REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action to Authorize the City Manager to Execute an Agreement with the City of San Jos? Regarding Fiber Optic Cable and Conduit Where the City of San Jos? Will Provide Construction Services Not-to-Exceed $379,000 and Authorization to Enter Into a Dark Fiber Lease Agreement With the Santa Clara Unified School District
Report
BACKGROUND
In 2000, the City of Santa Clara's Electric Department, Silicon Valley Power (SVP), upgraded its communication system from an older copper-based network to a modern fiber-optic network. The upgraded system was intentionally designed with excess capacity to ensure long-term reliability for internal City operations and to allow for future commercial leasing.
Today, the SVP fiber-optic network ("SVP Fiber Program") spans approximately 100 route-miles, with about 70% installed underground and 30% installed aerially. This network supports critical SVP operations, City communication networks, local schools, and connectivity for 33 data centers.
Through its SVP Fiber Program, SVP also makes limited use of the excess capacity by leasing dark fiber to third parties. Dark fiber consists of City-owned, unlit fiber-optic networks that customers use for their own communication needs. SVP Fiber currently provides services to 17 commercial customers and generates approximately $2.1 million in annual revenue.
SVP also provides fiber optic service to the Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD). The City and the SCUSD entered a dark fiber lease agreement on May 19, 2009, allowing SVP Fiber to provide dark fiber services to 29 sites. Since 2019, the SCUSD has been asking SVP Fiber for a dark fiber solution to their planned schools in San Jos? near the City of Santa Clara boundary, but at the time the only known solution would cost millions of dollars in construction. On December 18, 2023, SVP received another dark fiber request from the SCUSD for additional dark fiber leasing for three additional new SC...
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