NFBA — North Florida Broadband Authority

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

  1. What is the North Florida Broadband Authority (NFBA)?

    The North Florida Broadband Authority is a newly formed government entity, established specifically for the purpose of bringing Broadband services to the North Florida region. Created via home rule statutes, the Authority will operate like an independent utility, similar to a water, sewer or electric utility, but focus on providing a sustainable and ubiquitous Middle Mile broadband transport network. The counties served by this utility include: Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Putnam, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, and Wakulla.

  2. Why was the NFBA created?

    The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) presented an opportunity to provide project funding under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). Given these funding opportunities to bring broadband and economic stimulus to Florida, the NFBA was established through interlocal agreement. The NFBA received extraordinary support from government agencies, education, health care, and public safety service providers, as well as private businesses and economic development interests. The North Florida Economic Development Partnership (NFEDP) invested considerable time and resources to apply for grant project funding under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) on behalf of the NFBA. After completing grant due diligence, the NFBA received notice of grant award on February 18, 2010.

  3. How much project funding was applied for?

    The project applied for under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) totaled $39.4 million including in kind contributions from the membership of over $9.2 million. The NFBA project will build a new Middle Mile broadband infrastructure, which will extend the high speed internet backbone capacity to local last-mile providers in order to serve vital public sector services and private sector commercial customers.

  4. When will the NFBA start providing broadband services to my area?

    The NFBA expects to begin deployment of the network within the next 60-90 days, to be fully completed within three years.

  5. How will the NFBA broadband services be different from the service I currently receive?

    Within three years, the NFBA network will deliver up to 1 Gbps capacity throughout the region – up to 600 times the current capacity available to public and private entities in the region, including anchor institutions and public safety customers. This wholesale network will make capacity available for Last Mile providers to reach more than 154,000 households and 26,893 businesses. In addition, 1,573 critical facilities and 265 health care entities will now have access to the kind of capacity that is available in major metropolitan areas.

    The NFBA’s IP-based system has been designed to allow for secure, prioritized LAN connectivity including the potential ability to interface land mobile radios (LMRs) directly into the NFBA IP network. Further, this IP based system will be the groundwork for the recently allocated 700 MHz spectrum data network of the future. This feature, which will allow first responders to make voice calls and talk groups from LMR systems and new 700 MHz data systems to anywhere in the world, means that emergency relief efforts can be quickly coordinated in response to catastrophic events, such as flooding, tropical storms, hurricanes, and power outages, which are common to the north Florida region.

  6. What other benefits will I see in my community?

    The NFBA Middle Mile project will spur additional private investment in Last Mile infrastructure as a result of extending the large capacity network to reach the entire geographic region. This project will be instrumental in stimulating economic growth and job creation, by attracting new businesses to the region. Additionally, the number of employees to be hired directly for this project within the 14-county area is estimated at more than 100 over the next five years, with many more through indirect growth and expansion of business. These will be high technology network and IT engineering positions, along with call center, customer service and administrative positions. With a majority of these positions based in the 14-county RACEC, the NFBA project will bring the additional benefit of improving living conditions for area residents and families. In addition, the NFBA project will support community anchor institutions, such as schools, hospital, clinics, public safety, libraries and community colleges by bringing very high speed universal broadband to these areas, either as a primary or back-up provider. These institutions will be able to provide area residents, including those who do not own a computer, with access to a variety of services including virtual learning, online vocational and technical training, formal education courses and awareness programs. In addition, new online K- 12 education level courses for children can be offered with full access to the same resources found in a “normal” classroom, such as specialized book collections, course materials, and library resources.

    The NFBA project will also greatly expand broadband access to public safety/first responder agencies. Specifically, the project design incorporates a secure, ultra high speed connection for intranet and internet connectivity. The network will give public safety organizations the ability to leverage vertical assets while its architecture accommodates the likely future deployment of fleet mobile broadband connectivity.

  7. Where can I find more information?

    Our Web site will be updated daily as the NFBA develops. http://www.nfba-fl.org/ is the best place to view news, current status, and updates on NFBA events and meetings. Check frequently for new content.