News : iVinton committee continues making progress

iVinton continues to make progress toward the creation of a functioning local telecommunications utility. Members of iVinton met recently with the board of the Vinton Municipal Electric Utility to report on progress and to discuss the next steps required to create a complete system for Vinton.

In their report, iVinton committee members shared what had been learned from visits to IndyTel in Independence and USA Communications in Shellsburg. The group’s consensus from those visits is that Vinton should avoid making investments in physical infrastructure potential partners already have.

While both IndyTel and USA Communications expressed interest in partnering with Vinton to provide voice, internet and cable television services, iVinton members made clear in the meeting with VMEU that they were not recommending that potential partnerships be limited to just those two organizations. Instead, the group recommended that Vinton’s system be constructed to allow the widest possible number of potential partnerships.

The VMEU board and iVinton members agreed that the next step should be finding experienced firms interested in doing the feasibility studies. The studies would be in accord with Vinton’s desire to partner with other existing telecommunications providers. The feasibility studies will include engineering studies based on Vinton’s geography and existing infrastructure, and economic studies based on the community’s income, demographics and current telecommunications providers.

Tom Richtsmeier, VEMU General Manager and a member of the iVinton committee will attend the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities’ Broadband Conference in Des Moines on the 29th and 30th of March. The purpose of attending the conference is to learn more about municipal telecommunications utilities in Iowa, and to learn more about potential vendors for the feasibility studies.