G.S. awards 10-year franchise to bring fiber networks to homes beginning with Craft Farms North

By John Mullen
In the past, companies wanting to bring in internet or fiber service to Gulf Shores had their eyes on the bigger prizes for business.
“I know in the past we’ve had providers that wanted to come into the community and they make a lot of promises but then they focus their attention on the high-intensity beach condo developments because that’s where they get the most bang for their buck,” Councilman Jason Dyken said. “Then the single-family residents are kind of left out in the dark.”
A new company seeking a franchise with the city will come with a different viewpoint, Economic Development Coordinator Blake Phelps told the city council on March 18.
“Condos or the beach has not come up at all in any of our conservations over the last eight to 12 months,” Phelps said. “They have been solely focused on residential. They see a niche, they see an opportunity and quite frankly a little bit of a void in the market.”
On March 27 the council voted to give Point Broadband a 10-year franchise to bring fiber to homes to Point Broadband. The city will receive 5 percent of the company’s gross receipts to operate in the city.
“Point Broadband is one of those providers we’ve worked with over the past couple of months and they are prepared to come in to provide fiber to the home and residential internet service,” Phelps said “That will be their number one priority. They also have the desire to expand within some business areas as they grow as well.”
Phelps said the company will not be involved in cable or phone service, just offering up to one gig of service for internet only.
“What they are offering are speeds up to one gig and their plan between $70 and $150 a month with no contract. It’s very competitive pricing and very competitive speeds,” Phelps said. “What this will do is actually provide fiber all the way to the home which will increase the bandwidth, increases the speeds they offer and the reliability of the service. We’re really excited about.”
Uniti will provide the “backbone” of the network, Phelps said, and Point Broadband will lease from them with a plan to get it into Gulf Shores homes and businesses. According to the Uniti.com website, fiber cable is in the ground along the major roads in Orange Beach including Perdido Beach Boulevard, Canal Road, Orange Beach Boulevard and Marina Road. The beach road fiber extends all the way through Gulf Shores to just past Little Lagoon Pass. Alabama 59 has Uniti fiber from the beach to Foley and points beyond and all the way down Fort Morgan Road to just short of the fort.
“We’ve got some other providers who have a fiber backbone but it’s actually co-ax cable going into the home,” Phelps said.
“When they bring fiber into the home it doesn’t matter what the co-ax network is, it can’t keep up and they know that. They see an opportunity specifically in the residential side because of the way our community is growing with residential and we’re seeing this throughout Baldwin County.”
One of the first areas the company plans to look at is Craft Farms North, an already established neighborhood.
“There’s been a significant amount of construction out there obviously but the city is also continuously receiving complaints from residents out there not being able to get service in as timely a matter as they would like,” Phelps said. “The fiber optic network isn’t already in the ground out there. This will actually provide an opportunity for them to come in and provide service in those areas in an efficient way.”
Phelps said Point Broadband will use an installation technique perfected by Google Fiber for its network called micro-trenching. And, the city will keep the company posted about new construction being planned. Several large subdivisions are on the drawing board north of the Intracoastal Waterway.
“Ideally, with new construction, when the developers are going into these areas and putting roadways in they would go ahead and put their conduit in and run everything all at the same time,” Phelps said. “That’s the perfect scenario.”
Uniti, Mediacom, CenturyLink and Harbor Communications all have fiber infrastructure in Gulf Shores but none offer fiber-to-the-home services, Phelps said. Uniti and Harbor both offer fiber optic service for commercial/business customers.
During the meeting the council also:
• Approved paying Volkert Associates no more than $118,900 for design and engineering services for improvements in the school zone with addition of a box culvert at west 20th Avenue and West First Street and adding a right-turn lane onto East 16th Avenue and Fort Morgan Road. Funding will come from a city line of credit established for school improvements.
• Approved spending nearly $90,000 for repairs to tennis courts at the Meyer Tennis Center in Sims Park and about $20,000 for repairs to the basketball courts both Sims and Meyer parks.
• Approved a franchise agreement with Eastern Shore Co. to replace coin-operated, metered telescopes at Gulf Shores beach pavilions and boardwalk. The company removed the telescopes during the city’s redevelopment of the area. The new franchise agreement is for two years and Eastern Shore will pay the city 40 percent of its gross receipts.
• Approved a structure fire automatic-aid agreement between the Gulf Shores Fire Department of Foley Fire Department.
• Approved an assembly permit for the Good Life Ride on May 11 starting from The Lodge at Gulf State Park.
• Approved the annexation of a lot and home owned by Mr. and Mrs. James Nelson in the Oyster Bay subdivision on White Lane on Plash Island.
• Approved the annexation of a lot and home owned by Jenny Lynn Price on County Road 6.