2007TCMT0518

Town of Rensselaerville

Telecommunications Committee

May18, 2007

Location: Town of Rensselaerville

Present: Cathleen Bobrick, Member

Jost Nickelsberg, Supervisor

Fred Urrutia, Member

Lisa Snyder, Member

James Reynolds, President, Mid-Hudson Cable

Brian Bowes, Director of Business Development, Mid-Hudson Cable

Stuart Smith, Operations Manager, Mid-Hudson Cable

• MHC has 1,000 miles of plant total, 20,000 subscribers in 28 communities, 8,000 broadband subscribers
• Plant and Rensselaerville conversion is complete
• HFC nodes reach 1.75 miles out, (3.5 miles max diameter)
• Cost $350,000 to $400,000, USDA rural access loan funded
• Can approach USDA for additional monies (harder for town to do this once USDA has already awarded loans or grants)
• MHC has additional applications currently pending
• Shifting focus to Cairo, Ashland, Windham and several other towns (Rensselaerville was the first upgrade!)
• Increased the local mileage from 50 (Milestone) to 70 (MHC)
• Rensselaerville Institute is also now connected to MHC
• In Rensselaerville they pass 520 HHs
• Typical rural penetration is 70% of passed HHs
• Cost per mile to extend reach is $22,000
• Make ready alone is ~$3K, they are taxed on lines at rate per linear foot, need to clear power and telephone line requirements, codes, etc.
• MHC is open to further expansion
• Typical HPM is 35, MHC agreement states 15 HPM adequate and are willing to consider proposal for as few as 10 HPM
• Stuart Smith is to provide coverage map to post in town hall
• They provided us NYSPSC CAC (contribution in aid of construction) formula
• For extension, MHC will contact residents in area, evaluate elec, etc., to determine cost
• May offer to install for extra costs to be borne by residents and pro-rate to later subscribers on the line to repay original investors
• Town can elect to underwrite extension cost
• Town can also develop (add to existing) comprehensive plan to aid in planning of trunk extension (trunk serves additional drops)
• Telephone territories are exclusive, i.e., MHC cannot enter Midtel-serviced area or overlay Midtel, thus MHC thinks they cannot service Crystal Lake and NW town area
• We pointed out that we believe we can get a variance if Midtel chooses to not run cable/IP services to that end of town
• Midtel is “open” to working together with other carriers (per a Midtel principal); Reynolds knows Midtel; possible area to explore later?