Pulse contract and project update

The progress on the Pulse project has been significant over the past several months. We have successfully executed multiple agreements including completion of design, project management services through Ditesco, billing and provisioning software and the IGA with the City of Fort Collins for partnership on data transport and upstream connectivity infrastructure and costs announced last month.

Additionally, this week Loveland city council approved two new contracts for the build-out of our 100% fiber-optic network.

Alpha Technologies was awarded a contract for our five telecommunication equipment huts. Think of a hut as a small storage building without windows. You have likely seen similar buildings around Loveland for other utilities including power.

Alpha Technologies will manage and install this portion of the network build-out including hut configuration, AC and DC power, battery backup, and rack and cable management solutions to meet network electronic needs. The network headend equipment is housed in these prefabricated huts. The climate-controlled huts will house racks and cabling for the network equipment, battery banks and battery management systems, and all electrical wiring and associated equipment.

Wesco was awarded a contract for fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) material management services. The company will negotiate competitive prices for all equipment and manage the purchasing, inventory and storage of all network equipment during the construction of the network. Hiring a material management company is an innovative industry approach and means that the Pulse project can benefit from faster access to network materials to complete the project.

These contracts were awarded following RFP and bidding processes through the City of Loveland. The five telecommunications huts will cost $680,000 and the FTTP material management will cost no more than $15 million. These services will be paid for out of the $95 million secured to fund the Pulse project.

The City will also be returning to a competitive bid process for a construction contractor. The RFP will be available the week of July 22. We will announce the awarded contract when available and will provide an updated construction timeline at that time.

We have put forth an aggressive timeline and have been rapidly moving towards the end goal of providing reliable, high-speed broadband service to our community. We look forward to installing your Pulse service in the near future.