Tag Archives: Hawaiian Telcom

January 12, 2012

Makalei Fire Station Project Update

By Aaron Stene

One of the county’s SMTP servers, which is outsourced to Pacific Pro-Tech, was red flagged as an originator of spam. This prevented anyone working for the county from e-mailing me between January 3rd and January 11th, 2012.

The manager, who is overseeing the Makalei Fire Station project, ran into this problem. He tried e-mailing me twice during this time, but his e-mails weren’t delivered until Tuesday.

This is the latest construction update for this important public safety facility:

“Work is progressing quite well, we’ve since gotten approvals from both HELCO and DWS for their utilities and been following up w/ Cable and Hawaiian Telcom on their utilities (need to get a pole relocated in the new driveway). Building interior work (drywall, plumbing, AC and electrical) are all progressing along. Waterline work down to the highway is almost completed and contractor is meeting w/ State Highways to do trenching work on the highway. Landscaping work has just started with temporary irrigation lines being installed and tree excavation starting.”

Kamuela attorney Margaret Wille has announced her intentions to run for Councilman Pete Hoffmann’s District 9 seat. I’m happy she decided to run. She’ll add much-needed perspective and intelligence to the council, if elected.

Lastly, Hawaiian Telcom still faces a lot of challenges despite successfully exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy. For starters, their aging last mile infrastructure needs to be improved, if they want to remain a viable competitor to Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Hawaii Development, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Planning, Hawaii Politics, Hawaii Technology

August 16, 2011

Saddle Road Bid Solicitatation Update

By Aaron Stene

I received this update regarding the status of the latest Saddle Road bid solicitation. The CFLHD still hasn’t awarded the project yet. However, they’re hopeful it will be awarded soon.

“Aaron,

No award has been made. Unfortunately we are having DOT network issues and the website is difficult to get to. It is up, but for various technical difficulties you can only get to it via a numerical address, the title: cflhd.gov.

But again, there has been no significant movement on the Saddle Award. Bids are good up to 60 days but we are working to quickly award and will do so as quickly as possible.

Sorry for website issues!”

Hawaiian Telcom‘s Big Island manager provided this update regarding the utility pole issue at Palani Junction.

“I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to acknowledge our efforts. Coincidentally I had revisited the Palani Junction issue with the Manager in Kona to see when we might be able to address it. He has assured me that he has not forgotten about it and we hope to have it resolved sometime in the near future.”

Big Island Carbon’s Kawaihae facility is gearing up to commence commercial operations.

Lastly, the manager overseeing the Ane Keohokalole Highway provided a brief construction update:

1. Hawaiian Telcom (Oceanic Time Warner Cable) should be completed with their utility pole relocation by September 19th ?

Somewhere in the week of 9/19/11

2. When will the Kamaka’eha Avenue trenching be completed?

We’ll be off the road by the end of this week – then working on the trench at the fire station and in the roadway shoulders for another week or two

3. The WHT ad stated the Ane K closure by the High School would be until August 15th. However, you said it would be two weeks from August 8th. I went with your information.

You are correct – two weeks from 8/8/11

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Hawaii Development, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Politics, Hawaii Technology, Hawaii Transportation

August 3, 2011

Ane Keohokalole Highway Construction Update

By Aaron Stene

I spoke to Alex Leonard, the project manager for the Ane Keohokalole Highway project, today. He informed me about upcoming construction which may impact traffic flow.

1. The existing Ane Keohokalole Highway segment between Kealakehe Parkway to Puohulihuli Street is slated to be closed for two weeks starting August 8th, 2011. The contractor will be working on drainage and utility conduit improvements during this time.

2. CTS Earthmoving recently started utility conduit trenching by the intersection of Kamaka’eha Avenue and Palani Road.There will be alternating lane closures as this work progresses. Please use caution driving through this area.

3. Hawaiian Telcom will complete the relocation of their utility poles by September 19th, 2011 (Oceanic Time Warner Cable should complete the relocation of their single fiber-optic cable by this time also). Hawaiian Telcom should be commended for their decision to accelerate the relocation of their poles.

4. The specialized concrete paving equipment won’t be available until late 2011 (It’s scheduled to arrive on December 5th,2011). The contractor would like to pave Palani Road first and move on to the next segments.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Hawaii Transportation

July 21, 2011

Hawaiian Telcom Responded To My Inquiry About Their Aging Fiber-Optic Network

By Aaron Stene

Ann Nishida, Hawaiian Telcom’s Senior Manager -Corporate Communications, replied to my recent e-mail regarding the age of Hawaiian Telcom’s inter island submarine fiber-optic network.

“Aloha Aaron,

Thank you for your interest in Hawaiian Telcom. Your query below was forwarded to me. Hawaiian Telcom continues to invest tens of millions of dollars annually in our network. Our long-range network plan includes capital improvements, replacements and ongoing maintenance of our facilities. For competitive and infrastructure security reasons, we cannot publicly share plans for particular facilities. Mahalo.”

I’m disappointed, but not surprised, she declined to respond directly to my concerns.

I hope Hawaiian Telcom does have a plan to replace their aging undersea network. It takes years of planning before they could proceed. However, I believe they might make a play for Sandwich Isles Communications Paniolo Fiber-optic Cable Network if they file for bankruptcy.

Road and Highway Builders had to stop paving up on Saddle Road for the last week and half (between m.m 11-19).Tesoro recently ran out of asphalt material. They’re hopeful paving could resume the week of July 25th.

I e-mailed the DPW engineer overseeing the Palani Road water transmission project about the new unsightly water tank by Palani Road. He e-mailed me this response which I’ve posted below:

“Aloha Mr. Stene,

The contractor will put up black cyclone fencing around the tank site and will repair any existing fencing that was disturbed for construction. However, for Homeland Security reasons and lower maintenance costs, there is no intention to install any landscaping. Generally, DWS tries to maintain a neat and clean appearance at its facilities but does not provide landscape screening which can invite loitering, graffiti and vandalism or worse. The fencing should be completely installed before the end of September. Thank you, once again, for your interest in this project.”

The future intersection between Saddle Road and Mamalahoa Highway (by m.m 14) will be channelized with left turn, acceleration and deceleration lanes. It won’t be signalized as far as I understand. So, they should drop the speed limit from 50mph to 45mph. Drivers routinely speed through this area because there is no sharp turns on this roadway segment.

Update: The speed limit in the vicinity of this future intersection will be dropped from 50mph to 45mph, according to the HDOT.

Lastly, the renewal process for Oceanic Time Warner Cable’s Hawaii County franchise license is slow progressing. They’ve completed the ascertainment proceeding phase of this process.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Hawaii Development, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Planning, Hawaii Politics, Hawaii Technology, Hawaii Transportation

July 11, 2011

Kona Int’l Airport Air Traffic Control Tower Project Update

By Aaron Stene

I received this construction update regarding the ongoing Kona Int’l Airport Air Traffic Control Tower project:

“Still on track for mid-August and final acceptance in early September. After that another year; more or less to commission equipment and then dedication.”

The draft environmental assessment for the Waiaka Bridge replacement project was posted on Friday.

Hawaiian Telcom and Wavecom Solutions inter-island submarine fiber-optic networks were activated in 1994 and 1997. Both of these cables are reaching their end of life (HICS and HIFN will be 20 years old in 2014 and 2017 respectively). For example, Hawaiian Telcom’s cable was built using outdated technology. This makes upgrading the network more difficult and costly.

I hope both of these entities have plans in place to replace these critical submarine cables eventually.

Lastly, someone recently e-mailed me the page view statistics for the Hawaii News Daily blog. I told this person not to send me this information again and expressed my disdain towards this site. Hawaii Reporter and Hawaii Free Press are more creditable news sources.

He responded by calling me ugly, implied that I’m uneducated and lack maturity (this individual also submitted one of these disparaging comments here).

Someone else recently made a comment about this blog. He said I should broaden the topics this blog covers along with posting more press releases. I believe this would go against all this blog stands for. The topics I blog about are not sexy, but impact the citizens of this island in one way or another.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in General, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Politics, Hawaii Technology, Hawaii Transportation

June 30, 2011

Saddle Road Bid Solicitation Update

By Aaron Stene

The manager overseeing the Makalei Fire Station project e-mailed me this update on Monday:

“The project is moving along in accordance with the contractor’s construction schedule. The mass excavation work on this site was quite extensive (more so when it is being done in solid rock…), form work has just started and we’ve been really fortunate that weather has been quite cooperative.”

The Department of Commence and Consumer Affairs CATV division recently granted Hawaiian Telcom a cable television franchise license for the island of Oahu (Star Bulletin, KITV). I strongly believe Hawaiian Telcom’s existing last mile copper facilities won’t reliably support video. Potential customers have to live 5,000 feet (or less) from the central office/remote terminal to qualify for this service.

I spoke to the manager overseeing the La’aloa Avenue Extension project on Monday. The county is working diligently to obtain the necessary land easements. However, one parcel is tied up in litigation between two partners. So, the condemnation of the land can’t proceed until this litigation is resolved.

I received this update regarding the status of the next phase of the Saddle Road improvement project.

“The CFLHD portion of FHWA has not received the funding yet, and we’ve been waiting on it “any day.” It has been received by our Headquarters but they do all kinds of things to the money before they appropriate it for specific projects. We are ready to put the project up for bid any day now, once funding is received and obligated for the project.

I cannot provide a accurate eta due to the funding being out of our hands, but I would think any day now…even maybe today.”

Update: The CFLHD officially posted the bid solicitation for the last Kona side phase of the Saddle Road improvement project on Wednesday. Sealed bids will be publicly opened on July 28th, 2011 at 2pm .

Lastly, Oceanic Time Warner Cable is probably speeding up the upcoming standard tier speed increase because their West/East Hawaii cable franchise licenses expire later this year.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Hawaii Development, Hawaii Economy, Hawaii Planning, Hawaii Politics, Hawaii Technology, Hawaii Transportation

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