Grand Junction Approves Demand Survey in Fiber Broadband Initiative

GRAND JUNCTION, CO — During its regular Wednesday night meeting, the Grand Junction City Council voted to enter into exclusive negotiations with Nokia and SiFi Networks to determine whether a community-wide broadband initiative will be commercially viable.

Community Survey
Nokia and SiFi Networks will now undertake a demand survey of the community, begin to examine the network design and architecture as well as complete the financial analysis. Following this phase, known as Milestone 1, the city will regroup to determine whether to proceed. The survey will be carried out by an independent research specialist who will send questionnaires to a random sample of Grand Junction’s households and businesses.

“In this day and age, broadband is no longer a 'nice to have' — it has become a 'must have,'" said Mayor Phyllis Norris. "It will play a key role in fostering and sustaining a healthy business environment and helping to spur economic development here. We are pleased to see this first phase getting underway and I encourage those who receive the survey to take part.”

The short survey will ask for individual’s broadband requirements and the likelihood of them subscribing to faster and affordable Internet. If the project appears to be viable following Milestone 1 and moves forward, the Nokia/SiFi Networks’ proposal includes SiFi Networks funding, building and operating a next generation infrastructure with Nokia providing all of the equipment and managed services, allowing the City of Grand Junction to create an open access fiber network, enabling Internet Service Providers to connect to the community.

It is expected that the demand study will be completed in four to five weeks. The results will then be presented to the city, along with Nokia and SiFi Networks’ analysis on whether a fiber network in Grand Junction is viable.