Our Mission:
FiberFirst
Minnesota exists to facilitate the rapid, nation-leading deployment
of Fiber to the Home (FTTH) throughout the state of Minnesota.
FiberFirst Minnesota (FFMN) is a public interest, educational
non-profit organization dedicated to helping bring world-class
bandwidth at the speed of light all the way to the homes and
businesses of telecommunications consumers throughout the
state of Minnesota. FFMN and its members and sponsors offer
educational conferences and private consulting seminars to
bring local and national expertise to interested communities
and all potential providers of FTTH.
Our Goal:
Minnesota
will lead the nation in FTTH community deployment and to the
home penetration by 2007.
Our Purpose:
FiberFirst Minnesota is dedicated to educating, encouraging and assisting when requested all potential FTTH providers in each respective community, including the incumbent cable television franchisee(s), the incumbent local exchange carrier, competitive local exchange carrier(s), the muncipal electric utility, telephone or power cooperatives, greenfield subdivision developers and alternative bundled telecommunications service providers. FFMN will provide information and education to interested city, county and state elected officials and their professional staff on the benefits to their citizens and businesses of a fully-fiber network. The economic development benefits of providing "triple play and beyond" integrated voice, video and data services over fiber optics to the home include telecommuting through robust teleconferencing, state of the art telemedicine and effective distance learning options. Finally, FFMN will encourage FTTH deployment by educating the press, public and public policy makers on the benefits of competitive telecommunications services connecting Minnesota to the world at the speed of light.
Communities wishing to provide FTTH to their citizens and businesses should fully explore all possible forms of a public-private partnership with any of the potential providers listed here, including specifically the community's incumbent telecommunications providers and the municipal utility. The private sector providers should be given every opportunity and incentive to deploy fiber optics to the home and business premises. Communities can fully explore municipal wholesale (open access) or retail models if the private sector and the competition among private providers fails to provide the needed level of speed, services and pricing that will keep the city economically competitive in the state, the country and the world.
