The interest in electric utility broadband deployments has been on a resurgence in the past few years. Many utilities that have entered the broadband business have sought partnerships with private providers while others have stood up a stand-alone broadband business operated by utility staff.

This session presents a balance of the challenges and considerations in preparing a business plan and the structure of the new business venture. The presentation will highlight two case studies of contrasting strategies to advance the availability of broadband. We will present a case study of Huntsville Municipal Utilities and their partnership with Google, and Tipmont REMC in Indiana with their entry into broadband as a retail provider over a FTTP infrastructure.

Attendees will learn about the pros and cons of various business models and lessons learned from each case study.