Pullman to Spokane: Port studies new fiber line

The Port of Whitman County has hired two consulting firms to study potential users of a high-speed fiber optic link between Pullman and Spokane.

Port commissioners at their regular meeting July 16 approved a $44,500 contract with CFO Outsourcing, LLC and a $7,125 contract with Rostie Consulting, both of Spokane.

The port added the Rostie firm to the project because they specialize in research covering long-range areas.

The companies will study the potential customer base of a fiber optic line that would allow high-speed data transmissions between Pullman and Spokane.

Poire told port commissioners the cost to install the fiber, including cost of land, could range from $8 million to $21 million.

That information will be used to see if the line would generate sufficient revenue to repay the investment of installing the infrastructure.

The port has already laid fiber around the county. The agency invested more than $1.1 million in that infrastructure and expects to receive more than $225,000 in lease revenues this year.

The line from Pullman to Spokane would be laid in the right-of-way of the 76-mile Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad line between Pullman and Spokane.

The P & L runs up the eastern side of Whitman County from Pullman to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe connection at Marshall in Spokane County, passing through Palouse, Garfield, Oakesdale and Rosalia on the way.

By providing fiber that could be leased to telecommunications companies, the port is hoping to make it affordable to provide service to towns along the line. The line would also link a proposed supercomputer at the Pullman Innovation Partnership Zone with another proposed supercomputer at Spokane’s innovation zone.

A study finished last month by Mindshare Consulting of Spokane looked at the cost of acquiring the land next to the railroad and laying the fiber line in that land.

Both the Mindshare study and the upcoming studies were partially funded by grants from the state Community Economic Revitalization Board.

Poire said the studies will be used to compete for federal stimulus dollars that have been earmarked for developing rural telecommunication infrastructure.

The program provides a combination of a grant and loans to local agencies to install the line. Poire expected the port’s score sheet would secure the agency as much as 30 percent grant money and a 70 percent loan. He said the loan would come with a 4.5 percent interest rate.

He expects the studies will show the project is profitable enough to return investment costs.

Applications will be scored and submitted to the federal government by the governor’s office.

Deadlines to have applications submitted to the state are Aug. 14 and Sept. 20.