Civic News

City hires broadband consultant as it looks to expand fiber network

On Wednesday, the Board of Estimates awarded a consulting contract worth $157,000 to Magellan Advisors.

Chris Tonjes speaking at Baltimore TechBreakfast in December 2012.

In May we reported that the City of Baltimore was seeking a broadband consultant to help weigh the city’s options in expanding its fiber capabilities with an overbuild of the city’s existing fiber ring.
On Wednesday, the Board of Estimates awarded a consulting contract worth $157,000 to Magellan Advisors, “a broadband Internet and community development firm,” reports the Baltimore Business Journal.
As Technically Baltimore reported, Baltimore’s existing 25-mile fiber ring services the city’s 800MHz public radio system. Expanding Baltimore’s fiber capabilities, including a fiber overbuild that would allow the city to lease extra broadband bandwidth to private Internet service providers, is one of several initiatives being pursued by city CIO Chris Tonjes, who was hired by the city in July 2012.
It’ll be Magellan’s job to “identify costs and risks associated with expanding city broadband infrastructure and ‘identify key anchor tenants’ that would lease portions of an expanded city-owned fiber optic network,” according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
In July the Mayor’s Office of Information Technology established Baltimore City WiFi, a free wireless connection paid for by the city available outside Penn Station.

Companies: Board of Estimates / Mayor’s Office of Information Technology / City of Baltimore

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

3 ways to support our work:
  • Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
  • Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
  • Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
The journalism fund Preferred partners Our services
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

The person charged in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting had a ton of tech connections

From rejection to innovation: How I built a tool to beat AI hiring algorithms at their own game

Where are the country’s most vibrant tech and startup communities?

Where small business supports shine — and fail — in Baltimore 

Technically Media