Reallocate Funds
Building a business case for a broadband initiative is a great time for local government participants to perform an enterprise-wide “telecommunications audit” to determine exactly how much is actually being spent on items such as:
- Local/Long Distance Telecom services (wireline and wireless voice)
- Data services
- Frame Relay
- Internet Access
- Point-to-point connections
- PBX extensions to remote offices via OPX line
- VPNs/VoIP (currently purchased from another provider)
- Wireline voice equipment, such as TDM PBXs and handsets
- Wireless voice/mobile data equipment
Assimilating telecom cost information allows planners to determine how much funding can be made available to help “buy down” the cost of an impending deployment by transferring services (to the new network) to create an annual revenue stream (some, like Franklin County choose to pre-pay some/all of the expenses to help defray upfront buildout costs).
A telecommunications audit is also a great time to examine highly “human intensive” processes and functions and determine if any can be done more efficiently/cost-effectively through the application of information technology – standardization of platforms, security applications, intranets, transaction oriented constituent websites, Voice over Internet Protocol, e-metering, remote monitoring, and consolidated communication processes are all popular applications having the potential to deliver additional cost savings that can be redirected to broadband initiatives. For more information on widely used applications, visit the Applications of Interest section of the Toolkit.
