The City's Broadband Plan is scheduled to be completed in May, and updated information will be added to this page as it becomes available. The City of San Luis Obispo has partnered with Magellan Advisors to develop a Broadband Master Plan to guide the development of reliable and cost-effective, next-generation broadband. This project is funded through a $100,300 grant from the California Public Utilities Commission.

The plan will develop strategies for enhancing broadband to realize a net positive economic and social impact to the economy and quality of life through expanded innovation opportunities,  workforce development training, the narrowing of the digital and/or economic divide, and improved organizational operation efficiencies.

This project will include: 

• A comprehensive asset inventory of the current broadband assets in the public right-of-way including conduit, fiber, antennas, poles, towers, abandoned facilities, active facilities, and other infrastructure.
• Interviews, focus groups, and an online survey to collect information to determine the economic and community impact that broadband issues are having on the City among San Luis Obispo’s municipal departments, businesses, community anchor institutions, and residents.
• A High-Level Design (Conceptual) for a network that utilizes available assets and addresses the needs of the region.
• Feasibility analysis including financial analysis, organizational structure, and other key planning considerations for the program.
• Recommendations for updating the City’s policies, business practices as they relate to broadband
• Presentations to City Staff/Council at the beginning, and end of the project.

As more of our lives transition to the digital world, access to the internet and its multitude of applications becomes increasingly important. Developing a Broadband Plan will benefit the community in the following ways:

• The plan will help develop a greater understanding with residents, businesses and other governmental entities regarding the need and value of next generation high-speed broadband service.
• The plan will require the City to research and evaluate current supply of broadband services and assets in San Luis Obispo
• The plan will create a structured evaluation of options for the City of San Luis Obispo to enhance the availability of broadband service for San Luis Obispo’s businesses and residents
• The plan will recommend implementation strategies through modeling, fiscal analysis, policies, and business practices

While it was once just a complement to our physical lives, the virtual world has now become a crucial part of what we do every day. Online applications for business, health, education, security and entertainment have all become integrated into our daily routines. These applications and new ones continue to grow at an alarming pace. To function, they must be carried across high-speed, reliable broadband infrastructure, which we can think of as the highway system for the electronic world. 

Local roads feed into state roads, which feed into the interstate highway system to interconnect individuals to the country’s infrastructure. Similarly, local broadband infrastructure connects to regional and national high-speed networks that interconnect with the global Internet. If local broadband infrastructure is insufficient, (i.e. local roads are insufficient), users (drivers) will have difficulty accessing the global Internet (interstate highway system).

Therefore, broadband access is critical to ensure that users are able to reach the electronic world over a reliable, high-speed local broadband infrastructure. Without this, the applications they use everyday breakdown.

 

Magellan provides planning, engineering, implementation and management of the fastest, most technologically advanced fiber and broadband networks. Our mission is to connect every community, one at a time, to the digital economy so that no one is left behind. Our work ensures communities can access every opportunity the internet has to offer so they can thrive in the connected world.  Learn more at www.magellanbroadband.com.