Background

Reliability has long been a problem with lit services. Providers of lit services frequently perform maintenance, disrupting normal operations for hours at a time. But public universities operate 24/7, and a dedicated fiber network can operate years without service interruption. KANREN currently operates a hybrid backbone, built partially on dedicated fiber and partially on lit services. In the long-term, lit services are not as reliable, budget stable, or scalable. Dedicated fiber is a smart investment for financial, operational, and technical efficiency, and build the capacity to extend collaboration with neighboring states; creating a truly regional infrastructure.

Problem

New services continue to be added to technology in our fast-paced world. Currently, budget stability can be impacted when those new services are provisioned under our current hybrid model. Costly and inefficient, lit services are regulated as “telecommunications” services by the FCC and are subject to ever-increasing and volatile Federal Universal Service Fund (FUSF) assessments, which have grown more than 8% in the last 5 years to over 28% as of fall 2020. These fees are passed on to the “end user” from the telecommunications carriers and represent an ongoing cost increase that cannot be predicted or mitigated.

Lit services designs last only about five years. It currently takes 2–3 years to re-architect, negotiate, and implement each lit service backbone design which is a resource intensive task, considering the short time frame it is effective.

Solution

Dedicated fiber is highly preferable to lit services. When fiber leases are paid up-front, total cost of ownership is significantly lower than lit services they replace, while providing greater utility. KANREN and Kansas public universities believe that a dedicated fiber network is the best long-term solution. In addition to the positive results for our larger public higher education institutions; there would be a positive collateral effect for other KANREN members, including community colleges, K–12 schools, public libraries, healthcare, local and county governments and other public service organizations; thus extending the value of the asset to the greater good of the state. Investing in dedicated fiber will promote economic development opportunities and may even impact public-private partnerships to solve unique rural broadband availability challenges.