Broadening Out
Yuma County pushes for broadband interconnectivity
The Yuma County Board of Supervisors directed staff to work with regional partners on a broadband strategy, stressing the need to move quickly to have a plan ready for when funds become available.
The county will soon receive millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds from the federal government, offering a “unique opportunity” to do something about an issue it has long pushed.
“This presents a unique opportunity to actually put some money behind the effort to try to get that done. As a county, we have an obligation to do that,” Chairman Tony Reyes.
The supervisors unanimously agreed. Supervisors Darren Simmons said, “For 4, 5 years we’ve been fighting with the feds, asking for money, saying this is an issue. Now we can kind of hold our future in our own hands with this money being available. It’s not going to be there all the time,” he said.
Even more funds could be available from state and federal grants if the county has a plan ready to go. The key is to have a plan, according to Jeff Sobotka, vice president and state broadband director for the Arizona Commerce Authority. To get ready, he suggested the county work with providers and partners.
The supervisors, who have long supported access to and expansion
of broadband throughout the county, recently invited Sobotka to talk about the state’s initiatives and how the county can become more engaged in those initiatives.
They also asked members of the local Broadband Action Committee, an informal team of local government representatives and industry leaders dedicated to seeing improved connectivity and internet speeds throughout the region, to report on its work, provide the results of a broadband study commissioned by the City of Yuma, and identify next steps.
BROADBAND STUDY
Kathleen Fernandez, Yuma’s chief information officer and a committee member, explained that the push for better broadband started with the economic development and agriculture communities. It led to the formation of the committee, with representatives from various private and public agencies, and the Yuma Regional Fiber Master Plan.
“The primary objectives (are to) expand broadband service capacity within the region, promote economic growth and increase the availability and capacity, whether it be to the citizens or the businesses that are in the community today and hopefully coming in the future,” Fernandez said.
As part of the effort, stakeholders in each industry identified their preferred infrastructure routes. Fernandez noted that each has very different situations. For instance, agriculture is spread throughout the region, while Yuma is “very finite and specific.” Some wanted a fiber line to the door, and others wanted it within the “middle mile,” a term used to describe a line close enough to the accessible.
Phase 1 of the study identified three viable strategies to meet the needs: public built, owned and operated; private built, owned and operated; or public-private partnership. The committee unanimously picked the second option.
Fernandez noted that the city is already building its own fiber network for internal business needs and that loop just needs to be expanded to encompass the other jurisdictions, including the border.
Phase 2 of the study calls for establishing the level of interest and ability to engage across stakeholders groups; determining what legal and governing authorities to involve; the terms of agreement, roles and responsibilities; and the shared cost of issuing a request for proposals.
The supervisors agreed to build on what the committee has already started and expand it to include the unincorporated areas of the county, such as Wellton and Martinez Lake. Reyes noted that the pandemic made the lack of broadband services that much more apparent in the outlying areas, as people worked and studied from home.
LOCAL NEEDS
Paul Brierley, also a committee member and executive director of the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture, pointed out that the local agricultural industry, with a $3.2 billion economic impact, is the largest in Yuma County.
With an increasing reliance on automated equipment and crews that move around different fields, the ag industry needs internet connectivity. Yet, Brierley said, “We have businesses out in the rural areas, field areas, where a lot of ag headquarters are, having to do expensive one-off solutions that aren’t really solutions, just to give them access to services to support their infrastructure. They find that they can’t even connect to the major carriers at any cost or reasonable cost.”
With a large university presence at the center, “Yuma is poised to be a location for high-tech innovation and development,” such as remote sensors, drones and other robotics that rely on access to the cloud.
“Without reliable high-speed connectivity out there, that’s just a non-started. That’s not going to happen here. It’s going to happen somewhere else,” Brierley said.
Yuma County needs some kind of fiber mesh in the rural areas. Fiber is limitless, while wireless is limited and will fill up as the demand increases, he noted.
The Kimley Horn study for Yuma laid out possible municipal routes. The committee is hoping a vendor will come in and provide infrastructure loops to rural areas, but it’s not addressed in the current study.
“We believe that if a public entity like the county provides the basic infrastructure of the fiber backbone network, that lowers the barrier entry for a company to come and provide broadband services,” Brierely said.
“In return, you guys can reinforce the quality of service, to ensure universal access and make sure it’s a forever solution, rather than a one-time something that gets out there and then it’s a dinosaur five years down the road,” he added.
With local governments receiving a lot of federal funding right, they have an opportunity to fund the infrastructure and open the door to economic development. “With some funds, a lot of other funds can come,” Brierley added. “We believe Yuma County needs to dedicate both initial and ongoing financial support as part of the basic infrastructure, just like you do with roads. If you want businesses, residents and schoolchildren to succeed, this is really imperative.”
He explained why he thinks the local governments will have to fund the broadband expansion. “What we are finding is that the Century Links and Spectrums of the world aren’t planning to invest here. What we’re finding though is that there are other companies, some of whom have fiber here already because of constructing e-rate projects. They put in an e-rate project, they put in extra fiber knowing some day they can monetize that and utilize that,” he said in reference to project funding for schools and libraries designed to close the WiFi gap and level the playing field for education and learning.
Sobotka explained that the state strategy is to expand “middle mile” connectivity in communities like Flagstaff and Yuma, reduce regulatory hurdles that inhibit wired and wireless connectivity; and close the funding gap for privately owned and operated last-mile projects.
He reviewed broadband initiatives and the millions of dollars available for “shovel-ready” projects. “So this is where we are. We’re in a very rare position, we’re at a point where we can do nothing and some things will get done, or we can get really aggressive.”
Sobotka urged the city to commit to building the infrastructure like it would to an electrification or highway system. “This is going to get done. The question is who gets it done now and who gets it done in five years,” he said, adding that Yuma isn’t going to build a spaceport without broadband.
BROADBAND TASK FORCE MOVES FORWARD
Following the discussion, a newly formed task force aimed at bringing significant broadband improvements to Yuma County held its first meeting. The task force includes Yuma County, Yuma, Somerton and San Luis, Wellton, and economic development and agricultural representatives.
The task force is focused on enhancing broadband service in all parts of the county, particularly areas that are currently underserved.
“Improved, affordable broadband will equip our communities with the technology infrastructure needed for economic growth, job creation, distance-learning opportunities and improved quality of life,” said Julie Engel, president and CEO of the Greater Yuma Economic Development Corporation.
The group, building on two years of work by the Broadband Action Team, is working closely with Sobotka to identify opportunities and priorities for the countywide broadband effort.
“The Board of Supervisors has made broadband access across the entire county a priority. It makes sense for Yuma County to take the lead in this initiative as opposed to individual cities or industries trying to tackle this regional project,” County Administrator Susan Thorpe said.
“The county encompasses everyone geographically, including our agricultural and industry partners, so we are happy to head up this collaboration to bring wide-scale broadband improvements to our region.”
The immediate goal is to engage the services of a consulting firm to develop a comprehensive broadband plan for the county, determining needs and opportunities to enable a strong return on investment.
Task force members include Engel, Thorpe, Fernandez and Brierley as well as Wellton Town Manager Larry Killman; Hector Tapia, Somerton economic development director; San Luis City Manager Tadeo De La Hoya; Mark Smith, president of Smith Farms Company of Yuma; Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines; and Clif Summers, Yuma County chief information officer.