“If we go this route, who else can be served by that?” That simple question is the driving force behind a new push for public-private partnerships in Maryland through the state’s Digital Infrastructure Group (DIG).
Telecompetitor spoke with Eric Bathras, Chief Technology Officer for Infrastructure at the Maryland Department of Information Technology and one of the leaders of DIG. Bathras is a passionate advocate for DIG’s approach and believes it will work wonders in Maryland and any other states that want to adopt it.
DIG was created via an executive order by Maryland Governor Wes Moore earlier this year. Composed of representatives from 11 state agencies, DIG’s stated purpose is “to enhance collaboration among Maryland state and county entities to streamline the coordinated development of broadband infrastructure.”
In practice, this means a more proactive approach toward public-private partnerships for Maryland.
According to Bathras, Maryland enters into resource-sharing agreements (RSAs) with various private entities — like broadband and cellular providers — that allow the state to reap benefits when a provider wants to expand their network. These benefits are sometimes in the form of cash, but often they take the form of helping the state fulfill its connectivity needs. This happens through what Bathras called “Goldilocks builds.”
Goldilocks Builds and Public-Private Partnerships in Maryland
As the name implies, Goldilocks builds are projects that work out just right for four layers of infrastructure: transportation needs, vertical assets, government institutions, and community needs.
What does a Goldilocks build look like? Bathras told us the story of a partnership the state formed with the Maryland Broadband Cooperative, a consortium of broadband providers along the state’s eastern shore.
Together, the state and Maryland Broadband Cooperative applied for and won grant funding for a project that, ultimately, was jointly funded by the state, the county, and the Cooperative (and private providers through the Cooperative).
Rather than merely connecting homes and businesses, this Goldilocks build connected various transportation-related assets, cell towers, state community anchor institutions (CAIs), and unserved/underserved residents and businesses. Bathras said the cost-per-mile of the broadband expansion was also greatly reduced because the various entities involved shared the costs.
The DIG Way: Better Together
DIG’s hope is that every broadband project in Maryland will begin with an eye toward possible public-private partnerships. “So much that we see across the country and even in Maryland is one bill, one need,” Bathras said, “[But] we’re in a position where we can serve all four needs” with a single project, i.e., transportation, vertical assets, government institutions, and community needs.
Bathras quoted the proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go farther, go together.” He is up front about the fact that the governance of a partnership is more complicated than a single entity working on their own. But the benefits of integrating various partners’ priorities, maximizing funding, capturing revenue, and narrowing the digital divide far outweigh the governance issues.
Currently, DIG has resource-sharing agreements in place with several providers (“a few dozen,” Bathras estimated), with hopes for many more as public-private partnerships in Maryland grow.
“We want to bring in the appropriate stakeholders, satisfy as many needs as possible, and create as many of these Goldilocks builds as possible,” Bathras said. “We’re accounting for both the public and private sector because the private sector will get broadband to homes and businesses, and [the state] will get to the CAIs, which deliver government services.”
The common wisdom — “Dig once” — isn’t realistic, Bathras said. Instead, “I call it ‘Dig smart.’” By which he meant maximizing broadband projects by connecting everything — communities, CAIs, hospitals, universities, street and transportation technology, and systems like utilities, datacenters, NextGen 911 capabilities, and much more — during a single project.
Dig smart — that’s the DIG way.
Additional information about broadband in Maryland, including links to state funding resources and grant awards made, state-specific Telecompetitor coverage, and more can be found on the Broadband Nation webpage for the state.
