This morning, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the transfer of the Bright Fiber Network Project (which had received a $16.2M California Advanced Services Fund grant in December 2015) from Spiral Internet to Race Telecommunications. This is exciting news for Nevada County. The gigabit fiber optic internet project will now start being constructed. Race has the team, experience, and matching funds. They, like Spiral, began as a small business; growing as ten similar projects were funded and brought online across California. They are good ethical business people. It’s why I asked them to come on board in late 2017.
For me, this is a transition forward after a long — sometimes tumultuous — journey. One that Susan Crawford summarizes quite well in her recently published book “Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution — And Why America Might Miss It“. Check out Chapter 6 following the Chattanooga story (then read it all). You will find her book both engaging and outraging.
I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with Susan, who is a Telecommunications Law professor at Harvard, a number of times over the past few years. She’s one of my heroes, as she routinely dukes it out with the large cable and telco companies. The chapter also includes interviews with Stephanie Ortiz and Rorie Gotham, two of my favorite community leaders.
The fulfillment of the Bright Fiber Network Project is why Nevada County won’t miss out. When Chip Carman and I embarked on our goal in 2008 to bring a 21st century internet network here, I had no idea it would take over ten years to get to this point. I also didn’t know that he wouldn’t be with us. I am relieved and excited that 2019 will be the year of gigabit fiber optic internet speeds here. As I’ve said before, our future is bright.
Thanks for your patience and willingness to believe. It truly kept me going all along. … You want to read more on Race’s blog.
John Paul
Leave a Reply