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Costs and Bandwidth Allocations to Remain Level

At the November 19, 2003 ICN Policy Committee meeting, staff recommended that baseline bandwidth allocations and costs for additional bandwidth remain at current levels for Fiscal Year 2005 (July 1, 2004 - June 30, 2005). ICN staff believes that ongoing efforts to reduce the costs associated with backbone circuits, Internet egress and network equipment will enable constituent use of the network to continue to grow within the currently allotted baselines without the need for additional funding from the state or increased cost recovery fees.

The Policy Committee expressed concern that current baseline bandwidth may become inadequate for educational constituents such as K-12 in the coming year. After some discussion, the Policy Committee decided to endorse the staff recommendation to keep baseline allocations at current levels, but requested further study into the matter. ICN staff will examine bandwidth utilization by educational constituents and make projections for their future requirements. This information will be presented at the February Policy Committee meeting.

In developing the recommendation, the staff pointed out the following:

- Baseline bandwidth allocations provided to primary constituents have been calculated in an attempt to balance school requirements and available resources. At the present time, educational institutions appear to have adequate bandwidth to serve educational needs.

- The fee structure of ports and bandwidth is considered to be reasonable and appropriate given market comparisons. Neither reductions nor increases are warranted at this time.

- Increased efficiencies and efforts to further reduce costs will be required to sustain current network operations levels and meet increased utilization by existing connections.

Staff also indicated that ICN baseline bandwidth and cost recovery is probably not the primary impediment to greater participation in the network by the majority of eligible constituents. Currently, a significant obstacle for many constituents is the cost of the access circuit required to connect to the ICN. Many primary constituents are unable to afford access circuits adequate to provide even baseline bandwidth. ICN staff has exerted substantial effort to negotiate more favorable educational rates and has been successful in some regions of the state. The ICN continues to pursue cost reductions as well as work with alternate providers such as cable and satellite companies. Currently several pilots with cable providers are taking place throughout the state with plans for an expanded deployment scheduled for summer 2004.