Has San Francisco Lost Its Heart for Operators?

The City of San Francisco is considering deploying its own fiber-based gigabit broadband network to replace existing contracts with service providers to eventually reduce costs and improve its ability to become a smart city.

Earlier this week, Mayor Mark Farrell released a report that estimated it would cost between $1.2 billion and $1.8 billion in one-time construction costs and between $69 million and $121 million annually to maintain a fiber optic network throughout the city. San Francisco would own the network, but contract network services out to the private sector, according to the estimate.

By implementing its own broadband infrastructure, the city could defray up to $154 million in anticipated planned and aspirational costs through fiscal year 2020-21, the report said. In the current fiscal year, San Francisco would save approximately $450,000, with up to about $1.2 million in cost savings in three years, it added.

Several government divisions weighed in on how they could use government-owned gigabit broadband network infrastructure to enhance services and/or reduce expenses. The Department of Health, for example, could use telehealth to reduce and eliminate hospital readmissions -- thereby meeting federal criteria for Medicare and Medicaid payments and increasing its funding. DPH, which monitors the prison population, could similarly use telemedicine to cut costs and would avoid deploying its own planned fiber optic cable, the report said.

Likewise, the Metropolitan Transit Authority could ramp up its use of smart traffic controls, such as lights and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices, it said.

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— Alison Diana, Editor, Broadband World News. Follow us on Twitter @BroadbandWN or @alisoncdiana.