Town of Aurora Broadband Initiative
A proposal to close the rural broadband gap in the Town of Aurora, in Erie County, New York.1
Rural Aurora is underserved.
The Town of Aurora is in Erie County, in Western New York, and includes the village of East Aurora.1 Service in the village is better than in the rural parts of town, where fewer homes have a wired broadband option.
Students can't finish homework. Farmers can't use precision agriculture tools or reach commodity markets online. Elderly residents can't use telehealth, and home-based businesses have trouble competing.
I wrote the Town of Aurora Broadband Initiative (TABI) as a proposal to close this gap with municipal fiber, digital equity programs, and community partnerships. It adapts municipal broadband models from other parts of the country to rural Western New York.
The bar has moved.
From 2015 until March 2024, the FCC defined broadband as 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.2 Under the 2021 federal infrastructure law, a home without access to 25/3 service counts as unserved, and one without access to 100/20 service counts as underserved.3 In March 2024 the FCC raised its own benchmark to 100/20 Mbps.2
Erie County is building fiber too.
Erie County is building ErieNet, an open-access fiber backbone of roughly 400 miles funded with $36 million in American Rescue Plan money, to reach unserved and underserved parts of the county.4 A town-level plan like TABI would sit on top of that kind of county infrastructure.
Four parts of the proposal.
Infrastructure Assessment
Mapped existing broadband infrastructure across the Town of Aurora. Found gaps in fiber, cable, and fixed wireless coverage by checking FCC Form 477 data against resident surveys.
Municipal Broadband Model
Proposed a publicly owned fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network modeled on municipal broadband in Chattanooga, TN and Wilson, NC. Projected cost per household and revenue over 20 years.
Digital Equity Framework
Proposed subsidized service tiers for low-income households, public Wi-Fi at community centers and libraries, and device lending for households without a computer.
Economic Impact Analysis
Estimated that closing the broadband gap could raise property values by 3-6%, make remote work possible for 200+ households, and help small businesses in agriculture, tourism, and home-based work.
Without reliable broadband, rural households in Aurora have a harder time with school, healthcare, and work. TABI proposes a way for the town to fix that with public fiber and targeted support for low-income households.
Sources
- 1Aurora, Erie County, New York · WikipediaTown in Erie County, Western New York; contains the Village of East Aurora.
- 2FCC Increases Broadband Benchmark · Broadband Breakfast, Mar 14, 202425/3 Mbps benchmark from 2015 raised to 100/20 Mbps.
- 3How the FCC Got to 100/20 · Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Mar 14, 2024IIJA (2021): no 25/3 access = unserved; no 100/20 access = underserved.
- 4'We want to be an example': ErieNet plans taking shape, 400 miles of fiber cable to be installed next month · WKBW, Mar 19, 2024400 miles of open-access fiber; $36 million in American Rescue Plan funds; unserved and underserved areas.