Business owners in Durango and La Plata County mention two things repeatedly as integral to their success here: The Internet and air service.
The Durango Herald reported (Dec. 28) on the initial efforts of the La Plata County Economic Development Alliance and SkyWerx to broaden access to high-speed Internet in La Plata County. In fact, the Alliance has set a goal for every household in La Plata County to have access to high-speed Internet by the end of 2019.
Why does universal access to high-speed Internet matter? From an economic development perspective, high-speed Internet access helps increase home-based work opportunities and helps diversify our economy.
La Plata County is one of the top counties for home-based workers in the United States. More than 2,000 of our residents work from home. Examples of these home-based workers include a chief financial officer of a plastics distributor in Connecticut; a senior executive for a corporation headquartered in Bangalore, India; a chief executive officer of a software firm; and a geologist who assists in deep-sea oil exploration globally.
Several home-based workers I have met are considering opening offices here and hiring people locally, which is something we have seen in the past. For example: HDS Freight in Bayfield and Mercury in Durango. Other firms have opened offices as a result of finding key employees here, such as Geocommand and SolarCity.
Most companies and home-based workers need at least 10 megabits per second (mbps) of download speed to be able to successfully run their business. Unfortunately, there are few places outside the municipalities where that type of Internet access is available. This is limiting our ability to attract home-based workers who can diversify our local economy and add jobs here.
The Alliance is in the initial planning stages of this ambitious goal to have 100-percent, high-speed Internet coverage for every rooftop in La Plat County. Here is what we know so far:
Based on existing academic research, the Alliance believes this type of coverage could boost our local economy by $20 million to $35 million per year.
Wireless high-speed Internet will likely be the solution for most of rural La Plata County, as fiber is too expensive to extend in many locations.
We worked with the county and Ecosphere to map the viewsheds from existing tower sites. Most rooftops in the county can be seen from existing tower sites, which should help make this project more affordable.
Maps of high-speed Internet in La Plata County are not accurate. A step we are working on right now is refining the high-speed Internet maps to best target our efforts and funding.
We will need to seek capital for two reasons: First, we will need loans and investment to scale expansion in high-density areas in order to meet our timeline; second, we will need grants to complete high-speed access in areas with low-rooftop density.
Thanks again to the Herald for covering this project. We look forward to updating residents of La Plata County through our website (www.yeslpc.com), Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LaPlataEconomicDevelopmentAlliance) and news coverage as the project progresses.
Roger Zalneraitis is executive director of the La Plata County Economic Development Alliance, a 501(c)6 public-private partnership founded in 2011 to foster the economic success of La Plata County. For more information, see www.yeslpc.com.
