Faster, stronger Internet service is coming to Watsonville – at
least to government offices.
But city leaders hope an agreement with Cruzio will be a
building block for future technological improvements that will spur
economic growth.
Donna Jones
Faster, stronger Internet service is coming to Watsonville – at least to government offices.
But city leaders hope an agreement with Cruzio will be a building block for future technological improvements that will spur economic growth.
Watsonville, along with most of the Central Coast, is desperately in need of an upgrade to attract business.
“You can’t get the bandwidth you need,” Economic Development Manager Kurt Overmeyer said. “Whatever we can do in the city to encourage existing telecommunication companies to increase capacity, availability and quality is an important thing for economic development.”
The agreement calls for the city to provide space in the Civic Plaza for Cruzio equipment in exchange for a free high-speed wireless connection for government.
In the next few months, Cruzio will be rolling out an Internet and phone product in Watsonville as well as Santa Cruz, Live Oak and Capitola that will deliver 20Mbps connections plus local and long-distance phone calls for about $50 a month, according to James Hackett, who heads up business development at Cruzio.
Commercial and residential customers will be able to double the speed with two lines, he said.
The average national broadband speed is about 5Mbps.
Hackett said Cruzio also has set a goal of extending a fiber-optic line recently installed in downtown Santa Cruz to Watsonville within three years.
The cost of the high-speed line is estimated at $4 million.
“Funding will need to come from public and private sources,” Hackett said. “We’re excited to be working with the city of Watsonville, but large anchor tenants will be needed along the route to help pay for the build out.”
In the meantime, Watsonville will be getting a 100Mbps link not only for the day-to-day details of government, but also in times of disaster, he said.
Marc Pimentel, city administrative services manager, said the deal gives Watsonville more control over its technological future as its leverage over cable providers ends in 2014 when the state takes over negotiating agreements.
Cruzio’s entry also injects more competition into the city, he said. Hopefully, that will translate into better rates and better service.
“We’re really pleased to see Cruzio coming into this market,” Pimentel said.
Mayor Daniel Dodge has been pushing for beefed-up broadband since he was picked to lead the council in January. Wednesday, he said though Santa Cruz and Monterey have fiber optic lines, much of the region does not, including Salinas, southern Santa Clara County and San Benito County.
Watsonville’s location could make it an important link, he said.
“Imagine us being a hub,” Dodge said. “With the possibility of a fiber optic link, we’re really talking about what kind of companies we can bring in.”
