Celebration Technology Initiative Update and Request For Information(RFI) Summary

Transcription

1 Celebration Technology Initiative Update and Request For Information(RFI) Summary April 14, 2014 Prepared By: Celebration Associates, LLC 1

2 Executive Summary The Celebration Residential Owners Association, Inc. (CROA), Community Development District (CDD) and Joint Committee (CJC) identified the requirement for an improved, next generation FTTH network providing ubiquitous access to leading edge, wired and wireless voice, video and data services necessary to meet the needs of current and future residents, businesses, health institutions, educational institutions and community entities. Collectively, these organizations are seeking an innovative network solution; preparing the community for the future while serving the needs of today, and providing maximum benefit to Celebration Efforts made over the past months with SmartCity and Comcast to address immediate, short term service quality issues has resulted in improved service performance over the existing network. This includes: Providing increased broadband throughput to the South Hub ( i.e. West Village, Artisan Park and surrounding area) Additional network"tune-ups and monitoring" Meetings with residents, participation in computer users group meetings, etc. to understand and address individual concerns - Smart City Established new measurement and reporting tools between Smart City and Comcast to improve the management and performance of the existing plant Reduced the number of service calls in February and March To meet the community s requirement for an advanced network and more robust services, SmartCity has proposed to upgrade all existing residential areas of Celebration with a leading edge Fiber-To-The-Home, or FTTH (GPON), network, regardless of whether or not Celebration facilitates this effort, and offer an initial data service to residents of 100 Mbps X 100 Mbps (symmetrical) at a competitive retail rate Additionally, Comcast has efforts underway to build its own X1 -HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coax) network to greenfield areas of Celebration -(i.e. Spring Lake) currently in permitting process - and will offer voice, video and data services In order to better understand Smart City and Comcast plans and also evaluate competitive provider interest and opportunity, a Celebration Technology Request For Information (RFI) was drafted and issued to the following pre-qualified service providers: AT&T Bright House Networks CenturyLink Comcast* Google Fiber Smart City* Summit Broadband *incumbent provider 2

3 Executive Summary (cont.) During the response period, we received numerous information requests and questions from these service providers; primarily around bulk vs. retail solutions, identification of any existing bulk agreements that could impact the provider s interest, specific technology solutions, easements, and exclusivity of current providers To date, formal RFI responses have been received from: Bright House Networks Comcast Smart City Summit Broadband AT&T has not provided a formal response but has indicated an interest in fully evaluating the out of territory opportunity to overbuild Celebration. Due to legal, technical/engineering and regulatory restrictions (as well as opportunities), AT&T has requested additional time to provide a response as to its interest and ability to serve Celebration An overview of each responding provider and summary of their RFI response is included in the document It is clear that we have been successful in identifying several options for Celebration to enjoy the benefits of the latest, most advanced Gig Ready network technology and services and encourage competition by providing residents choice among providers and services Celebration leadership should establish the requirements for selecting a solution, including: Network Architecture - FTTH vs. HFC/X1 Overbuild vs. Upgrade - Disturbance and Easement issues CROA Bulk vs. Retail Pricing Marketing/Promotional Rights The recommended next step is to share the results from this RFI exercise with CROA and the CJC and schedule presentations with those providers who Celebration is most interested in hearing from and that are considered to have provided the best response(s). As Smart City and Comcast are the incumbents currently serving Celebration, they should be included in the presentations Comcast has proposed to mobilize an Xfinity demonstration trailer in Celebration as part of their proposal and provided a tentative list of attendees for the CROA meeting on 4/29: Amy Smith Senior Regional Vice President, Donny FitzGerald Vice President of Engineering, Tom Zemaitis Vice President of Marketing, Rafael Visbal Vice President of Commercial Development Sales, Regan Anderson Senior Director of Commercial Development Strategic Team 3 3

4 Responding Service Providers Company Summary Privately-held, LLC Sixth largest cable company in the U.S., second largest in Florida Parent company is Comcast Corporation - Publicly traded Single largest converged network in the U.S. Incumbent Local Exchange Company Headquartered in LBV with a service area that consists of 27,000 acres in Orange and Osceola Counties Acquired by Cable Bahamas (CAB) in publicly traded on the Bahamian stock exchange (BISX) Serves 29,000 residents in Florida Serves 2.5 million customers in five (5) states Triple Play - Voice, Video and Data Serves over 21 million customers Existing Franchised Cable Provider in Celebration In permitting process to build its own network in greenfield areas of Celebration and provide voice, video and data services Serves residents in Celebration, Lake Buena Vista, and Little Lake Bryan Deploying FTTH in greenfield areas of Celebration (i.e. Spring Lake) - voice/data only Five (5) FTTH Communities in Central Florida (235 total) FTTH Provider in Disney s Golden Oak Provider in Emerson 4

5 Service Provider RFI Responses Dashboard Wired Network Architecture Regulatory Status Wireless Bright House Networks Comcast Smart City Summit Broadband FTTH* CLEC Franchised Cable Provider FTTH* X1 - HFC Franchised Cable Provider FTTH ILEC FTTH CLEC Franchised Cable Provider Voice X X X X Video X X X Data X X X X In-home WIFI X X X X Celebration/Metro WIFI National WIFI X X X X Other Home Security/ Automation Mobile Apps X X X * With Bulk Agreement Only 5

6 Synergy Assessment Completed After Presentations Vision and Values Alignment with Celebration- Do the company s vision and values align with those of Celebration? Is this company s vision to be a best in class provider in this type of market? Did the company s representatives conduct themselves in a way that is in line with Celebration s community values? Access To Decision-Makers - Did the company s decision maker(s) attend the meetings or were they included by name in the proposal/ presentations such that you are comfortable that you could easy access that decision maker as required throughout the agreement, engineering, construction, deployment and operations phases of the project? Commitment to Innovative Solutions - Did the company demonstrate a commitment to innovative technology solutions (or are they a business as usual company)? Champion is Clear to Identify - Was the company s local champion clear to identify at the presentations or in the proposal? If so, how comfortable are you in with that person, based on your initial introduction? Long Term Commitment - Is the company in this business for the long term and do you sense that they are committed and focused on the long term success of the project? Does the Company Anticipate Future Change - Is the company undergoing or anticipating a major change that could effect the project? This would include a merger, sale, restructuring, etc. (This could be good or bad but could disrupt the project) Do they Walk The Walk - Did the company act or practice what their company believes in their presentation (or did they just pay lip service to those company beliefs)? OVERALL SYNERGY RANKING 6

7 Service Provider Synergy Ranking { Rank 1-5 with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest } Bright House Networks Comcast Smart City Summit Broadband Vision and Values Alignment with Celebration Access To Decision-Makers Commitment to Innovative Solutions Champion is Clear to Identify Long Term Commitment Does the Company Anticipate Future Change Do they Walk The Walk OVERALL SYNERGY RANKING 7 7

8 Telecommunications Network Comparison - Existing Plan vs. Overbuild FTTH Overbuilder - New Fiber - Transports Voice,Video and Data services CABLE COMPANY Overbuilder - New Fiber and Coaxial Cable - Transports Voice,Video and Data services Existing Fiber - Transports Comcast and Smart City signals into Celebration Coaxial Cable - Transports Comcast Video and Data services to home Copper Cable - Transports Smart City Voice and Data services to home 8