C.R. broadband startup dreams big

A rural broadband stimulus program has a Cedar Rapids startup thinking really big.

FyreSTORM Cable & Fiber of Cedar Rapids is seeking $139 million in federal stimulus money for a high-speed fiber-optic network to serve 19 rural Iowa communities, including Robins, Ely, Mount Vernon, Walford and Fairfax.

It is the largest request of any applicant from Iowa for the broadband stimulus program, which will eventually award $7.2 billion nationwide for broadband projects targeting underserved rural communities. About $4 billion will be awarded this fall, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

In the first round of the program alone, the 3-year-old startup wants to deliver download speeds of 50 megahits per second - much faster Internet access than residents in target areas can now receive. The system would offer telephone service, data service and Internet Protocol-based cable television service, managing partner Alan Lucas said.

FyreSTORM may seem a long shot to win funding, given that the company has a staff of only five and has only run a pilot cable TV operation. Lucas said the company has a strong technology base, though, including software written in-house to operate the system.

If awarded funding, Lucas said the company will use Cedar Rapids as its base of operations, adding 100 to 150 staff by the end of the project's second year. He said the company wants to donate fiber capacity to the city of Robins, an important city in its network plans, to connect public-safety facilities to Linn County's emergency telecommunications network.

The privately held company would have three years to complete the network build out, with hopes to begin connecting the first customers in 2010.

FyreSTORM also plans to introduce service in Cedar Rapids in mid-2010 and in Iowa City in late 2010, an expansion that does not depend on the stimulus application.

FyreSTORM is one of 19 Iowa applicants, out of 2,200 applicants nationwide seeking a total of $28 billion.

Other Iowa applicants include the Iowa Communications Network, Iowa Telecommunications Services of Newton, the Iowa Health System of Des Moines, the city of Davenport, Atkins Telephone Co. and Shellsburg Cablevision.

The list: Who's applying for federal rural broadband access funds in Iowa