Program Guidelines Round Two Funding Rural Broadband Initiative

Transcription

1 Program Guidelines Round Two Funding Rural Broadband Initiative Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development September 17, 2012

2 Rural Broadband Initiative Call for Proposals/Program Guidelines Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development Contents 1) Introduction ) Rationale ) Purpose ) Objectives ) Call for Proposals ) Submission Deadline ) Communications ) Eligible Applicants ) Eligible Activities and Project Coverage Models ) Eligible Households and Businesses ) Eligible Costs ) Contribution Amounts ) Stacking of Assistance ) Payment Provisions ) Project Locations ) Expected Results and Key Performance Indicators ) Submission Format ) ACF and Access Rights ) Additional Value ) Eligibility Requirements ) Detailed Submission Requirements Page 1 of 33

3 Definitions In addition to those terms defined elsewhere in this Document, a capitalized term in this Document has the meaning given to it in this Section. a) Document means this Call for Proposals/Program Guidelines Document, as may be amended from time to time. b) Broadband Service means an Internet service that supports all of the following: i. data transmission at a minimum download speed of 1.5 Mbps (Megabits per second) and upload speed of 512 Kbps (Kilobits per second) to users (users represent a household / Business); ii. iii. a maximum Oversubscription Ratio a. of 20:1 for networks of 100 users or less; b. linearly scaling from 20:1 for networks with 100 users up to 50:1 for networks with 4,000 users; and c. of 50:1 for networks of 4,000 users or more a monthly data throughput limit not lower than 10GB (Gigabytes). c) Business means a building or site where commercial work is carried on, such as a factory, store, or office; a traditional home housing a home-based Business or bed-and-breakfast; or a government site such as a school, hospital/clinic, regional or corporate office. d) Contribution means the total amount of funding made available to the Proponent under this Document as set out in Section 12. e) Coverage means the number of currently Un-served households / Businesses to be provided with access to Broadband Service. f) Direct Costs are comprised of direct material costs, direct labour costs and other Direct Costs as described in Section 11. g) Effective Date means September 4, 2012, which is the earliest date on which Eligible Costs may be incurred. h) Eligible Costs means those Direct Costs incurred between the Effective Date and the Project Completion Date that are ultimately paid or to be paid by the proponent and which comply with the requirements for funding by the Minister as set out in Section 11. i) Fiscal Year means the period beginning April 1 st in any year and ending on March 31 st of the following year. j) Funding Proposal means the application for Rural Broadband Initiative funding which was submitted by the Proponent and approved by the Minister. k) Oversubscription Ratio is a ratio of the target download bandwidth Page 2 of 33

4 (greater than or equal to 1.5 Mbps (Megabits per second) multiplied by the total number of subscribers to the total available effective bandwidth. l) Party means the Minister or the Proponent, as the case may be, and Parties means the Minister and the Proponent. m) Project means the activities in respect of which the Proponent s application for Rural Broadband Initiative funding as described in Section 21, including, without limitation, the establishment of individual Project Sites. n) Project Budget means the Proponent s financial plan for the Project, as approved by the Minister and set out in Section 21, which includes all Project Costs and all revenue and in-kind Contributions received or expected to be received by the Proponent for the Project. o) Project Costs means the aggregate of the Eligible Costs, Non-Eligible Costs and any other cash paid and/or in-kind Contributions made by the Proponent for the Project (if any), as set out in the Project Budget. p) Project Completion means the point at which the Project is completed and the resulting network is implemented and available to provide Broadband Service, all in accordance with the specifications set out in Section 21. q) Project Completion Date means the date stated in Section 5 as the date on or before which Project Completion must occur. r) Project Sites means the towers and other points of presence to be constructed or otherwise established by the Proponent through implementation of the Project, as described in Section 21 and Project Site means one of such towers or points of presence. s) Project Start Date means the date specified in Section 5 which is the latest date by which the Project must be or has commenced. t) Service Start Date means the date specified in Section 5 which is the date by which Broadband Service must be commercially offered to Unserved households / Businesses to be provided with Broadband Service under this Project. u) Third Party means any legal entity, individual, partnership or organization, other than a Party, who participates in the Project. v) Un-served households / Businesses means a household / Business with no Internet access or access only via dial-up telephone service at speeds of up to 56 kbps. Page 3 of 33

5 1) Introduction Administered by the Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development (IBRD), the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI) is a funding program designed to address gaps and deficiencies in Broadband Service infrastructure to households and Businesses throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. Specifically, RBI is targeted toward un-served areas where residential and Business consumers do not have access to high-speed Internet. RBI will help facilitate new investments in the province s Broadband Service infrastructure to improve the business case for telecommunication carriers and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to expand Coverage and provide service to households and Businesses that are currently un-served. Further, RBI builds on the Provincial Government s previous investments in Broadband Service infrastructure, which include the previous round of the RBI, the federal-provincial Broadband for Rural and Northern Development (BRAND), the Centre for Distance Learning Initiative (CDLI) program, and the Atlantic Cable Facility (Trans-gulf Fibre Optic Network Project). It serves as a critical step to allow the Provincial Government to continue to address the economic and social challenges faced by areas of the province that have limited Broadband Service availability. (See Section 17 for Instructions) 2) Rationale Access to modern telecommunication infrastructure and service is vital in many aspects of education, healthcare, Business and community life. While substantial improvements have been made since 2003 to the province s telecommunication infrastructure, many households and Businesses still remain without reasonably affordable access to high-speed Broadband Service. Approximately 25,000 to 30,000 households and Businesses still reside in areas where high-speed service is largely unavailable. Generally, most of these unserved locations are in areas that have low density populations, and are located in rural and remote regions of the province. RBI is focused on addressing some of the most chronically un-served regions of the province, and while this call will not result in 100 per cent affordable Coverage for all citizens, it will serve as a major initiative to address the telecommunication infrastructure deficits that still exist. Page 4 of 33

6 Under RBI, government seeks innovative and customized Broadband Service solutions from industry. These solutions involve a range of options, including wireline, satellite, wireless and cell technologies. Funds under the initiative are to be used primarily to help improve the business case for service providers to expand Coverage to more households and Businesses. 3) Purpose The purpose of RBI is to support the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador s commitment to building strong, innovative and sustainable rural communities. In the 21 st century, Broadband Service access is a fundamental component of social and economic development. Under the program, IBRD will assist industry to provide equitable and reasonable access to Broadband Service to Un-served households and Businesses throughout the province so that citizens can avail of the Internet to pursue higher levels of education and training, healthcare, cultural, social and economic opportunities. 4) Objectives a) Enhance industry s capacity to provide reasonable Broadband Service access to primary residences. b) Support and improve citizen access to public services such as healthcare and education. c) Improve the capacity of provincial businesses to pursue local, national and international business opportunities. d) Reduce the access gap between urban and rural households/businesses with respect to Internet connectivity. e) Encourage innovation and economic development in rural communities. f) Create a platform for rural innovation. g) Improve the sustainability of rural communities. Page 5 of 33

7 5) Call for Proposals To achieve its objectives under RBI, IBRD is utilizing a Call for Proposals to industry to solicit innovative solutions to expand Broadband Service Coverage. This Call for Proposals is bound by the following timeline a) The Project Start Date is Monday, September 17 th, 2012 b) The Project Completion Date will be defined during the negotiation of the contract with each individual successful proponent. c) The Service Start Date is no later than the Project Completion Date d) All expenditures must be incurred in the current Fiscal Year IBRD has budgeted $2,000,000 in the 2012 budget for this Call for Proposals. IBRD reserves the right to make partial awards and to negotiate scope changes with proponents. The rating scheme is allocated on a total of 100 points, allocated as follows: 5 points for Compliance 10 points for Eligibility 10 points for Coverage 40 points for Financials allocated as follows o 20 points for Cost o 20 points for Sustainability 25 points for Technology 10 points for Project Management Page 6 of 33

8 6) Submission Deadline Complete submissions are due no later than 5:00 PM, Newfoundland Daylight Savings Time, Friday, 2 nd of November, Submissions are to be sent to: Mr. Hayward Keats Dept. of Innovation, Business & Rural Development P.O. Box 8700, St. John s, NL A1B 4J6 T: HaywardKeats@gov.nl.ca 7) Communications Inquiries from interested applicants should be directed to: Mr. Hayward Keats Dept. of Innovation, Business & Rural Development P.O. Box 8700, St. John s, NL A1B 4J6 T: HaywardKeats@gov.nl.ca 8) Eligible Applicants a) New Internet Service Providers (ISPs) b) Existing ISPs c) Telecommunications carriers Page 7 of 33

9 9) Eligible Activities and Project Coverage Models Eligible activities supported under these guidelines will be those which, as outlined in these guidelines, will achieve the objectives of the Rural Broadband Initiative. Eligible activities will include the deployment of Broadband Service infrastructure to establish Broadband Service within a geographic area. The program is focused on the delivery of Broadband Service to currently Unserved households and Businesses, which can be logically grouped in the following models: a) Community 1 Coverage proposals that deliver service to all currently unserved primary households and Businesses within the geographic boundaries of a community. b) Between Communities proposals that deliver service to currently unserved primary households and Businesses that are located outside the geographic boundaries of incorporated communities and local service districts. c) Regional Coverage - proposals that deliver service to all currently unserved primary households and Businesses in multiple communities and/or between communities within a contiguous geographic area of the province. 10) Eligible Households and Businesses Provision of Broadband Service to Un-served households 2 or Businesses is eligible for funding where Un-served households or Businesses are defined as 1 A community can be a city, town, village, Indian reserve, or a cluster of five or more dwellings (i.e., a settlement), locally known by a specific name, but lacking legal limits or local government. To be defined a community, a village, Indian reserve, or a settlement must be inhabited at least six months a year and have an estimated 2011 Census population of at least ten residents. Page 8 of 33

10 primary households (occupied more than 6 months per year) and Businesses where Broadband Service is not currently available. 11) Eligible Costs Eligible Costs for Contributions will be those costs that are incurred by the respondent and which, in the opinion of IBRD, are reasonable and required to carry out the eligible activities to which they relate. Only eligible, supported costs that are reasonable and relate directly to the eligible activities in the proposal will be allowed. Eligible Costs include: direct capital costs for the deployment of broadband infrastructure; purchase of related hardware, software and associated services; purchase, adaptation or upgrades of equipment, software or telecommunications material; lease of satellite transponder capacity, satellite transmission and receiving stations; new hires required to design, build and manage the Project, and consulting and professional services. Ineligible Costs include all internal corporate costs such as salaries, travel and living, engineering, management, legal, project management, and related costs. Applicants are required to use internal resources for these and similar capabilities if they exist within the organization. 12) Contribution Amounts The amount of each Contribution and the proportion under the Rural Broadband Initiative in relation to the total eligible Project Costs (the sharing ratio ) will be determined on the assessed need to ensure that the proposed Projects are successfully completed and the objectives are attained. The Contribution from 2 Household is defined to be a primary residence; i.e., occupied for more than six months of the year. Page 9 of 33

11 the program to the recipient will be the minimum necessary, to a maximum of 75 per cent of the Eligible Costs. The need for the program funding must be clearly demonstrated by the applicant. The level of funding provided will be contingent upon the merit of the proposal and the availability of program funding. 13) Stacking of Assistance The assessment of required funding level takes into consideration the total amount of government assistance (federal, provincial, First Nations, and municipal) toward the Eligible Costs supported by the Contribution. This includes assistance such as all grants and Contributions, implicit subsidies, forgivable loans, investment tax credits, and any other grants or Contributions being considered. All recipients of financial assistance under these terms and conditions will be required to inform IBRD of any other government financial assistance received or requested for the Project prior to the approval of the Contribution. Furthermore, the Contribution agreements will contain a continuing disclosure obligation, for the duration of the agreements, concerning other government assistance. The Contribution agreements will provide IBRD with the right to reduce the Contribution to the extent of any additional government assistance received by the proponent or require the proponent to repay the excess. The amount requested would constitute a debt to the government and would be recovered as such. Failure to disclose information regarding other government assistance would constitute a default and remedial action would apply. Interest charges would be applied to overdue amounts. Page 10 of 33

12 14) Payment Provisions Payments will be made on the basis of documented claims for Eligible Costs incurred; supporting documentation is to be submitted monthly. Each claim is to be accompanied by a report of the work completed, project implementation details and documentation of all costs being claimed, in a form satisfactory to IBRD. All claims shall be certified by an officer of the recipient. IBRD will make advance payments based on the following principals: a) Advance payments will be provided on an as-needed basis supported by proponent cash flow requirements. b) Advance payments will be proportional to Project risks, and the proponent s financial position and proven track record. c) Signed agreements will provide clarification about precisely what are Eligible Costs for funding and what are not Eligible Costs, as well as the basis for payments and advance payments. d) Agreements will include mechanisms for recourse, such as refunds, clawbacks and offsets, in the event that conditions of the funding agreement are not met. e) Advance payments will be limited to highly credit-worthy organizations. f) Advance payments will be subject to negotiations and formalized in the individual project contracts. g) IBRD will pay no more than 90 per cent of the Contribution prior to completion of the Project and of any audits as may be required. h) IBRD may require that any claim for payment is certified by the proponent s external auditor or by auditors of the department s choice. IBRD may request, at any time, that the proponent provide satisfactory evidence to demonstrate that all eligible cost claims have been paid. 15) Project Locations The Provincial Government has designated nine Rural Secretariat regions within the province. IBRD intends to make awards for this program, as best it can within the limit of the program funding, among these regions assuming viable applications are received from all regions. Proposals will also be evaluated based on how they support or build on the economic capacity of the particular area. Page 11 of 33

13 Applicants are permitted to submit proposals for more than one region. IBRD reserves the right to award more than one Project per region. Further information on these regions is available from IBRD or at The application process is designed to: ensure technology neutrality; promote competition among applicants; ensure the availability of a minimum level of affordable connectivity to households and Businesses, encourage scalability of networks and encourage the completion of the build within the program timeframe. 16) Expected Results and Key Performance Indicators Contributions under the Rural Broadband Initiative are expected to reinforce the efforts of new or existing Internet service providers to accelerate investments and build new broadband networks in Un-served households and Businesses, leading to an increase in the number of households and Businesses using broadband dependent applications and services. To this end, the program will target a minimal initial download Broadband Service connectivity speed of 1.5 Mbps to be deployed toward currently Un-served households and Businesses. Compliance with, or an evolutionary path to, the new Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission standard of 5 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up is a significant consideration. 17) Submission Format The official Document is the PDF available on the IBRD web site A Microsoft Word version of the Document to assist in the preparation of the submission is also available. Please contact Hayward Keats to receive a Microsoft Word version of the document. Page 12 of 33

14 The applicant must supply four (4) bound versions of the submission and a Microsoft Word electronic copy. All tables must be included as Microsoft Excel and all diagrams must be included as Microsoft Visio If, for any reason, the applicant needs to submit in any other electronic format, the appropriate software and any required license must be included. The applicant s submission must follow the section and subsection format of this Document. For clarity, the applicant is required to complete the Response sections included in this Document. The applicant is free to include summaries or other information in the format they desire, but each section and subsection requires a detailed response. No redirection will be permitted. Three types of responses are acceptable: a) Read and Understood for those sections that are direction or information focused. b) Not Applicable for those sections that do not apply to the proposal, i.e. the wireless or satellite specific sections and subsection do not apply if the proposal is for a wireline service, and vice versa. c) If (a) and (b) responses do not apply, the applicant is required to submit the information requested. 18) ACF and Access Rights In preparing their submissions, proponents are to assume that access to the province s Atlantic Cable Facility (ACF) requires that the costs to light, operate and maintain lambda services on the portion of the ACF required must be included in their submission. In addition, IBRD intends to retain ownership of the ACF, thus IRUs are not available so proponents are to include leasing/rental/service options they are willing to consider. If the proponent wishes to utilize the ACF, then the proponent must agree to grant IBRD the following: a) The proponent must agree to provide equivalent access to their internal infrastructure on a kilometer to kilometer basis at such time as IBRD deems appropriate. b) These access rights can be anywhere in the proponent s service area within the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Page 13 of 33

15 c) When invoked, these access rights will be for an initial term of twenty (20) years, renewable for a total of 100 years. 19) Additional Value Any additional value the proponent may be willing to offer if successful in this Call for Proposals will be considered. 20) Eligibility Requirements Eligible proponents must submit Project applications for Contributions with all information necessary to fully assess the application and meet the following eligibility requirements: a) RBI is primarily focused on the delivery of the last mile of Broadband Service connectivity. Proposals must be structured such that the last mile, distribution and core components are separated and clearly identified and costed. Relationships and dependencies between the last mile, distribution and core must be clearly defined. i) Last mile (or access) is defined to be the infrastructure between the home or Business and the closest point of presence where aggregation of Broadband Service takes place, typically called the access node. The aggregation device is considered to be a component of the last mile. ii) Distribution is defined to be the dedicated infrastructure required to connect the initial aggregation point to the vendor s existing broadband infrastructure. iii) Core is defined to be the infrastructure required to accommodate the additional bandwidth generated by proposal. iv) If the infrastructure proposed does not conform to the above definitions of last mile, distribution, or core, the proposal is to include detailed Page 14 of 33

16 descriptions of the proposed infrastructure including descriptions of how last mile, distribution and core are addressed. b) The applicant must demonstrate a firm plan to obtain a minimum of 25 percent of eligible Project Costs. c) The applicant must demonstrate a firm plan to obtain 100 percent of noneligible Project Costs. d) Applicants are responsible for all costs associated with their proposals. e) It is understood that the addition of new households and Business may generate congestion in existing infrastructure. i) Proposal components addressing congestion problems due solely to the addition of the new households and Business served by the proposal will be accepted. For clarity, upgrades to distribution and core Page 15 of 33

17 infrastructure required solely to expand service to the new households and Businesses identified in the proposal are admissible. ii) Proposals focused solely on alleviating existing congestion problems will not be considered in the evaluation. iii) Proposal components focused on alleviating existing congestion problems will not be accepted. For clarity, upgrades to distribution and core infrastructure required to address additional congestion caused by providing service to new households and Businesses in areas already experiencing congestion in the distribution and core areas will be analyzed using the household and Business counts of the new households and Businesses only. f) Eligible Costs are limited to duration of Project duration September 4, 2012 to March 31, g) In-kind Contributions are not acceptable. h) Costs must be reasonable and not include any mark-ups. Applicants must agree to submit auditable receipts with each progress report throughout the life of the Project. Page 16 of 33

18 i) The program is focused on providing services to new households or Businesses where the new household and Business count is defined as: i) For solutions based on satellite services, the household count may include households that currently have access to satellite services but to whom satellite service has not been deployed; for clarity, the household count must not include households with existing satellite connection or are in existing service areas for wireless and wireline services; household and Business counts for satellite service are only acceptable where the combined household and Business count is less than 25 units per square kilometer. ii) For solutions based on wireline and wireless service, the household count must not include households that currently have existing access to wireline or wireless based Broadband Service; for clarity, households located within an existing wireline or wireless Coverage area but for which service is not currently deployed may not be included in the household count. j) Applicants are required to outline their fair-use policies and mechanisms by which traffic will be shaped: i) Does the applicant shape traffic by protocol (i.e. peer-to-peer) and or application, (i.e. Skype or BitTorrent). ii) Does the applicant manage traffic by class of user or connection, i.e. high volume user vs. low volume user or 1.5Mbps link vs. 5Mbps link. iii) Does the applicant impose traffic throttling? If so they must provide a detailed description. iv) Does the applicant impose bit caps or download limits? If so they must provide a detailed description v) Does the applicant provide the user any real time download limit warning and or any incremental overage fee information, i.e. each time the user connects to the network? Page 17 of 33

19 vi) Does the applicant offer tiered services, i.e, tiered level of download speeds for hosted services such as websites? If so they must provide a detailed description. vii) Does the applicant impose fair use and/or traffic shaping policies on their wholesale services, i.e. services sold to other ISPs? k) IBRD reserves the right to engage independent engineering oversight for all Projects. l) Applicants will be required to provide interim and final progress reports, and support ongoing monitoring, final test results and a final audit of the Project. m) In the proposal, the applicant must include the global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of all central offices, head-ends, remote huts/shelves, the telephone/transmission poles used in the deployment of Broadband Service, etc. In recognition that some of this data is not available at this point in the proposed Project, the applicant must agree that all required data will be included in the final report. In addition the applicant must agree that the municipal street address (if this exists) and postal code of all households/businesses reachable by the new service will be included in the final Project report. Page 18 of 33

20 n) IBRD, or any Third Party authorized by IBRD, may perform such security, probative and financial investigations and procedures as IBRD may determine are necessary in relation to any applicant, its employees, officers, partners, associates, subcontractors or related entities including consortium members and their officers, employees and subcontractors. Applicants may be required to provide access to records requested by IBRD or its Third Party representative(s) in order to facilitate the necessary financial investigations. o) The applicant should include any other issues they deem appropriate. 21) Detailed Submission Requirements a) Coverage i) Total number of households covered per community ii) The total number of Businesses covered iii) Detailed information for data analysis in the form of an Excel spreadsheet for each community covered by the proposal. The data must include: (1) Household and Business count served within the community (2) Household and Business count not served within the community (3) Reason some households and Businesses not served Page 19 of 33

21 (4) Municipal Addresses of served households and Businesses, where this exists (5) Postal code of served households and Businesses b) Cost i) Costing Detail: (1) Total cost of Project including non-eligible Costs (2) Total cost of program funding requested (Eligible Costs) (3) Detailed breakdown of Eligible Costs broken down by community (a) Last mile/access, distribution and core breakdown of funding request (b) Average cost per household/business for each of last mile/access, distribution and core (c) Cable and cable infrastructure costs (d) Electronics and electronic infrastructure costs (e) Average Project cost per household/business (4) Network Operations Center (NOC) and NOC infrastructure costs ii) Costs are reasonable and realistic: (1) Vendors are required to submit auditable receipts for all purchases incurred with this Project. (a) All purchases incurred prior to the start of the Project must be submitted as part of the proposal, i.e., inventory currently in hand and intended for use in the Project. (b) Each Project report must include all receipts incurred to that point. (c) The final report must include all remaining receipts. Page 20 of 33

22 iii) Business Profile (1) A business history, including annual revenues must be submitted. (a) The application should detail the history of the applicant, which must include years in business, province of operation, client base, and, if applicable, previous broadband funding (federal and/or provincial) received or requested for Broadband Service Projects. (b) The application should also include financial statements of the last three years, or at least sufficient information detailing the last 3 years of operation. A Letter of Financial Viability from the proponent s bank is acceptable in lieu of yearly financial statements. This information will be used to assess the reasonableness of future revenue Projections as well as the financial viability of the organization. If the applicant does not submit financial statements they must comply with Section 22.b.iii.4 (2) A Business model (a) The application should provide an overview of the applicant s current business model (e.g., types of services offered) and any changes to the business model as a result of the proposed Project. Page 21 of 33

23 (3) Coverage and subscription base (a) The application must provide an overview of the existing subscription base (e.g. number of subscribers), types of clients (households, Businesses, anchor tenants, etc.) and current Coverage (e.g. scope of territory covered with Broadband Service or telecom services including current Coverage maps). (4) However, the applicant may be a new or relatively new entity (less than three years in operation), or an existing entity that is not currently acting as an ISP, or an existing ISP that for business reasons does not wish to submit its audited financial statements. In these cases, their profile must include a business plan for the proposed Project, market projections, a history of previous infrastructure projects undertaken (not necessarily related to the provision of Broadband Service or other Internet services), or other information that would demonstrate the viability of the Project. iv) Long-term Sustainability Strategy (1) The applicant must demonstrate that the new service will be affordable to consumers, i.e., comparable costs for comparable service from competition (2) The application must include: (a) monthly subscription costs, Page 22 of 33

24 (b) initial installation costs, (c) equipment rental/purchase costs incurred by the end user, (d) traffic cap limits, and (e) additional cost per Gigabit for traffic in excess of the traffic cap. (f) If any of these costs are waived for this Project the waived cost must be included and noted as being waived. (g) If any of these costs are reduced as part of a marketing or contract initiative, both the reduced price and the full price along with the duration of the special pricing must be included. (3) The applicant must provide a 5-year business plan for each community that includes: (a) long-term revenue projections (b) ongoing cost projections to operate and maintain the proposed network (4) The applicant must provide a description of that estimated number of anchor tenants and should detail strategies to reach them. Anchor tenants include, but are not limited to, government offices, Businesses, community organizations and non-profit organizations. Page 23 of 33

25 c) Technological Solution i) The applicant must submit its average Oversubscription Ratio where oversubscription is defined as the total bandwidth allocated to subscribers vs. the bandwidth physically available in the network. Applicants are to provide Oversubscription Ratios for: (1) The last mile service being proposed in the application; (2) The distribution level that contains the service area of the application; and (3) The applicant s core network. ii) Sufficiency of detail (1) The applicant must provide a detailed description of proposed network. (a) A detailed geographical map of the proposed network including: (i) All network components including their exact location (latitude and longitude), i.e., central offices, head-ends, remote huts/shelves, the telephone/transmission poles used in the deployment of Broadband Service. (ii) Information such as path/linkage between backhaul points to larger regional or provincial networks, as well as what technology each link is using. We recognize that all of the required data may not be available at this stage of the proposed Project; any such data must be submitted in the required final report. (b) Network map illustrating the following (i) Wireless: towers, repeaters; (ii) Satellite: angle in the sky at which the dish satellite is pointed, Coverage area of the satellite beam; Page 24 of 33

26 (iii) DSL: central office, digital subscriber line (DSL) remotes, remote digital subscriber line access multiplex (DSLAM) units; (iv) Cables: the roads over which the cable TV passes should be clearly marked; and (v) Fiber: fiber optic routing. We recognize that all of the required data may not be available at this stage of the proposed Project; any such data must be submitted in the required final report. (c) Network Configuration (i) Logical Network Configuration Diagram that clearly illustrates: 1. Bandwidth capacity for each link. 2. Upstream and downstream capacity for each node. 3. Model number of each piece of equipment (a cloud is acceptable to represent the Internet). 4. Maximum number of ports for ported nodes such as DSLAMs. We recognize that all of the required data may not be available at this stage of the proposed Project; any such data must be submitted in the required final report. (ii) Backhaul Network Diagram that clearly illustrates: 1. The interface between the new equipment and the existing equipment; 2. For wireless, the application must provide a description of the spectrum range and an explanation on why it is believed to be the optimal design for the proposed network; and Page 25 of 33

27 3. Bandwidth capacity must be indicated for each link. We recognize that all of the required data may not be available at this stage of the proposed Project; any such data must be submitted in the required final report. (iii) Gateway Network Diagram that clearly illustrates: 1. The interface between the new equipment and the existing equipment; 2. The name of the gateway provider; and 3. Bandwidth capacity must be specified. We recognize that all of the required data may not be available at this stage of the proposed Project; any such data must be submitted in the required final report. (iv) Access Network Diagram that clearly illustrates: 1. The interface between the new equipment and the existing equipment; 2. A description of how many CPE the applicant expects to connect to the Access Node; and 3. Bandwidth capacity must be specified. We recognize that all of the required data may not be available at this stage of the proposed Project; any such data must be submitted in the required final report. Page 26 of 33

28 (2) Network Technical Characteristics: (a) A description of the technology or technologies to be deployed (b) The rational for the chosen technology or technologies to be deployed. (c) A brief explanation of network reliability, including redundancy, mean time between failure (MTBF), backup power, etc. (d) A brief explanation of the access spectrum to be used if wireless deployment is proposed. Page 27 of 33

29 (e) If public spectrum is proposed, a brief explanation of anticipated interference and mitigation plans. (f) A brief explanation of backhaul spectrum, if required. (g) A brief explanation of quality of service such as proposed maintenance, handling of network component failure, potential system congestion, customer equipment failures, etc. (h) An explanation of how regulated access will be accommodated using the above technology and a list of open-access services that are to be offered to other telecommunications providers or to be acquired from service providers. For our purposes regulated access and open-access service are those services either purchased from or sold to other ISPs. Page 28 of 33

30 (3) Equipment Details: (a) Name of the manufacturer for each equipment to be installed; (b) Model number of each type of equipment to be installed; (c) Quantity of each type of equipment to be installed; (d) The applicant must propose replacement strategies for damaged or outdated equipment; (e) Include the number of spares on hand and rationale used to determine that number; (f) Describe the damaged protection protocol (break/fix); (g) Indicate if they have an emergency truck roll protocol; describe the emergency truck roll components, i.e., spares, tools, people skills, etc.; and (h) Indicate if the emergency repair protocol includes an outsourced truck roll. (4) Targeted Upload Speed: A minimum upload speed of 512 kbps is required. Upload must be measured between the CPE and the applicant s gateway network. Note: minimum is a hard number and does not include the concept of up to. (5) Targeted Download Speed: A minimum download speed of 1.5 mbps is required. Download must be measured between the applicant s gateway network and the CPE. Note: maximum is a hard number and does not include the concept of up to. Page 29 of 33

31 iii) Future Growth (1) Scalability: Address the technical scalability of the proposed network by: (a) Demonstrating that the proposed network can grow with the expected increase in demand from users, and that the network capacity can exceed the minimum download speed; and (b) Detailing the network characteristics or components that will need to be changed or upgraded to respond to increased bandwidth. (2) Subscriber rate (download and upload link speed) (a) Identifying the expected and Projected subscriber rate over five (5) years. Projections should focus on service to households, but could reflect anchor tenants as well. (b) Demonstrating that the subscriber rate is in line with the longterm revenue Projections and the sustainability plan. (3) Enhanced Services Strategies (a) The application must describe the enhanced service strategies that will be used to adapt to the growing demand. Specifically, the applicant should explain how it can offer a range of service speed above the minimum download speed of 1.5 Mbps, and include any additional services that could be offered for the Page 30 of 33

32 network (e.g. deployment of cell phone service). While the Rural Broadband Initiative program will only fund the Internet portion of the network, the additional services may be part of the sustainability of the overall network within a general service offering. d) Project Management i) Capacity to manage Projects (1) The application must demonstrate that it has the capacity to manage the Project. This capacity includes both administrative and technical capabilities, and could be demonstrated by: (a) Providing the qualifications of the management team. (b) Demonstrating the Project team s expertise in engineering, network, ISP management and physical network implementation. (c) Clearly outlining the roles and responsibilities of team members in the implementation of an infrastructure Project. (d) Providing a clear description of the Project team s capacity to deliver in areas such as designing, developing and/or operating networks. (e) Providing a proven track record in Broadband Service deployment or infrastructure Projects of similar size and implementation pattern. (f) Providing résumés of technical staff and management team. (2) The applicant must provide a list of all Project-related contractors and consultants and their roles in the proposed Project. If the applicant is relying heavily on contractors or sub-contractors to implement the Project, they should demonstrate that this will not create additional risks (e.g. delays). Page 31 of 33

33 ii) Project Implementation (1) The application must demonstrate the feasibility of Project implementation, and must present a detailed Project timeline and schedule, including a critical path with key milestones. This timeline should demonstrate that the Project is well-planned and has defined activities that are logically sequenced with realistic timelines, and include an estimated start date and completion date for each Project component. (2) The application must include a description of all risks it currently identifies, the level of risk, and strategies to mitigate or manage these risks. The risks identified should cover all aspects of the proposed Project (e.g. design, construction, and implementation). (3) In assessing this element, IBRD will examine whether the risks mitigation strategies for each risk are reasonable, and whether they are appropriate given the level of risk (e.g. high level risks have robust mitigation strategies). In addition, IBRD will assess whether the applicant has omitted any risks associated with the Project. Page 32 of 33

34 - END - Page 33 of 33