1523 Bull Street
Savannah, GA 31401
(912) 352-3689
March 4, 2014
Chairman Thomas Wheeler
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel
Commissioner Ajit Pai
Commissioner Michael O’Rielly
Jonathan Chambers
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW 20024
Washington, DC
Re: Expression of Interest – Rural Broadband Experiments
Connect America Fund, WC Docket No. 10-90
Dear Chairman Wheeler, Commissioners, and Mr. Chambers,
This letter is to express Seimitsu’s interest in receiving funding from the Rural Broadband
Experiments announced at the January 30th FCC Open Meeting.
Background
Seimitsu is Savannah and the surrounding area’s premiere business technology solution provider.
We began serving the community in 1984, primarily as a builder of custom PCs. When local area
networking arrived, we embraced it enthusiastically, and assumed a larger role in helping
businesses maximize their returns on technology investments.
And so it has continued with each technology advancement: broadband, wireless, IP telephony,
and digital video. As technology has grown, we have grown. We have previously provided dialup, DSL, MetroE, and T1 Internet solutions to our clients, but have found them to be somewhat
lacking. We are fully committed to developing our current efforts of delivering ultra-high speed
Internet via a fiber connection to the rural and underserved areas in and around Savannah
including Chatham county, Bryan county, and Effingham county.
Geographic Territory
Seimitsu’s plan is to provide ultra-high speed Internet service to our service territories in
Chatham county, Bryan county, and Effingham county.
Eligible Telecommunications Carrier (ETC) Status.
Although we do not currently have ETC status, we have recently acquired a company that has its
Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) license. We are speaking with our
telecommunications attorney currently about using this license to attain ETC status.
List of Anchor Institutions
The following anchor institutions lie within the FCC Experimental Eligible areas and are the
ones in which we potentially plan to link with an ultra-high speed Internet connection:
Schools:
x Bryan County
o Richmond Hill Middle School
x Chatham County
o Bacon Park Christian Day School
o Beach High
o Bethesda Academy
o Bloomingdale Elementary
o Butler Academy
o DeRenne Middle
o Garden City Elementary
o Godley Station School
o Gould Elementary
o Grace Ashtin Christian School for Girls
o Groves High School
o Growing in the Son Preschool
o Hesse Elementary
o Hodge Elementary School
o Mercer Middle
o New Hampstead High School
o Oglethorpe Charter School
o Pooler Elementary School
o Port Wentworth Elementary
o Savannah Adventist Christian School
o Savannah Christian Preparatory School
o Savannah Christian School
o Savannah Classical Academy
o Southwest Elementary
o Southwest Middle School
o Urban Christian Academy
o WEST CHATHAM ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
o West Chatham Middle School
o Woodville-Tompkins High School
x Effingham County
o Blanford Elementary School
o Sand Hill Elementary School
o South Effingham High School
o Springfield Elementary School
Libraries:
x Live Oak Public Libraries
o Chatham County
ƒ Pooler Library
ƒ Port City Branch
ƒ Port Wentworth Branch Library
o Effingham County
ƒ South Effingham Branch Library
x Richmond Hill Public Library, Bryan County
Healthcare:
x Bryan County
o Urgent Care Center of Richmond Hill
x Chatham County
o Georgia Gastroenterology Group
o Georgia Regional Hospital at Savannah
o Pediatric Associates – Medical Park Way, Pooler
o St. Joseph’s/Candler Immediate Care Center – Garden City
o Urgent Care 24/7 - Pooler
o Women’s Healthcare and Family Medicine
x Effingham County
o Effingham Dental Associates
o St. Joseph’s Health Center
Proposed technology
We are proposing to provide high-speed Internet services up to 1 GB. The tables below show our
pricing scale for subscribers:
Enterprise/Large Business (100 plus users): Active Ether net via Fiber Per Month
50 MG
$1,000.00
100 MG
$1,500.00
250 MG
$2,500.00
500 MG
$3,500.00
Small Business (up to 100 users): Active Ether net via Fiber Per Month
50 MG
$500.00
100 MG
$750.00
250 MG
$1,250.00
500 MG
$2,500.00
Small Business (up to 100 users): GPON via Fiber Per Month
50 MG
$199.00
100 MG
$299.00
250 MG
$449.00
Residential: GPON via Fiber (FTTH) Per Month
30 MG
$69.00
75 MG
$129.00
150 MG
$179.00
Residential: Fixed Wireless Per Month
5 MG
$49.00
10 MG
$69.00
20 MG
$99.00
Existing Providers
Hargray
x
x
x
x
Speeds up to 50 Mbps
Comprehensive anti-spam and security software
WiFi-capable modem
Direct access to ESPN3.com
x
x
x
x
x
Standard 5 Mbps
Download speeds of up to 5 Mbps
Upload speeds of up to 1 Mbps
Email, antivirus/antispam, Hargray WiFi hotspot access
$34.99 (promotional price)
x Premier 10 Mbps
x
x
x
x
Download speeds of up to 10 Mbps
Upload speeds of up to 1 Mbps
Email, antivirus/antispam, Hargray WiFi hotspot access
$34.99 (promotional price)
x
x
x
x
x
Premier Plus 15 Mbps
Download speeds of up to 15 Mbps
Upload speeds of up to 1 Mbps
Email, antivirus/antispam, Hargray WiFi hotspot access
$44.99 (promotional price)
x Premier Sonic 30x2 Mbps
x
x
x
x
Download speeds of up to 30 Mbps
Upload speeds of up to 2 Mbps
Email, antivirus/antispam, Hargray WiFi hotspot access
$54.99 (promotional price)
x
x
x
x
x
Advanced 30x5 Mbps
Download speeds of up to 30 Mbps
Upload speeds of up to 5 Mbps
Email, antivirus/antispam, Hargray WiFi hotspot access
$64.99 (promotional price)
x
x
x
x
x
Advanced 50x5 Mbps
Download speeds of up to 50 Mbps
Upload speeds of up to 5 Mbps
Email, antivirus/antispam, Hargray WiFi hotspot access
$74.99 (promotional price)
AT&T
x Pro Internet
x Download speeds up to 3mbps
x $46.00 monthly
x Elite Internet
x Download speeds up to 6mbps
x $51.00 monthly
x Max Plus Internet
x Download speeds up to 18mbps
x $61.00 monthly
x Max Turbo Internet
x Download speeds up to 24mbps
x $71.00 monthly
x Power Internet
x Download speeds up to 45mbps
x $81.00 monthly
Comcast
x Extreme 105
x Download speeds up to 105 Mbps and upload speeds up to 20 Mbps
x Constant Guard® – The most comprehensive online protection of any major Internet
provider at home and now on your mobile devices.
x XFINITY WiFi – Stay connected at over 500,000 XFINITY WiFi and CableWiFi
hotspots at no extra cost.
x XFINITY Connect with 7 e-mail accounts, each with 10GB of storage.
x Backed by the 30-Day Money-Back Comcast Customer Guarantee.
x $99.95 - $114.95 monthly
x Blast
x Download speeds up to 50 Mbps and upload speeds up to 10 Mbps
x Constant Guard® – The most comprehensive online protection of any major Internet
provider at home and now on your mobile devices.
x XFINITY WiFi – Stay connected at over 500,000 XFINITY WiFi and CableWiFi
hotspots at no extra cost.
x XFINITY Connect with 7 e-mail accounts, each with 10GB of storage.
x Backed by the 30-Day Money-Back Comcast Customer Guarantee.
x $58.95 - $76.95 monthly
x Performance Starter
x Download speeds up to 6 Mbps and upload speeds up to 1 Mbps
x Constant Guard® – The most comprehensive online protection of any major Internet
provider at home and now on your mobile devices.
x XFINITY Connect with 7 e-mail accounts, each with 10GB of storage.
x Backed by the 30-Day Money-Back Comcast Customer Guarantee.
x $49.95 monthly
x Economy Plus
x Download speeds up to 3 Mbps and upload speeds up to 768 Kbps
x Constant Guard® – The most comprehensive online protection of any major Internet
provider at home and now on your mobile devices.
x XFINITY Connect with 7 e-mail accounts, each with 10GB of storage.
x Backed by the 30-Day Money-Back Comcast Customer Guarantee.
x $29.95 - $39.95 monthly
Project Timeline
We estimate that this project will take three years to complete. The first year would be dedicated
to implementing fiber in the FCC Eligible areas in Chatham County. Year Two, we would focus
on bringing ultra-high speed Internet to Effingham County. Finally, in Year Three, we will focus
on Bryan County.
Scalability
Due to our implementing an ultra-high speed Internet connection via fiber, our project is
technically future proof. Fiber is currently known to be future-proof thus able to be used for
equipment designed to bring higher and faster Internet speeds than on today’s market. Because
of this property of fiber, we never have to replace the fiber in order to upgrade the network;
rather, we just need to upgrade the equipment attached to the fiber to evolve to the needs of the
communities.