By: Hailey Farrow, Marketing Manager & Mike Wilson, VP on behalf of CostQuest Associates.
CostQuest has and continues to work with multiple States on state broadband projects related to broadband planning, GIS mapping, cost modeling, government advisory, grant program design, and more to support nationwide broadband expansion efforts to close the digital divide.
Our typical engagement is mainly limited to supplying BroadbandFabric StatePlan data, but there are also a few state entities that receive services, almost exclusively related to customized business cases, cost and network models, and mapping/geospatial work.
Below is a high-level summary of CostQuest’s current and past state broadband projects.
Current state broadband projects that include both BroadbandFabric Data & Consulting Services
California (2020 – Present)
- The State of California engaged CostQuest to develop custom cost models to support the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and other related projects. California also uses the BroadbandFabric data and attributes, as well as engages CostQuest to develop Last Mile Funding Areas and broadband mapping/ GIS work for their funding programs.
Ohio (2022 – Present)
- The State of Ohio engaged CostQuest to develop an analysis of the use of MARCS towers, and develop custom cost models for specific geographies to support closing the digital divide in rural areas. Ohio is also using the base BroadbandFabric data with additional data attributes to support their understanding of the costs and business case for their grant programs under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program.
Nevada (2022 – Present)
- CostQuest works with the State of Nevada to support its broadband mapping, planning, and grant funding program design. Nevada uses CostQuest’s base BroadbandFabric data and other data attributes, as well as other services to support their broadband program.
Oregon (2022 – Present)
- The State of Oregon engaged CostQuest to deliver a custom Cost Model to support their funding programs. The Cost Model involved CostQuest’s BroadbandFabric data and other data attributes, along with custom cost and network modeling.
Wisconsin (2023-Present)
- CostQuest works with the State of Wisconsin by providing CostQuest’s base BroadbandFabric, cost model, and other data attributes, as well as a custom business case to support their broadband program. Wisconsin uses CostQuest’s data to help create an estimate of served, underserved, and unserved areas across geographies and the cost to serve each location.
Current state broadband projects that only include supplying BroadbandFabric Data
Arkansas (2020 – Present)
- For the State of Arkansas CostQuest delivered BroadbandFabric data and other data attributes to support the estimation of service availability to identify served, underserved, and unserved areas across the State. CostQuest also produced statewide broadband investment data.
Oklahoma (2020 – Present)
- For the State of Oklahoma CostQuest delivered BroadbandFabric data and other data attributes and performed visual verification on nearly 100,000 locations on Tribal Lands and other geographic areas where parcel data was missing.
District of Columbia (2022 – Present)
- For the District of Columbia CostQuest delivered base BroadbandFabric data with technology service availability per each Broadband Serviceable Location to identify served, underserved, and unserved areas across geographies. The District of Columbia uses CostQuest’s BroadbandFabric data and other data attributes to support middle-mile modeling and broadband cost modeling.
Illinois (2022 – Present)
- The State of Illinois engaged CostQuest to deliver the base BroadbandFabric data along with technology service availability, cost model, and more critical data attributes per Broadband Serviceable Location to estimate served, underserved, and unserved areas across geographies and the cost to serve each location.
Past State Broadband Planning Projects
Maine (2021 – 2023)
- The State of Maine licensed the base BroadbandFabric data and other data attributes to support an understanding of Fiber and Fixed Wireless investment and business case, serviceable locations, and served, unserved, and underserved service availability.
Nebraska (2021 – 2022)
- The State of Nebraska uses CostQuest’s SBCM cost modeling with demand locations based on the Broadband Serviceable Locations in CostQuest’s Broadband Fabric data.
Missouri (2022)
- The State of Missouri engaged CostQuest to support the analysis of service availability and costs to serve unserved areas using BroadbandFabric data and other data attributes.
New York (2016 – 2021)
- CostQuest worked with the State of New York, to help implement and manage New York’s $500mil reverse auction program, broadband mapping, and statewide cost modeling. As part of our role, we helped design the auction, reviewed bids received by the state for cost reasonableness, helped run the auction, and provided analytics and mapping to support and promote the effort.
Georgia (2018 – 2019)
- CostQuest worked with the State of Georgia, to develop statewide a statewide cost model and to support broadband planning.
South Carolina (2019-2020)
- CostQuest delivered BroadbandFabric data and other data attributes to South Carolina, assisted with the collection of data from service providers, and reconciled and matched provider data to the Broadband Serviceable Locations in CostQuest’s Broadband Fabric data. CostQuest also produced statewide investment models.
Pennsylvania (2017 – 2018)
- CostQuest supported the State of Pennsylvania with broadband mapping, modeling, and planning and helped design and manage its CAFII Incentive auction.
Wisconsin (2010-2015)
- CostQuest supported the State of Wisconsin with broadband mapping and delivered custom cost models for specific geographies.
Digging into the Archive – Select Past State Broadband Planning Projects
In addition to the recent work summarized above, CostQuest has helped several other states with their state broadband projects related to broadband mapping and planning efforts over the years.
The following are a select few relevant projects:
- Alabama (2008 – 2015) – Program management as an SBI grant sub-recipient
- Idaho (2009 – 2015) – Program management as an SBI grant sub-recipient
- Kansas (2014) – Conducted pilot programs across 7 communities
- West Virginia (2014 & 2019) – Developed economic cost models for selected communities
- Wisconsin (2009 – 2016) – Program management as an SBI grant sub-recipient
- Wyoming (2009 – 2015) – Program management as an SBI grant sub-recipient