HomeMy WebLinkAboutYellowstone Fiber EIA Bozeman Commission Slides-2Background: Investment and Leadership
Methodology
●Multi-phase analysis: 2015, 2022–2024, 2025–2027
(projected)
●Based on operating budgets and local data
●Applied standard economic impact multipliers
●Covers both development and operations
Preview
●Fiber as long-term economic
development infrastructure
●Local economic impact
●Competition effects
●Fiber as superior, future-proof
infrastructure
●Community-wide and long-term
benefits
Infrastructure as Economic Development
Measured Economic Impact
●$135M+ in total economic activity across study periods
●1,400+jobs supported
●80%+of value retained locally
Broader Effects
●Attracts and retains high-value industries
●Supports hybrid work opportunities
●Generates substantial, undercounted spillover benefits
Expanded Impact
●Reliable, high-capacity service for households and businesses
●Education and healthcare
●Productivity and resilience
Additional Value (not fully measured)
●Redundant network
●Workforce attraction and retention
Measured impact is a conservative floor.
Community & Customer Win
Bridging the Affordability Gap
●Open-access network enables multiple providers on shared
infrastructure
●Competition drives lower prices, better service, and higher
reliability
●Customers have choice; no single-provider lock-in
●Local nonprofit ownership keeps revenue in the community
and supports reinvestment
This structure embeds competition directly into the
system, improving affordability and service quality.
Limits of Alternatives (Satellite / Fixed
Wireless)
How Fiber Addresses This
External control Locally owned and controlled
Shared bandwidth Dedicated capacity with symmetrical speeds and low
latency
Performance affected by terrain and weather Reliable, high-performance connection
Less scalable as demand grows Scalable without rebuilding infrastructure
Why Fiber Wins
Fiber provides consistent, long-term capacity and local control.
Replicable Model
●Bozeman is the only community in MT doing
this
●Open-access structure drives competition and
affordability
●Public + private investment model
●Scalable to other communities in MT
Long-term infrastructure keeps
opportunity local and
compounds over time.
Community-driven
infrastructure works