The Chief Information Officer, in partnership with the University of Nebraska, shall develop and maintain a statewide, multipurpose, high capacity, scalable telecommunications network to be called Network Nebraska.

The network shall consist of contractual arrangements with providers to meet the demand of state agencies, local governments, and educational entities as defined in section 79-1332. Such network shall provide access to a reliable and affordable infrastructure capable of carrying a spectrum of services and applications, including distance education, across the state.

The Chief Information Officer shall provide access to each school district, each educational service unit, each community college, each state college, and the University of Nebraska at the earliest feasible date and no later than July 1, 2012. The Chief Information Officer shall establish a cost structure based on actual costs plus administrative expenses and shall charge participants according to such cost structure.

Education entities connecting to Network Nebraska can expect to assume recurring monthly costs of four major types:

Network Nebraska Participation Fee (recouping the administrative costs of operating Network Nebraska)

Inter-regional Transport (cost of backbone transport to interconnect the various regions of the State)

Wide Area Networking (WAN) (cost of high bandwidth transport provided by a telecommunications company within their region)

Internet Access (cost of providing Internet access over the IP network—public schools’ access to Internet is paid for by their respective ESU)

More information is available about recurring monthly costs:
Cost Structure and Billing Issues for Network Nebraska
Estimated Phase 1 WAN costs:

Links to State Master Purchase Contracts for:
Phase 1 WAN charges (Qwest service area)
Phase 1 WAN charges (Windstream service area)
Internet Access (Qwest via Lincoln or Omaha)