As communities across the US continue to adapt and evolve in ways that support the connectivity needs of their community, it is increasingly evident that there is a significant lack of reliable high-speed connectivity between a child’s home and their school, City staff and City Hall, businesses and the community. This is something that has been known for decades however the coronavirus pandemic has only spotlighted this issue.

A SiFi Networks’ FiberCity™ network can resolve this problem, revolutionizing a City’s overall productivity with its high quality fiber connection. Although SiFi Networks works closely with municipal governments to gain access to a City’s entire public right-of-way to enable its gigabit speed, fiber to the premise network, a SiFi Networks’ FiberCity™ is 100% privately financed, built, operated and maintained city wide. So what does this mean for a City that is to become a FiberCity™?

A city wide fiber to the premise network is a multi-million-dollar project, with no municipal taxpayer subsidy required towards the construction of the network. The social investment isn’t just from a financial perspective. The ubiquitous fiber network passes every single building, on every single street throughout the entire City removing the digital divide, irrespective of household income or business type. The construction of the network takes place over a 24-month period and by using advanced micro-trenching techniques there is minimal social disruption, with little to no lane closures.

A plethora of benefits to residents prevail from a fiber network that delivers symmetrical internet speeds of 1 Gigabit as standard. The open access nature of the network will attract a variety of service providers to offer a range of advance services to everyone. Such services are, but not limited to, symmetrical gigabit internet to the home, tv, phone, telehealth and home security.
Financially a homeowner within a FiberCity™ can also benefit as a fiber optic connection is seen as very attractive when choosing a new home and it is for this reason house prices have shown to increase over 3% when connected to a fiber optic network.*
Your health can also benefit from living in a FiberCity™ as healthcare practices and procedures can be digitally transformed to offer more remote healthcare services and remote monitoring. The secure network is also a great infrastructure for a City’s disaster plan with the ability to connect to any location outside of any healthcare building in the event of needing field hospitals.

A business in a FiberCity™ will benefit from a 1 to 100 Gigabit connection. This will grow the local economy due to the increased productivity gained in the workplace, increasing output and therefore revenue.
Business districts can be created to attract the forward-thinking entrepreneurs who look to exploit high speed resilient digital infrastructures for business growth and the improved connection means businesses can innovate and open new markets as well as allow for flexible working amongst employees, giving access to a world of skilled people to bring into the business. Seamless connection to the community and the whole world via the high capacity fiber connection also makes communication easier and highly efficient.
Businesses across the spectrum will be attracted to the City based upon the availability of a reliable network with gigabit speeds; thus, providing the community with additional choice, while business revenues contribute to the tax base of the City for community reinvestment.

As the fiber optic network is passing every building, on every City street, it’s also passing every piece of street furniture, therefore, the municipality is in a unique position to capitalize on this footprint and potential connectivity to locations that may otherwise have been unavailable through an existing incumbent’s network or municipal capital constraints. A FiberCity™ network can support a range of connectivity options that deliver immediate and long-term municipal efficiencies and Smart City benefits.

Students can be securely connected from home to an educational facility for enhanced e-learning, and City staff can work remotely with a secure, gigabit connection to any City facility.
Both City and public buildings can be connected with fiber allowing for speeds of up to 100 gigabits between such locations and traffic management such as smart parking, traffic light management and congestion monitoring will allow for congestion analysis and improvements to infrastructure.
Streets will feel safer as the increased bandwidth allows connected cameras to use high definition technology, helping to drive down crime rates.
The City can also add Wi-Fi access points to the FiberCity™ network to create public/business Wi-Fi districts, and energy and waste management detection can improve the environmental impact of the City. A City’s disaster plan can also be enhanced with earthquake tremor detection allowing a City to be better informed on a natural disaster such as a high magnitude earthquake.

This is just a brief overview of the social and economic benefits a FiberCity™ can deliver. Choice, connectivity, productivity, opportunity, improved environment and overall a future proofed City for generations to come is really what defines a FiberCity™.

* https://www.fiberbroadband.org/blog/study-shows-home-values-up-3.1-with-access-to-fiber