If all goes according to plan, the Port Orchard area will see an increased competitiveness in fiber-optic services by mid-year 2009. Kitsap Public Utility District 1 is working on extending its fiber-optic backbone to South Kitsap, a move that is expected to be completed in several phases.
The PUD’s original 108-mile backbone stretches from Mason County through Bremerton and up north. Since its construction about six years ago, the network has been extended to areas like Bainbridge Island, based on service requests. The PUD can only sell the service wholesale, but once the network is in place, any “last-mile” or retail provider can use it to provide the service to customers.
Currently, Wave Broadband has its own fiber-optic network in South Kitsap, so entities like Kitsap County and the city of Port Orchard are able to buy the service. Port Orchard, for example, is able to save considerable operating funds by using fiber-optic in its court system for video arraignment. City’s police officers no longer have to transport alleged criminals from the county’s jail to the city’s municipal court for arraignment, and instead the proceedings are done over closed-circuit video directly from the jail.
Originally, the Port Orchard City Council opted not to renew the PUD’s 10-year agreement with the City when it was up, at the suggestion of Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola. “The agreement had been in place for 10 years and we still didn’t have fiber-optic in the City to any extent,” said the Mayor. “What was the point? We felt it was way past time for the PUD to fulfill its end of the deal, or we needed to be looking at all other options.”
The Council’s decision not to renew the agreement is what motivated the PUD into action, because it would have meant digging up what was already in the ground and removing all its infrastructure from the City’s right-of-way.
The new agreement however, will make the fiber-optic service more competitive, supporters say.
“It’s always been our desire to have the PUD system in South Kitsap, though they bypassed Port Orchard initially,” said Port Orchard City Council member John Clauson. He referred to 10-year agreement and noted the city originally even offered to house their facilities a decade ago. The new agreement includes an implementation timeline that will negate the agreement if it isn’t met, he said.
“By having this fiber-optic system in the community, it provides the opportunity for other suppliers to provide the service,” he said. “It’s not just for the benefit of city government but also for the citizens to have options available.”
Washington state Legislature authorized public utility districts to provide wholesale fiber-optic services in 1999. Initially, the Kitsap PUD commissioners opted not to pursue the telecom route, but reconsidered after public pressure. The backbone was built from the Mason County’s PUD to Kingston, with node sites in Bremerton, at the airport industrial area, in Poulsbo and on Bainbridge.
The PUD is in the engineering stage for adding a node site in Port Orchard, according to Mike Koepki, assistant manager at KPUD. Because the PUD doesn’t own power lines, it must request authorization from Puget Sound Energy to attach the cable to its poles, an authorization that can take up to 90 days to obtain.
The PUD designed the route and submitted it to PSE around mid-October. Once PSE reviews it, Koepki said it will either permit the cables to be attached, or request a so-called “make-ready” change, which in some instances could mean replacing the entire pole. Some “make-ready” requirements become too cost-prohibitive, he said, which means the PUD has to reconsider the route, or look into undergrounding.
The utility district estimates it could take about two years for the entire project to be completed, but some areas of Port Orchard, like the courthouse, could have the backbone within a year. Other areas that will get covered by the initial infrastructure will include Mile Hill Drive and the new Port Orchard industrial area where the city’s Public Works facility is located.
“Once the main backbone goes in, it’s easy to add new conduits when we get a request for services,” said Jim Bolt, KPUD communications manager. “As a public agency, we only need to recover costs, not make money.”
