The District operates a fiber optic network that’s larger and more powerful than any other metropolitan city’s in the nation, and officials of the cash-strapped city are looking to lease out access on it to more federal agencies. “D.C. operates a network that’s unprecedented in size for a metropolitan area,” Joanne Hovis, the president of consulting company CTC Technology and Energy said during a recent council hearing on the network’s status. “It has speeds and infrastructure that only exist in a small fraction of the U.S.” The city invested $87 million into D.C.-Net to get there. It now has 350 miles of fiber optic cable connecting city agencies at 355 locations in all eight wards. More than 33,000 District employees use it every day, and it handles calls to the emergency 911 call center and the city’s 311 information line. The District also hasn’t spent a dime on it since 2007. Instead, the network runs on a surplus, which is reinvested into its infrastructure, officials said. Now, the city stands to earn millions by leasing access to the network out to federal agencies.
“In the past some have worried that this network would be a waste of District funds,” Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh said during the hearing. “However, today new entities are seeking services through the network, including federal agencies such as [Federal Emergency Management Agency].”
Interim director of the D.C. technology office, Rob Mancini, said the city already has a $1.6 million annual contract with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
“Others have expressed interest,” he said.
D.C.-Net was designed to ensure that communication among emergency responders would not be disrupted during terrorist attacks or natural disasters. The bulk of its funding came through after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when communication systems failed.
Now it might also help to bring Internet access to the city’s poorest neighborhoods. A $17.4 million stimulus fund grant will soon help the District add 150 miles of cable.
The extra mileage will help the city “bridge the digital divide by bringing high-speed broadband to those who can’t afford to have it in their homes,” Mancini said.
Last summer, the federal government gave the District an $17.4 million stimulus fund grant to add 150 miles of cable that will help bring broadband Internet access to residents who would otherwise be unable to afford it.
