Los Angeles to issue gigabit broadband RFP

The City of Los Angeles plans to issue an RFP as part of its CityLinkLA broadband initiative. The RFP, which the City Council approved June 10, seeks one or more partners who will commit to building fixed and wireless broadband access networks that will support at least 1-Gbps symmetrical services.

Potential partners also will be required to provide a no-cost service that includes basic wireless for economically disadvantaged citizens. The city government wants the project completed within the next five years.

The city will not devote taxpayer money to the project. However, it believes it has assembled enough inducements to foster a viable business model for potential service providers. These include a streamlined permit process and identification and development of bulk rate prices for municipal assets that service providers could leverage to aid their roll outs – including Department of Water and Power's fiber-optic network. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles also could make assets available; Metro, for example, has agreed to lease excess capacity on its fiber network.

The RFP divides the city into four quadrants; responses may focus on any or all of the four.

The city government expects to finalize the RFP and make it available no later than June 23. Project leaders will host a mandatory proposers' conference July 16. The deadline for RFP responses is 2 PM on November 12, 2015.

More information about the project is available on the CityLinkLA website.

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