Consulting on the Triple Play

In most parts of the world, including the U.S., voice, video, and IP in a bundle are new and unusual. But some companies are already specializing in building the infrastructure that delivers it all.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [January 10, 2005]

Foes of municipal Internet projects raise many arguments against the projects, some of which are valid. One valid argument against municipal Internet projects is that city governments lack the expertise to the run the networks.

We agree. That's why, in practice, cities tend to work with the local power company, a local WISP, or a company with municipal consulting expertise like Provo, Utah-based HomeNet Communications (a wholly owned subsidiary of HomeNet Corporation).

The company was involved in one of the first fiber to the home rollouts in the U.S. (for more, see, for example, the essay from the Fiber to the Home Council (FTTH Council) Great Needs, Unique Advantages).

The Grant County rollout was by a power company that is operated as a cooperative. It supplies cheap hydro power to local residents and sells any surplus to California. It keeps some of the surplus for investment and expenses, but also returns part of the surplus in an annual rebate to customers.

So HomeNet Communications has worked with a power company before, and that helped the company win the contract. "When the city of Provo put out the RFP," says Frank Gillen, president of HomeNet Corporation, "they did 6 or 7 months of due diligence, and we were up against 8 or 9 substantial companies."

Working with the city government and the local power company confers real advantages, besides the $40 million that the city has allocated to the buildout. "The power company is a division of the city government, so it owns rights of way, and that is an advantage. In preparation for the project, the power company installed a fiber ring from substation to substation."

Gillen says that states are beginning to require power companies to hook up their infrastructure to a network of some kind to prevent blackouts through better power management.

The company brought some key lessons from the Grant County buildout, the first of which is that the Provo ISP, iProvo, will have an integrated IP and video product. HomeNet Communications is working with French set top box designer NetCentrex. ISP-Planet has advised readers that large, reliable European companies trying to break into the U.S. market may be willing to work with smaller companies than usual, and HomeNet Communications has taken advantage of this, working with a world class set top box designer.

Gillen is happy to work with NetCentrex. "NetCentrex is one of the largest VoIP equipment providers in the world! They just reached 20 million customers. They approached us at a convention looking for someone here in the U.S. who could represent them in a strategic venture. Usually, they won't deal with anything under 30,000 or 40,000 subscribers, but we bought a $500,000 softswitch. They run though us all of their U.S. customers requiring service, and we get number portability around the world."

"The set top box will be ready in Q1 2005," enthuses Gillen. "It will cost about $100 in quantity. It's a fully integrated IP set top box offering 1.5 Mbps up and goes. We'll deliver a 65 channel package, parental guidance, and on the telephone side, it works with any telephone."

The iProvo project will roll out in eight stages (see map here). The city of Provo will own the cable headend and iProvo will lease it from the city on a per subscriber basis. The headend will obtain content through the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC).

But the system will also deliver local content. A pilot project is up and running in Provo's Grandview neighborhood. Mike Devine, president of HomeNet Communications, says that the local community has taken advantage of the ability to post content to a video server. "A lot of stuff on the Grandview server is filmed by parents," he says. "It's plays, soccer games, whatever."

Devine hopes that local schools will also take advantage of the system. "It would help home schooling and also make it easier for teachers to use videos. Usually, the teacher has to request a video before the class. Then someone has to drive to a storage place, pick it up, and deliver it. We could get a server and download all these educational videos on to the server. The applications for this—and we're just starting to launch it—are endless."

Gillen has even broader ambitions. The parent company (HomeNet Corporation) is working with really big customers—such as the U.S. military—to deliver video content and communications to expats. "At an airbase in South Korea, they may have 10 channels. We can give them a triple play type offering including video on demand. We have number portability, so when a military man calls his wife, it's a local call." Whether the applications are global or local, the potential really does seem endless.

— End