Why & How Savannah Can Become a Gigabit City

A Unique Leap-Ahead Opportunity for Savannah

Summary
1) Savannah's poor Internet connectivity options, along with low speeds and high prices,
limit our economic growth, inhibit workforce development and increase the digital divide.
2)

A variety of factors have converged to create a unique opportunity to solve the problem.

3) A wide range of community leaders support a solution to dramatically lower prices,

increase speeds and spur competition.
4) We propose to create a member-owned alliance that aggregates sufficient demand to
enable cost-effective fiber connections with up to gigibit speeds for business and residents.
5) We are asking that the City of Savannah join our other public and private partners with
one-time seed-funding to establish the organization and the pilot project network build-out.
6)

Hundreds of other communities in the US have done this. We think Savannah can too.

The Solution
The "Savannah Community Open-access Broadband Alliance" (SCOBBA) would:
Aggregate member demand across cost effective delivery areas.
Facilitate building a low-cost, high-speed, open-access, fiber-to-the-premise network.
Begin with a pilot-project to serve the businesses and residents along Broughton St.
Deliver lower cost and higher-speeds to all who are not currently being well served.
Offer open-access to the network to share with all other interested service providers.
Provide secure private WiFi networks for alliance members.
Offer free, open, meshed-network WiFi coverage to serve residents and visitors.
Expand into other neighborhoods and schools wherever the interest level is high.

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Why & How Savannah Can Become a Gigabit City

A Unique Leap-Ahead Opportunity for Savannah

The Benefit & Impact

1.

Reduce cost of access as much as 1/5 the currently available rates.

2.

Increase access speeds up to 5x the speed of the current options.

3.

Enhance higher-wage economic growth (cited in numerous studies).

4.

Reduce the digital divide by making access affordable.

5.

Enhance access for schools as a contribution to an improved workforce.

6.

Increase competitiveness of Savannah compared to other communities.

7.

Lower costs and faster speeds for businesses, institutions and residents.

8.

Retain current telecomm spending here in the local community.

9.

Make Savannah standout in the competitive economic landscape.

10.

Make Savannah more attractive to smarter businesses.

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Why & How Savannah Can Become a Gigabit City

A Unique Leap-Ahead Opportunity for Savannah

What City Council and Staff Need to Know

Because of a convergence of factors both locally and nationally, we have a unique but
fairly narrow window of opportunity to do something really great for Savannah that will
have a major positive impact across the community and leave a long-lasting legacy.
This adds a very practical, highly-visible asset to our community that residents and
business can see and use that enhances Savannah's connections to itself and the world.
A gigabit fiber network sends a clear signal that Savannah is serious about not allowing
our residents, children, business and community to fall further behind.
Leadership in establishing a modern economic infrastructure demonstrates the City's
commitment to ensuring our workforce will be well prepared for the modern economy.
A highly-visible high-speed fiber network can tip the scale for Savannah when we are
being compared to other communities for business growth and development.
Allows the City to demonstrate a commitment to addressing digital divide issues.
Assists small businesses that are most impacted by high-costs and slow speeds.
Higher Internet speeds and better community connectivity are proven to correlate to
higher economic growth rates, particularity with higher-wage jobs..
The business model shows SCOBBA being revenue positive and able to fund its ongoing operations on the recurring revenue from bandwidth sales, after month-12.
We are asking the City of Savannah to take a visible community leadership role in the
initial pilot project with a $82,500 - $165,000 in a one-time, seed-fund contribution.
We have a assembled a team of experienced professionals and established partnership
arrangements with the local providers to make this happen.
We can move quickly to complete the pilot project to allow expanding into other areas.

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Why & How Savannah Can Become a Gigabit City

A Unique Leap-Ahead Opportunity for Savannah

Savannah Community Open-access Broad-Band Alliance

Early Supporters Leading Organizations

Savannah Downtown Neighborhood Association

24e

Savannah Development & Renewal Authority

Dirtt

Advanced Technology Development Center

Speros

Savannah Downtown Business Association

Seimitsu

ThincSavannah Business Accelerator

Guild Hall

Stage Front Presentation Systems

Abshire PR

Technology Association of Georgia

Ameris Bank

Small Business Assistance Center

illuminomics

Historic Savannah Foundation

Judge Realty

Creative Swiss Army Knife

Georgia Power

Savannah Bee Company

TPS Consulting

Emergent Savannah

Chromatic Dragon

Step-Up Savannah

Art Rise Savannah

The Creative Coast

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Why & How Savannah Can Become a Gigabit City

A Unique Leap-Ahead Opportunity for Savannah

Early Supporters Leading Residents

Bea Wray

Brady Cannon

Cathy Hill

Murray Wilson

Sam Cook

Courtnay Papy

Blake Ellis

Steve Stevens

Lori Judge

Barbara Ruddy

Clegg Ivey

David Paddison

Chris Miller

Brd. Julie Wade

Joe Steffen

Christopher Cay

Roger Moss

Maria Lancaster

Tom Kohler

Jennifer Abshire

Ruel Joyner

Courtney Hester

Greg Parker

Ashley Bowersox

Mike English

Pat & Janice Shay

Larry Stuber

Clinton Edminster

Jacob Heider

Laura Lee Bocade

Otis Johnson

Suzanne Donovan

Daniel Carey

Kevin Klinkenberg

Reed Dulany

Rep. Bill Hitchens

Ted Dennard

Rep. Craig Gordon

Brady Cannon

Ald. Tom Bordeaux

Lauren Flotte

Ald. Mary Osbourne

Zach Kozdron

Comm. Helen Stone

Melinda Allen

Ald. Mary-Ellen Sprague

Howard & Mary Morrison

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Why & How Savannah Can Become a Gigabit City

A Unique Leap-Ahead Opportunity for Savannah

Early Supporters (cont'd)

Cynthia Creighton-Jones
Frank Baylor
Jacques Beauchamp
Janna Martin
Jonathan Claughton
Kaisa White
Karen Robertson
Leigh Acevedo
Luke Dorman
Mickey Minick
Patrick Spivery
Randi Hempel
Renee Argeninis
Ron Wallace
Samantha Claar
Teresa Jacobson
Whit Roberts
Amy Brock
Molly Swagler
Stan Friedman
Denise Grabowski

Angel Ratcliffe

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Why & How Savannah Can Become a Gigabit City

A Unique Leap-Ahead Opportunity for Savannah

Background Info - Articles & Papers

Fast Company; Want To Boost The Economy? Boost Internet Speeds

Broadband Network Key Element in Helping Volkswagen Choose Chattanooga
Broadband Can Lead to Significant Boost in Business Earnings : Speed Matters
Chattanoogas municipally-owned fiber fastest in the US

Thomasville Removes Local Tax, Citing Strong Broadband Revenues

Roanoke Launches Fiber Broadband Initiative
Community Broadband Creates Public Savings
Community Network Services Brings STEM Education & More to Rural Georgia
FCC Chief Seeks Broadband Plan to Aid the Poor
Bristol VA, Ceder Falls Iowa Listed among world's fastest Internet cities.
Broadand In Other Georgia Cities Cartersville, Dalton, Lagrange, Tifton, etc
FCC's other decision aims to spur local broadband
Why the F.C.C.s Municipal-Broadband Ruling Matter s
Obama Will Urge F.C.C. to Aid Local Broadband Expansion
Why the U.S. Has Fallen Behind in Internet Speed and Affordability
US broadband speeds 15 years behind South Korea
The Worlds Coming Broadband Divide

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