kettering, MVCC Executive Director Jay Weiskircher said. “They’re looking at probably the latter part of October or the first part of November,” he said. The business will provide symmetrical internet speeds — the same download and upload speeds — up to 10 Gigabits, along with a suite of enhanced digital voice services, officials have said. “It’s another provider. It’s more competition,” Weiskircher said. “It’s having additional choices for people when it comes to how fast they want their internet to be and what they pay for their internet. The Georgia-based Point Broadband has a long-term, multimillion-dollar deal with MVCC to expand its fiber broadband network to those six cities.
The business has a separate deal with Springboro, also a council member. The Springboro project “is being completed soon and we are ready to expand,” Point Broadband Chief Executive Officer Todd Holt said recently in an email to the Dayton Daily News. For the MVCC project, Holt noted, “we really don’t want to set any specific expectations in this supply chain-challenged, inflationary environment we are all living in today. “There are just too many variables and too much downside to provide dates and locations at this point,” he added. Weiskircher said he spoke Wednesday with Point Broadband officials, who “told us the latter part of next year they hope to get started” in Miaimsburg, Moraine, Oakwood and West Carrollton. “But I think there’s some flexibility in that as well,” he added.
There are no contractual issues involving a specific installation timeframe, Weiskircher said. But finishing work in all six cities is “supposed to take about 36 to 42 months once they begin the work,” he added. Weiskircher has said the business is “picking up 100% of the tab” for what he said was a multimillion dollar, 15-year agreement with two five-year options. Broadband provides high-speed internet access via multiple types of technologies, including fiber optics, wireless, cable, DSL and satellite. Point Broadband’s network would be an internet option for all in the MVCC’s GATEway Public Fiber Network, a $3 million project resulting in a 44-mile ring, officials have said, but video components are not part of the deal. Point Broadband’s rates have not been disclosed. “The best connection is directly from the home,” Weiskircher said. And “people will still have the options they have right now.”
History
Miami Valley Communications Council is a municipal communications and technology organization representing the eight member cities of Centerville, Germantown, Kettering, Miamisburg, Moraine, Oakwood, Springboro and West Carrollton. The council also has affiliate agreements with other Miami Valley cities. MVCC was formed in 1975 as a council of governments to monitor, regulate, and administer common cable television franchise agreements, manage the operation of the council's cable access television channels, and develop and implement intergovernmental projects designed to strengthen communications between member cities and their citizens. A policy-making body consisting of delegates representing member cities governs the council.
Funding
MVCC is funded through franchise fees paid by the cable service provider. Franchise fees are rent that the cable company pays for placing its wires over or under the public rights-of-way (streets.) MVCC uses these franchise fees to support its community access television activities, cooperative intergovernmental projects, and to explore new and changing technologies that will benefit member communities. The council, in turn, provides many services to our communities at little or no cost.