Telecommunications System on the Agenda

The City Council Tuesday will consider approving a public-private venture that would expand Anaheim’s fiber-optic network to provide a high-speed telecommunications system serving residents, businesses and government offices.

Under the proposal, San Diego-based SpectraNet International would build the “universal telecommunications system.”

Since 1994, the city’s staff has been working to develop a state-of-the-art system that would provide cost-effective, reliable and high-quality telecommunications services.

According to a city staff report, fiber-optic technology coupled with existing and next-generation computers and telecommunications equipment would meet the city’s telecommunications needs, including interactive voice, data and video communications.

The city’s Public Utilities Department has already installed 96 strands of fiber-optic cable in a 50-mile loop within the city. Because the city needs only about a third of those fibers, officials are proposing to use 60 strands to develop the universal telecommunications system.