Cook County News Herald

Qwest updates county on efforts to improve service




Despite the fact that Qwest was not the first to jump on the possibility of bringing fiber optic lines to every doorstep in Cook County, the telecommunications company is making an effort to let the community know it has not been forgotten. Minnesota Qwest President John Stanoch attended the county board meeting Tuesday, April 27, 2010 with two others on his staff to report on what Qwest is doing to benefit Cook County.

Stanoch first addressed the January 26 fiber optic outage— caused by a melted line under a manhole in Duluth—that cut the county off from communication with the rest of the world. After the outage, Qwest sent letters to Cook and Lake County commissioners expressing its belief that underground steam lines owned by Duluth Steam Cooperative Association caused the Qwest line to melt. Duluth Steam’s stance was that Qwest’s lines were not adequately insulated. “We’ve worked really hard to determine the precise cause of this outage,” Stanoch said. He assured commissioners that the issues with Duluth Steam would be resolved.

Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he believes Duluth Steam’s response to the situation has been “very defensive. …I’ve been very disappointed in them.”

“We’re not interested in a ‘blame game,’” Stanoch said. “Whatever happened in Duluth is very unusual.” Blame is not important, he said. They just need to focus on preventing problems like it in the future.

Qwest Director of Operations Trent Clausen said that the fiber that melted was installed in 1987. They believe an “extraordinary” high heat, high-pressure event caused the meltdown. The company is reviewing the possibility of bypassing Duluth Steam facilities to avoid another such occurrence.

The outage highlighted a potentially serious risk to the county’s emergency response system: 911 calls within Cook County must go to Duluth before being routed to the Cook County Law Enforcement Center in Grand Marais. When the line was disrupted in January, 911 calls could not be completed, although callers could still reach numbers within their own exchanges (387, 388, 475, or 663 prefixes).

The company is working on a system called “next generation 911” that would roll 911 calls over to emergency calling centers within each exchange if the line to Duluth were disrupted again, Stanoch said.

State officials are aware of the concerns that were raised because of the outage.

Cook County Information Systems Director Danna MacKenzie pointed out that a system is not currently in place to notify the Law Enforcement Center if an outage has occurred, and even if it were, the 387 exchange is the only location that answers calls 24 hours a day. In January, people were stationed at various fire departments throughout the county and the public was informed via WTIP radio to call those numbers if they had an emergency.

Stanoch said he is aware that the Northeast Service Cooperative’s (NESC’s) Middle Mile Project, to be funded with a first-round federal stimulus grant, would create a redundant fiber optic line along the North Shore. “Are you intending to cooperate with this?” asked Commissioner Bob Fenwick. Stanoch said yes they are, and they are talking with NESC about its project.

Commissioner Bruce Martinson said that the event showed the need for a redundant line to Cook County, which he considers “a very positive result.”

Qwest has applied for a stimulus grant that would bring higher speed Internet to another 500 people in Cook County between Lutsen and Grand Marais. It would not be the “triple-play” (phone, TV, and Internet) fiber-to-every-doorstep service the county has been trying to get. Stanoch said he is aware that Qwest’s application is modest in terms of the type of fiber optic upgrade and expansion the county board would like to see.

Commissioner Martinson asked Stanoch what advantage its grant application might have over broader projects proposed by Arrowhead Electric/Pulse Broadband and NESC in second-round stimulus grant applications they have submitted. Stimulus money is limited, Stanoch said, and everything that has been requested cannot be awarded. Qwest is not trying to impair what the county board is trying to bring to Cook County. Bringing some of what would benefit the county would be better than nothing, he said.

The state has established goals for the data access speed it would like Minnesotans to have by 2015, Stanoch said. He thinks the state might create incentives that would encourage corporate investment in fiber optic infrastructure. He wants to work with the county on accessing public dollars to help bring fiber optic infrastructure to more and more areas just as public dollars did to bring phone service to rural America. Stimulus grants are an acknowledgement of the need for public-private partnerships because the cost of building the infrastructure is so high, Stanoch said. The grants would not subsidize ongoing operating costs.

Stanoch said CenturyLink is in the process of acquiring Qwest, a process that could take about a year. Until then, both companies will continue to operate separately in Cook County.


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