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CenterFuse Broadband Feasibility Report EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The following summarizes the study findings. Many Businesses Have Access to Good Broadband Businesses downtown have up to three options to buy a fiber connection for broadband: • The City of Ellensburg: 'City Fiber' is the Internet Service Provider owned by the people of Ellensburg and operated as a public service by the City of Ellensburg. The City of Ellensburg has been providing fiber services to the local municipalities and other public agencies in our community since 1999 and the City began offering internet service in 2017. City Fiber operates on a break-even basis, and all savings are reinvested back into the network. • Consolidated Communications says it has already built fiber downtown and to businesses in other parts of the city and is willing to build fiber to businesses anywhere in the city, but not always without up-front connection fees. However, Consolidated is not willing to provide a map of its fiber network, so we were unable to verify the extent of its network. We know from working around the country in markets served by Consolidated that the company is in the mode of expanding fiber in every market. This report takes Consolidated at its word and assumes that it is willing to bring fiber to businesses outside of downtown—but there is a chance that the reality of fiber is less than claimed by the company. • Charter-Spectrum already has fiber in the city and will build fiber to businesses in some cases. Additionally, there is other fiber in the city. For example, a fiber owned by NoaNet passes through the city and is used by City Fiber and others in the city to gain access to the Internet. There is also fiber in the city provided by the Washington State K20 network that provides fiber to Central Washington University and Internet access to the public schools in the city. These other fibers are described more in the following report. There are some businesses in this historic downtown area that have access to fiber from up to three providers—which gives those businesses better broadband options than most businesses in big markets like Seattle. However, the fiber option is not available to all businesses. Businesses located outside of downtown have fewer broadband options, with some still only having the choice of Consolidated DSL or Charter-Spectrum cable modem. Such businesses have less choice of provider, with some only served by one ISP, along with the slower broadband speeds that come from these other technologies. Reliability Is More Important than Price No survey participants business thought that broadband was too expensive. They stressed that reliability is far more important than price. While this is generally an important theme for businesses in most cities, we heard this message more strongly in Ellensburg than we normally encounter. This is due to the fact that just a few years ago the broadband from both Charter and FairPoint(the previous telephone incumbent before Consolidated) was significantly less reliable than today. Businesses in Ellensburg taken to fiber broadband when it became available from Consolidated and City Fiber, largely to get away from unreliable connections. Businesses Don't Fully Trust Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Page 4