Demand Aggregation

Demand aggregation is one of the key components in supporting your community’s broadband expansion. Demand aggregation helps you identify the needs of the community, what is available to the community and helps compile that data all in one place. The data that you get from a demand aggregation campaign is the cornerstone of making the business case and encouraging providers to move into your area.

There are several steps in creating a demand aggregation campaign. The first step is the creation of the survey that will allow citizens to report a lack of services that meet their needs. These surveys are often made available both in an online format as well as a printed format for users who have no access to internet. You can put these surveys in areas around town, government buildings and many other places. One of the more successful distributions of surveys has been utilizing the school system by sending surveys home with students.

The next step is to build a public outreach campaign to let people know about the campaign. Public outreach campaigns have included press releases, radio advertisements, billboards and direct outreach. Thinking outside of the box, you can also reach out to community centers where people gather, like places of worship, libraries, fairs, festivals and other public places to reach large crowds in concentrated areas.

Finally, determine and act within a start and ending date. These dates can typically range from 30 to 90 days, but our office has seen the best results from a 60-day window. That gives plenty of time for your public outreach campaign to take hold as well as for friends and neighbors to organize and talk to their local community about getting involved.

Whoever is responsible for collecting the data should keep the Broadband Planning Committee aware of participation on a weekly basis. This way, you get indicators on the outreach activities that are working and not working so you can ramp up your efforts and adjust accordingly. Always remember that the provider meeting will the one chance to share your data, and every effort should be made to include as many unserved and underserved addresses as possible.

Our Recommended Survey

The Broadband Infrastructure Office has a recommended survey that we have tested and worked with providers to ensure answers the right questions to encourage deployment. You can use this survey in an online format and print it out and use it in your local community.