ANAHEIM : Bids to Be Accepted on Fiber-Optics System

With the goal of making the city a world-class telecommunications center, the City Council this week unanimously voted to solicit proposals from private companies interested in developing an advanced citywide system.

The key to such a system would be a 50-mile fiber-optic loop that the city is constructing. The loop will connect pump stations and electric substations for utility operations and will replace a copper line that is more than 30 years old.

The flexible, hair-thin fiber-optic material will provide potential access to far more communications services than are now available, said Ed Aghjayan, the city’s general manager of public utilities.

The fiber-optic line, which transmits light impulses instead of electricity, will have enough reserve capacity that it could be used in other ways.

“We have the loop that’s going in, and we want to optimize the value to the community and the city,” Aghjayan said.

Companies interested in submitting proposals to the city will have until June to do so. Aghjayan said at least 12 telecommunications companies have already inquired. All telecommunications companies have been invited to submit proposals, including telephone and cable-TV providers.