City investing in fiber-optic network
Plan calls for 1,200 miles of cable installed in ground
LANCASTER — SiFi Networks will invest $170 million in the City to deploy 1,200 miles of fiber-optic cable for a citywide in-ground fiber network that would connect every household and business to the opportunity for fiber, under a 30-year license agreement unanimously approved by the City Council at its March 23 meeting.
“The amount of fiber that’s going to be going in the ground is going to be life-changing,” City Manager Jason Caudle said at the meeting.
The implementation timeline is projected to be four years through expedited approval and installation processes. SiFi Networks will maintain ownership and provide maintenance of the fiber optic systems. However, the Internet services will be provided by multiple Internet service providers.
SiFi Networks’ fiber system will not only provide households and businesses higher Internet speeds and increased connectivity but also help competition in the marketplace, Caudle said during a presentation at the meeting.
More than 80% of occupied parcels in Lancaster do not have access to fiber optics.
The license agreement with SiFi Networks will allow for “complete and absolute connectivity for every parcel and every business in Lancaster,” Caudle said, adding that high-speed Internet is essential to educate children and communicate with health professionals.
SiFi Networks will complete the project via “micro-trenching” — where it digs a two-inch trench along the curb and gutter line and lays the cable within the trench. Each resident who wants to can then connect to the fiber network and take it directly into their home.
Caudle said the fiber network will jump-start Lancaster’s Smart City initiative.
“Being a Smart City means connectivity is key,” Caudle said, adding that the city needs fiber to have its Smart City network.
Viewer Ron Kagen asked if the proposed SiFi Networks agreement was related to the proposal from anyCOMM Holdings Corp. that would create a wireless hot spot network on streetlights along with a camera surveillance system.
“Has it been done, if it’s not is it still being considered, and is this company going to be doing that?” Kagen asked.
“It’s not the same company and it has not been done,” Parris said. “We are still looking at the different options in being able to do that. We’re trying to figure out how to do so that it’s the least intrusive but at the same gives the public a level of safety that they currently are not experiencing.”
Parris suggested that when construction starts on the fiber network, the City put a group together to figure out innovative ways to use the technology that adds to the well-being of the neighborhoods and the people who live there.
“This technology is, we think we understand, but I don’t think we do,” Parris said. “The scope of it is so phenomenal that I think we should probably start putting that group together.”