In most instances, the process of initiating a local access network is usually the result of the vision and drive of an individual who has set out to address one or more of the issues faced by a community.  The importance of a project champion cannot be overemphasised, as the successful implementation of many projects has been the result of the determination of one person to make it a reality. 

The following examples illustrate the commitment and passion from key local decision makers as project champions and their view as to the importance of such initiatives: -
 

i/ Mayor Billings of Provo, Utah, who has been a staunch advocate of municipal Governments becoming involved in facilitating the development of local access networks.  This is evidenced in a recent statement that he made about the I-Provo broadband FTTP network that is underway in Provo.

“I believe building our community broadband network is one of the most important things I will accomplish during my tenure as Mayor.  I’m convinced of this because ultra-broadband connectivity will encourage and enable exciting new and innovative technology applications that will bolster our economy and change the way we work, learn, and play.”[i]

ii/ Amsterdam Deputy-Mayor Mark van der Horst

“… we make a big step towards the deployment of a citywide fiber-to-the-home network. This enables our city to compete with other European cities. The fiber network delivers to Amsterdam an innovative and freely accessible (open) infrastructure, suitable to support growth in demand for the next 30 years or more. In this way we ensure a wide open marketplace for innovative service-providers and economic growth, as well as a fast track for the smarter and cheaper delivery of care, education and other public services.” [ii]

iii/   Mayor Panayiotis Tzanikos Municipality of Amaroussion Athens , Greece

“We feel that we are entering a period when towns and regions will compete with each other and one of the key parameters in the competitiveness of the city is telecommunications.   … I think that the level of what we are getting [from the conventional telecommunications sector] is not enough to equip the city for the next generation which is coming… we feel that the way they [the telecoms operators] operate they keep the citizens, the businesses, the social groups, outside of the new era which is arriving so they do not have the motive to use the network to make new things, new creations and services.”[iii]

The importance of a project champion is widely recognised and so this is one of the reasons that Corning and Lightwave magazine have instituted an annual FTTXcellence award to honour an individual for contributions made to the deployment of optical access networks in North America.  In 2005, the award was given to James Hettrick, Director of Information Systems, Loma Linda, California, for his leadership in the establishment of the Loma Linda municipal FTTX network.[iv]

However, we are increasingly seeing this local champion emerging as a POLITICAL  leader.  That is to say, a man or woman who is directly accountable through the ballot-box to a constituency, and who has grasped a basic (and often simple) vision of how the deployment of modern digital technologies around their city or community on an ‘open access’ basis can result in a significantly enhanced living, working and playing environment.   In summary, we are beginning to see the emergence of a link in the minds of local political leaders between creative new local strategies for deploying open access digital infrastructure and ‘votes at the ballot box’.   This is to be welcomed and encouraged and as more and more cities and communities feel the positive impact of LOAN-type developments, so will their inclusion on local political manifestos become more and more prevalent.

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