Report from the Field: Deploying Broadband Infrastructure in North Carol...
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Report from the Field: Deploying Broadband Infrastructure in North Carolina Posted on Wed, April 13, 2011 by Andy Spurgeon, Federal Program Officer
As part of BTOP’s comprehensive oversight of its grant recipients, I recently spent several days in North Carolina conducting an on-site review of two broadband infrastructure projects. Local broadband provider MCNC received two BTOP grants that together will fund deployment of more than 2,000 miles of
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BTOP in Action
California Emerging Technology Fund Representatives from BTOP recipient California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) spent the weekend...
new fiber infrastructure. The new infrastructure will reach 69 counties and directly connect more than 500 community anchor
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institutions across the state, including universities, hospitals, and public safety facilities. To date, MCNC has deployed more than 140 miles of conduit, with plans to begin running fiber-optic cable through the conduit in the coming weeks. During my visit, I examined MCNC’s project management approach, project status, grants management procedures, financial practices and controls, and compliance with BTOP and Recovery Act program requirements. My review included a productive series of meetings with MCNC that after two days of rolling up our sleeves yielded a better understanding of our shared objectives and the challenges associated with deploying and managing statewide projects. State Broadband Data & Development Grant Program
Figure 1: Construction crews at work to place conduit in the vicinity of existing buried utilities. MCNC has had up to 160 construction workers on site.
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Figure 2: A plowing and trenching crew installs fiber along the Rocky Mount to Greenville route. I closed the visit with a half-day field inspection of portions of MCNC’s Rocky Mount to Greenville route. This included stops to observe crews installing conduit along the route. Here, I saw first-hand the day-to-day difficulties involved in network construction, as a bolt on the plow sheared off due to difficult terrain, causing a brief work stoppage. It was rewarding to speak with these crews and construction project managers, whose jobs are a direct result of the Recovery Act. While there are 160 workers on site now, MCNC expects Recovery Act dollars will fund additional crews this summer.
4/15/2011 1:32 PM