Konaguy
Live From Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Premium
join:2000-10-21
Kailua Kona, HI
 ·Hawaiian Telcom
| Sandwich Isles Communications
Sandwich Isles Communications is receiving 400 million
in USDA RUS loans that will be repaid by USF. Your tax dollars
are hard at work to wire 69 DHHL subdivisions statewide in Hawaii.
»www.allbusiness.com/periodicals/···9-1.html
»the.honoluluadvertiser.com/artic···03p.html |
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xsiddalx
join:2005-03-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Yahoo
| Does no one on BBR have internet access?
USF
Top 3 States for Q1 2006:
TX - 55m
MS - 53m
KS - 46m
For fun..
An analysis of the distribution in MS is as follows:
Total Distribution: 53.9 M
To small telephone companies: 6.9 m (13%)
To big telephone companies: 31.9 m (53%)
To wireless carriers: 15.0 m (28%)
To "real clecs" : .81 m (0%)
"Big": Companies:
Bell South (the new ATT): 27.0m
Alltel : 2.2m
Century : 2.0m
Wireless (yes, cell phone providers):
Cellular South : 10.8m
RCC Communications : 1.8m
Centennial : .6m
Sprint Nextel : 1.0m
ATT wireless : .9m
As far as HI, it gets a little more interesting:
Total HI Q1 06: 10m
Distribution:
Sandwich Isles: 4.8m
NPCR : 4.5m
Sandwich Isles Telco: 1355 access lines
Sprint/Nextel : 1202 cell customers
i.e. Sprint/Nextel is pulling in 4.5m per quarter for
1202 cell phones 
Bottom line, none of this is top secret....
»www.usac.org/about/governance/fc···ult.aspx
For some additional fun, take a look at the number of cellular lines compared to land lines 
The way it works:
Local Telcos get support based on their "regulated costs".
"Competitors" get support on a per line basis equivalent to
the local telco they are competing with.
We all know family plans now mean everyone has a phone, as
opposed to the household getting a second line...
Voila..instant cash flow! If a household has 3 phones, the
Cellular Company recieves the same support per line that the
telephone company receives x 3...go figure.
Some of you folks need to do some exploring before spouting off |
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Konaguy
Live From Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Premium
join:2000-10-21
Kailua Kona, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom
1 edit | said by xsiddalx  :Some of you folks need to do some exploring before spouting off I've been fighting Sandwich Isles project from 2002 until 2004. Thus I know what I'm talking about. It is a blantant
waste of taxpayer dollars to wire only Hawaiian Homelands
area.
»www.the-catbird-seat.net/SandwichIsles.htm |
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xsiddalx
join:2005-03-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Yahoo
| reply to Konaguy
Re: Sandwich Isles Communications
The odd part of the story is that your telephone company
was purchased by the Carlyle Group (come to your own
conclusions: »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlyle_Group)
Wiki's ain't generally accurate...imo
When Sandwich Isles started up...Verizon was not willing
to build out there.
One Mr William Kennard, as FCC Head approved the SI application to be a local telco in that area.
Mr Kennard later went on to the Carlyle Group, which
no long after purchased the Verizon property and renamed
it HI Telecom or something similar.
The fantastic part is that Kennard's company actually went
after the FCC for incorrectly allowing SI to be deemed a
telephone company. Yep...they hired the guy that they
wanted to blame for screwing up... go figure.
The 400m will not be paid by USF, however, USF was
a figure in determining the ability to repay the loan.
Generally speaking, revenues will come from retail
customers, wholesale customers and usf, in theory.
If SI receives 4.5 m per quarter, and didn't have any
other source of revenue aside from USF, it would take
them 22.25 years to repay from the USF, using simple
non-finance math.
Although I think the SI funding is insane, the wireless
company funding is crazier....certainly the former's
network is much more expensive than the latter's. Hopefully
cell service is free on the islands...it would be the least
the cell provider could do
Bottom line, everything comes back to societal values
of connecting everyone to the communications
infrastructure. Apparently, due to the lack of Verizon
building out there...it took the lure of USF to get
SI to create a company to serve the area...ain't the
the point of USF "accountability"? |
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xsiddalx
join:2005-03-11
Chicago, IL
·AT&T Yahoo
| reply to Konaguy
Re: Does no one on BBR have internet access?
I didn't mean you specifically!
I recall seeing your web site quite some time ago
when I noticed what SI was pulling in from USF...
nice summary!
I still stand by the position that the point of
the fund is to provide service where it doesn't
exist. Apparently VZ wasn't willing, nor was the
HI puc willing, to mandate basic telephone service
to those islands. On the other hand, we should be
jealous, everyone on this board is so enthralled
with VZ doing fiber to the home...when SI is doing
it quietly (and yes VZ recieves quite a few subsidies
as well).
On another note....I am amazed at some of the idiotic
things that come out of the mouth of Al Hee...I'm guessing
he is a well connected gentleman that can afford to make
dumb statements about "financing a CLEC with USF money
before anyone figures it out"...if I recall correctly,
the article was titled Flying High or something in Forbes.
Bottom line, if we took out SI and Sprint from the fund,
it won't save much at this point.
Thanks for keeping your page up!! It's a rare treat these
days. |
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Konaguy
Live From Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
Premium
join:2000-10-21
Kailua Kona, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom
| reply to Konaguy
Re: Sandwich Isles Communications
Actually the website I cited (The Catbird Seat), has no affliation with me.But I've contributed material to the site in question though.
As far as my reading on the 400 million dollar USDA RUS
loans, they will be indeed be repaid by the USF.
»www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stor···y72.html
Sandwich Isles is in the process of building a $400 million fiber-optic network that would link dozens of parcels of Hawaiian Home Lands statewide. Most remain uninhabited due to a lack of critical infrastructure. The project is being built with loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities service fund that are being paid back in part through money from the Universal Service Fund.
»starbulletin.com/2002/06/04/news/story2.html
The financing includes $400 million in loans from the U.S. Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service and perhaps another $100 million from unnamed "private investors."
Most of the federal loan will be paid off by another federal agency, the Federal Communications Commission, through the Universal Service Fund, administered by the National Exchange Carriers Association
»the.honoluluadvertiser.com/artic···07a.html
The Forbes article you cited was titled "Dreaming and Scheming, Hawaiian Style."
Al Hee is a really politically connected individual. His younger brother is a State Senator .
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Hee |
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