Maxfield Silverson

A collaborative of local governments will seek private funding to build a regional public high-speed internet network, the McCall City Council was told earlier this month.The group, known as the West Central Mountains Fiber Network, is seeking approval from each of its members to submit a letter of inquiry for private financing to fund the network.“We are basically reaching out to see what a project like that would look like,” said McCall Information Systems Director Chris Curtin, who represents the city in the collaborative.Any proposal would not be binding and would be subject to review and approval by members of the group, which includes Valley County and the cities of Cascade, Donnelly, McCall and New Meadows.Curtin estimated it could cost up to $30 million to build a network of miles of underground fiber internet lines, an expense the group cannot independently fund.Federal grant funding is available for broadband projects, but usually requires a match that could be difficult for local governments to raise, Curtin said.“We would need to come up with about $6 million to $8 million,” he said.The letter of inquiry is addressed to Jeff Christensen, president of EntryPoint Networks, a Salt Lake City consulting firm hired by the collaborative to help develop a regional public fiber network.EntryPoint is expected to reply with a proposal for funding a network of fiber lines linking homes and businesses from Cascade to New Meadows to high-speed internet service.McCall, Cascade and Valley County have approved submitting the letter, while Donnelly and New Meadows are expected to consider the topic soon.Building a public fiber network to serve the region would improve internet speeds, broaden access, increase reliability and lower monthly service costs, according to the collaborative.Once built, existing internet service providers, like Ziply Fiber and Sparklight, would be able to offer their service packages to customers using the group’s public network.That would increase competition between providers and lower monthly service costs, according to the group.Participation in the regional network is expected to be on a voluntary, opt-in basis for local residents and businesses.