12/19/2023
Conconully Chamber needs help...please read.
Heh everyone wouldn’t broadband be nice! The PUD is looking for funding to bring fiber to Conconully. The following is a letter from economic alliance seeking g letters of support. Please take the time to respond if you are in support! Thank you!!
Good Morning-
We are currently seeking an official letter of support, ASAP, for the OK
PUD’s application into the WA State Public Works Board for Broadband
services in the Town of Conconully and surrounding area. If possible, we
would like letters in by December 28th. We thank you for taking the time to
do this on such short notice! Please see the below information about the
specifics in their request
The PUD is seeking letters of support for a grant application we intend to
submit to the WA State Public Works Board that would allow us to expand our
fiber optic networks to include fiber to the premise in Conconully. The
deadline to submit any applications for the Infrastructure Acceleration
Grant Program for consideration by the PWB is Thursday, January 4, 2024, at
5:00PM so your timely attention to this request would be very much
appreciated. The proposed project would augment the PUD’s existing middle
mile fiber optic network in Conconully.
Here are some of the advantages Conconully would be able to recognize if
reliable broadband were available:
• Tele-health/tele-medicine
• Distance Learning
• Tangible business benefits by being connected to the internet
• Access to reliable voice and data communications
• Etc.
Please let me know ASAP if I can count on a letter in support of the PUD’s
intent to respond to the State’s broadband grant opportunity. It would be
good if the letter could touch on the following:
• Benefits that this Fiber to the Home project would bring to those
who live and work in these areas.
• Benefits that will be seen that may have never been recognized in
the past due to lack of connectivity.
• This project is for an expansion of the PUD’s fiber infrastructure
which provides for long-term broadband viability when compared to wireless
connectivity.
• This funding opportunity would allow for the expansion of the PUD’s
existing middle-mile fiber infrastructure in these areas.
• Without a funding mechanism, it is highly unlikely that the PUD
would be able to self-fund a project of this magnitude.
• We’re not a startup, we have been doing this for a while.
o The PUD has been actively engaged in the operation and maintenance
of open access broadband infrastructure for nearly 23 years.
• We have Retail Service Partners who can offer services in any new
area we expand into.
o The PUD has long-standing relationships with LOCAL retail service
providers who are ready and willing to offer internet service to any
business or residence in the project area that could be served with a fiber
optic connection.
• This project benefits the County in general and moves us closer to
the state’s goals of 150Mbps Down/ 150Mbps Up by 2028.
Roni Holder-Diefenbach, Executive Director
Economic Alliance
P.O. Box 626
Omak, WA 98841
Phone: 509-826-5107
Cell: 509-322-4634
[email protected]
