Specifications include, but are not limited to: The County seeks to identify public and private partners interested in deploying and operating infrastructure that will provide affordable, equitable, high-speed broadband access to residents, businesses, and anchor institutions in unserved areas of Pierce County. The County has completed a countywide evaluation of broadband service availability and has identified several large contiguous areas where broadband service gaps currently exist. These unserved areas are shown in Exhibit A and are high priorities for broadband service. The approximate number of addresses in the high priority unserved areas is 6,300. The County wishes to facilitate broadband access to these areas at service levels of at least 100 Mbps download/20 Mbps upload and has a strong preference for investments in network infrastructure that are scalable to 150 Mbps symmetrical. Wireline technology is preferred but wireless and other technologies that can reliably obtain the required service levels are also acceptable. The County is also aware that significant broadband service gaps exist outside of the unserved and underserved areas identified in Exhibit A and welcomes approaches that provide service to these areas as well. The County will consider information from the “Indicators of Broadband Need” map available from the United States Department of Commerce, information from the Washington State Broadband Office and information from other appropriate data sources to define these additional unserved and underserved areas.
