Yellow Springs is in the nascent stages of developing its municipal broadband strategy.  Leveraging ownership of its electrical distribution system coupled with an existing data center in town, the Village is poised to build out its fiber network when appropriate financial and technical solutions are identified.

Recently, the Village established a “dig once” practice for its construction projects, and a partnership with a regional council of governments to provide high speed Internet to local businesses is being explored.  Our Community Access Panel, in collaboration with local experts, is planning a seminar for early 2015 to educate citizens and public officials, establish community goals and objectives, and generate recommendations.

A wireless mesh initiative is actively being discussed among various stakeholders – schools, businesses, government – that would involve a collaborative effort to bring free WIFI to downtown Yellow Springs, providing equitable access to the Internet, promoting economic development and enhancing quality of life.  This project could create a platform for building a more extensive municipal fiber backbone to generate revenues for the Village by providing Internet as a utility and reduce expenses via operational efficiencies.  Connecting to regional networks will further strengthen our position.

Visit yellow-springs.net for more about municipal broadband-related activities in the Village of Yellow Springs.

Since then the network has attracted thirteen (13) carriers that connect Internet, voice, video and data center services to city and county buildings, public safety, libraries, health agencies and industrial corporations. Introducing more carriers to Medina County has produced an approximate 40% reduction in price and has opened three (3) data centers that are located on the network’s backbone.

Economic development is the primary driver of the network. The data shown below resonates the success of how this fiber network has affected the economy of Medina County.

We have seen $343,689,375 in capital investment by MCFN customers from 2014-2018:
They have created 1,003 new jobs with a payroll of over $34 million.
They have retained 5,112 jobs.
They have created or absorbed 2.2 million square feet of space.
What do these numbers mean? If we divide projects created by MCFN customers by the county as a whole, it adds up to:
Nearly half of total payroll created, half of capital investment, half of square footage, and new jobs, and nearly three-quarters of jobs retained.
40% of total payroll created
48% of capital investment
49% of square footage
42% of new jobs
71% of jobs retained
Medina County is working to further develop the open-access model by opening up the infrastructure to residential carriers. New residential services include telemedicine and smart home applications provided by multiple carriers across a neutral telecommunications platform.