Posted by: Ann Treacy | September 2, 2010

Update on Sibley County FTTH feasibility study

Thanks to Chris Mitchell (from the Institute for Local Self Reliance) for the detailed update on Sibley County’s feasibility study. (Blandin Foundation is helping Sibley County with a grant to perform their feasibility study.)

According to Chris, there are public meetings happening throughout the area to discuss the potential project. Chris picked up on a couple of themes at the meetings. First – the conflict between serving a whole community and serving the most potentially profitable areas of a community. In rural areas that often means deciding whether or not to serve farms and homes outside city limits…

Winthrop’s City Administrator, Mark Erickson, is committed to serving the farms though. There is little doubt that the project could succeed financially by serving only the towns, which harbor some 80% of the population. But Erickson recognizes that the towns depend on the farmers and that everyone will benefit more from the network if it is universally available.

Chris also points out…

A common theme across all these networks is that the cities really do not want to get involved but are compelled to take responsibility because they have no future without broadband. Economic development and quality of life are very much linked to broadband access

It sounds as if the feasibility study should be completed in early fall.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Blandin Foundation, Building Broadband Tools, MN, Rural

Posted by: Ann Treacy | September 1, 2010

More on Carver County’s ARRA-funded broadband project

A couple of weeks ago, Carver County got the good word on their ARRA application. Here’s a quick reminder on their project…

Carver County – This nearly $6 million award will allow the County of Carver to offer affordable middle-mile broadband service in south central Minnesota. The project plans to connect schools, libraries, and community colleges, including the Waconia Library and the South Metro campus of the Dunwoody College of Technology, to improve educational services, distance learning, and remote teaching. The project also proposes to construct 121 miles of new fiber that will be open to as many as nine last-mile providers in the region in order to improve commercial broadband availability and adoption. As many as 57,600 people stand to benefit as do 2,700 businesses.

The Sun Patriot recently provided more information on Carver County and their plans…

“The grant means we can leverage local funding to build a much needed fiber ring for county government and then use federal funds to add connections to the ring to benefit the greatest possible number of other public entities,” [Carver County Board Chair James] Ische said. “In addition, the redundant ring makes it possible for the private sector to offer last-mile broadband service to residents and businesses throughout the county. Even those in the rural areas will have access and be able to reap the benefits of high-speed broadband services.”

The fiber ring will be nearly 89 miles long, run directly through every city in the county, and have an additional 32 miles in lateral connections. The 121 miles of new fiber will be open to as many as nine private last-mile providers in the region to improve commercial broadband availability and adoption. Instead of connecting nine sites as it was originally proposed, the fiber ring will initially connect to 55 sites that represent 86 “anchor institutions.”

Referred to as the Carver County Open Fiber Initiative (CCOFI), the anchor institutions represent a far-reaching collection of city, county and township governments, schools, fire departments, public safety towers, law enforcement agencies, community support organizations, and healthcare providers. All six school districts with buildings in Carver County will be connected to the ring through connections to a total of 28 public school buildings. The public will be able to access high-speed Internet at all six county libraries and at the Workforce Service Center.

Carver County will own the ring and will manage and support the fiber network deployed to the other public anchor institutions. The county will not support private sector businesses or residents who connect to the ring. That will be left up to the private companies. They will have equal opportunity to deploy last-mile infrastructure to the ring and provide network management to private businesses and residents.

1 Comment

Posted in Community Networks, FTTH, Funding, MN | Tags:

Posted by: Ann Treacy | September 1, 2010

FCC looks at International Broadband Stats

The FCC recently released their inaugural International Broadband Data Report. It’s concise snapshot of where broadband stands in a wide range of countries. I’ve pulled out the bare bones facts – access, subscriptions, future speeds goals and brief notes on their national strategies – but the report includes a great deal more – including detailed information on providers in each country and their offerings, status of regulations and competition, as well as topography. (Someone at the Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force last week mentioned the need to look at topography when comparing International broadband stats!)

The one thing the report doesn’t include is US numbers! So I’ve added US numbers from the Strategy Analytics: Global Household Broadband Penetration Rankings (2008) as found in the Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Recommendations (pg 43).

% Households with broadband[i] Subscriptions per 100 people Speed Goal National Strategy
Australia 52 25 100 Mbps to 90% by 2018

12 Mbps to remaining 10%

 In 2009, created a company to create national, wholesale FTTP.
Austria 54 22 In 2008, assessed gaps and opportunities.
Belgium 60 38 In 2009, plans for mapping, regulation, tax incentives, public-private partnerships
Bulgaria 15 28 In 2009, plan to invest in smaller towns and build public-private partnerships
Canada 88 30 In 2009, invested in developing plan for rural areas and invested in rural projects
Chile 28 8 In 2008, invest government subsidies to reach rural areas.
Cyprus 33 12 Ubiquity Focusing on providing terrestrial wireless or satellite connections to rural communities
Czech Republic 36 18 50% adoption by 2010
Denmark 74 37 512 kbps to all by 2010 In 2001, decided on a market-based approach, ensuring that regulations are technology-neutral and using egovernment services as “drivers” to broadband.
Estonia 54 24 Ubiquity by 2015 Create a 4,125 mile fiber-optic cable network offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps with a public-private partnership.
Finland 66 30 1 Mbps to all by 2010

100 Mbps to all by 2015

 In 2009, made broadband connectivity a fundamental right for every person in the country
France 57 29 Ubiquity by 2010 In 2008, deputized “universal broadband providers” to promote ubiquity and public-private FTTP.
Germany 55 29 1 Mbps to all by 2010

50 Mbps to 75% by 2014

 In 2009, plan to offer short and long term financial incentives to providers. Also reallocating spectrum.
Greece 22 17 In 2009, public-private partnership to build a national fiber-optic network to Athens and 50 other cities with speeds of up to 100 Mbps for nearly 650,000 users by the end of 2010 and to be expanded to over 2 million households over the next seven years
Hong Kong 70 28 Starting in1998, vision of building on

Hong Kong’s position as a “world digital city.”
Hungary 42 17 In 2005, spread of broadband communication in the private and public sectors.
Iceland 83 33 In 2004, set targets for e-government, e-business, education, environment, security, health care and social

services
Ireland 43[1] 21 In 2009, creates public-private partnership to provide to unserved areas  1.2 Mbps and a minimum upload speed of 200 kpbs
Italy 31 20 2 Mbps for all by 2010 In 2006, announced public-private partnership plan.
Japan 58 24 In 2006, released roadmap for a

comprehensive review of its competition rules.
Korea 73 32 1 Gbps for all by 2012 In 2006, had plan for ubiquitous 1 Mbps, upgraded to 1 Gbps in 2009.
Latvia 40 6 In 2005, 2005, started using state and

EU to cover up to 35% of the total costs for the expansion of broadband in rural areas.
Lithuania 43 18 Broadband to 98% of SME by 2010 In 2002, planned a non-profit organization, to develop rural broadband access and training
Luxembourg 61 31
Malta 55 24 Broadband to 80 percent by 2010 In 2008, goals included access, 75% digital literacy and 101 broadband access centers throughout Malta.
Netherlands 74 38 In 2002, established  independent national platform for the provision

of aid and incentives to the social sectors for the “better and smarter” use of broadband.
Norway 73 35
Poland 38 11 Broadband to 90% by 2013

Broadband to all businesses by 2013

 In 2009, announced plans to direct $397 million for broadband expansion
Portugal 39 17 In 2009, announced an US$1.1 billion credit line for the rollout of next-generation broadband networks in the country.
Romania 13 12 In 2009, called for the installation of 500 hotspots all over the country.
Singapore 86 22 1 Gbps to all by 2012 In 2006, began deploying a seamless next generation broadband network with both a wireline and a wireless part.
Slovakia 35 13 In 2004, set broadband goals including legislative changes, efficient use of spectrum, completing a digital television transition by 2012
Slovenia 50 21 In 2007, committed the government of Slovenia to an investment of $20.4 million in 2009
Spain 45 21 1 Mbps to all by 2011 In 2009, announced that Spanish citizens will have a legal right starting in 2011 to buy broadband Internet service of at least 1 Mbps at a regulated price wherever they live.
Sweden 71 36 100 Mbps to 40% by 2015

100 Mbps to all by 2020
Taiwan 66 22 Ubiquity In 2005, offered computer equipment and Internet access to households in rural and mountainous areas and established “digital opportunity centers” in 168 rural townships
United Kingdom 62 29 2 Mbps to all by 2012. Ofcom has also worked to encourage investment and competition in “super-fast broadband.
United States 60 100 Mbps (50 Mbps up) to 100 million homes by 2020

4 Mbps to all by 2020
[1] Percent of broadband by household wasn’t available for Ireland; this rate is actually access per 100 people.

[i]The report seems to recognize the recent upgraded definition of broadband as actual download (i.e., to the customer) speeds of at least 4 Mbps and actual upload (i.e., from the customer) speeds of at least 1 Mbps.

Leave a Comment

Posted in FCC, Research

Posted by: Ann Treacy | September 1, 2010

New wireless provider coming to Minneapolis

I don’t have a ton of info on this but according to the Minneapolis St Paul Business Journal…

LightSquared, a high-speed wireless broadband startup backed by hedge fund Harbinger Capital, expects to expand its network into Minneapolis next year.

According to the LightSquared web site…

LightSquared is a new nationwide 4G-LTE open wireless broadband network that will use a unique combination of satellite and terrestrial technology to revolutionize wireless communications in the United States. As the country’s first wholesale-only wireless broadband network, LightSquared will provide broadband wireless capacity to a diverse group of partners, including retailers; wireline and wireless communication service providers; cable operators; device manufacturers; web players; content providers; and many others.

Leave a Comment

Posted in MN, Vendors, Wireless

Posted by: Bill Coleman | August 30, 2010

Mobile computer lab in Lac qui Parle

Last week, I was fortunate to participate in the ribbon cutting for the Lac qui Parle Computer Commuter mobile computer lab. There was a great crowd to tour the bus and try the new laptops before listening to the presentations, highlighted by Congressman Collin Peterson, chair of the House Agriculture Committee.

Pam Lehmann, EDA Coordinator, thanked all of the project partners, including Blandin Foundation which provided financial support in addition to that provided by the TDF Foundation of Washington DC. The project leaders will establish a schedule for the mobile lab with regular stops in at least six communities around the county. Mary Quick, the Computer Community coordinator will provide computer classes and one to one assistance to anyone who wants help in learning how to use the computers.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Blandin Foundation, Broadband Applications, Digital Divide, MN

Posted by: Ann Treacy | August 30, 2010

MN ARRA broadband awards so far

There are two more rounds of ARRA broadband to be announced – one is scheduled for next week, the next the end of September. In the meantime I’ve gathered a list of the Minnesota-based and Minnesota-touched awards announced so far. I’ve included brief descriptions of each project. I thought I’d share it as a cheat sheet we could all use.

I’ll paste the table of info below – but I know tables and blogs don’t’ always mix – so there’s a prettier version in Word too.

Grantee Amount Description
Infrastructure Projects:
Arvig Telephone Company $5,048,168 Bring high speed DSL service to unserved establishments within its rural service territory in Crow Wing County, MN.
Carver County $6,000,000 Affordable middle-mile broadband service in south central Minnesota to connect schools, libraries, and community colleges.
City of Windom $12,800,000 SWMBG will build FTTP (Fiber to the Premise) infrastructure to eight rural communities in Southwestern Minnesota.
Enventis Telecom $16,800,000 Affordable middle-mile broadband service in Minnesota by connecting 70 community institutions to broadband, including connecting the Mayo Clinic to 12 rural health care facilities in southern Minnesota.
Farmers Mutual Telephone Company $9,652,956 Bring FTTP technology to Lac qui Parle County.
Federated Telephone Cooperative $1,300,000 Build a FTTP system to deploy voice, video, and data services to rural Appleton, Minnesota.
Federated Telephone Cooperative. $2,987,000 Bring a FTTP voice, video, and data network to the Rural Morris, Minnesota exchange.
Halstad Telephone Company $6,555,000 Install FTTP to 1,069 underserved locations in 5 towns and surrounding rural/farm areas in Norman and Polk Counties in Minnesota
Minnesota Valley Television Improvement Corporation $1,125,552 Continue building out its broadband internet network to unserved and underserved areas of west central and south central Minnesota.
Northeast Service Cooperative $43,498,220 The Northeast Service Cooperative, in partnership with state and local agencies, schools and health care organizations, will implement a middle mile project to make dark fiber, wavelength services available to private sector providers in rural areas of northeast Minnesota.
Sjoberg’s, Inc. $866,000 FTTP in Roseau, Thief River Falls, and the hamlet of Fox, serving approximately 656 people stand to benefit, as do roughly 15 businesses and 3 community institutions
Wikstrom Telephone Company, Incorporated $7,398,600 Deploy FTTP in 6 communities in Kittson, Marshall and Roseau Counties.
Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association $3,100,000

*Winnebago received $19.6 million but only 16% will go MN

 Expand the existing portions of its fiber network by providing FTTP to rural portions of about 21 communities in Iowa and Minnesota.
Woodstock Telephone Co Inc $15,184,424 Expand its fiber network into neighboring rural communities by providing FTTP in 15 communities located within 3 counties in Southwest Minnesota.
Zayo Bandwidth, LLC $13,382,593 The Connect Anoka County Community Broadband Network will make high-speed broadband services available to governments, businesses, community anchor institutions, and local Internet service providers in Anoka County and parts of Isanti and Ramsey Counties
15 Projects $145,698,513
Public Computer Center Projects:
Leech Lake Reservation Business Committee $1,722,371 Create seven new public computer centers and upgrade 10 existing facilities on three Ojibwe and Chippewa Indian reservations in Minnesota. They will provide training and support to youth, parents and small businesses.
Regents of the University of Minnesota $2,862,333 Establish one new public computer center and improve 10 existing computer centers in Minneapolis and St Paul. They will offer computer and workforce training to vulnerable populations, including African-Americans and Hmong and Somali immigrants.
Broadband Adoption Programs:
C.K. Blandin Foundation $4,858,219 Blandin Foundation and partners will bring a network of resources and support to rural Minnesota individuals and communities – especially those unemployed and seeking employment, small businesses, coalitions of government entities, and local leaders.
3 Projects $9,442,923 .
Multi-State Projects with a presence in Minnesota
Communication Service for the Deaf, Inc. $14,988,657 Discounted broadband services and specialized computers, online technology training, public access to videophones at anchor institutions for the deaf and hearing impaired community. The project is primary based in South Dakota.
Connected Nation, Inc. $1,700,000 Expand existing broadband maps to reach more providers, give information at a more detailed level, and investigate broadband adoption in Minnesota
Merit Network $69,639,291 Develop 1172 miles of middle mile fiber to serve anchors, public safety, homes and businesses in the Upper Peninsula and Northern Lower Peninsula. Paths out of the region will reach the Duluth area
Mission Economic Development Agency $3,724,128 The Latino Microenterprise Tech Net will create a public computer center in Minneapolis, where they will offer computer training and adult basic education in English and Spanish.
One Economy Corporation $28,519,482 Publishes a portal of Twin Cities and national resources focusing on jobs, school, housing, money and health. Their Digital Connectors program will bring a mentor/community service project to the Twin Cities where youth will learn about broadband and pass on their knowledge to the community
University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development* $62,540,162 Create an ultra-fast national network to colleges, universities, libraries, health care facilities and public safety entities, including some based in Minnesota
6 Projects $181,111,720
Total:
23 Projects $336,253,156

Leave a Comment

Posted in Funding, MN | Tags:

Posted by: Ann Treacy | August 28, 2010

Social Media, not just for kids anymore

According to Pew Internet & American Life…

Social networking use among internet users ages 50 and older has nearly doubled—from 22% to 42% over the past year.

Consistently reports are showing that age is a factor in broadband adoption – so it’s exciting to see any increase in use in that demographic. Although just as the definition of broadband is important – so is the definition of age. Lots of readers might not think of 50 as a cut off for old, older or elderly. Still it’s nice to see the increase. Here’s Pew’s take on it…

However, even though older adults may be among the most resistant to broadband, there is evidence that once these users get a taste of high-speed access, they often come to rely on the internet as an everyday utility in their lives. While the rates of broadband adoption among the oldest users are low, the frequency of use among those who do have high-speed access is relatively close to the usage levels of younger users.

And here are some of the other quick numbers from the report that were interesting…

  • Half (47%) of internet users ages 50-64 and one in four (26%) users age 65 and older now use social networking sites.
  • One in ten (11%) online adults ages 50-64 and one in twenty (5%) online adults ages 65 and older now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves or see updates about others.
  • Email and online news are still more appealing to older users, but social media sites attract many repeat visitors.

Or in the spirit of promoting social media, here’s the latest version of Social Media Revolution 2. Thanks to John Shepard for the heads up on the latest iteration. I posted the original clip last winter; it was fun to see the updates and advanced adoption since then.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Broadband Applications, New Media, Research

Posted by: Ann Treacy | August 27, 2010

Lake County update on network plans

There’s good news and bad news is Lake County. The bad news is that they still haven’t received ARRA broadband funding. The good news is that they’re still in the hopper.

According to the Lake County News-Chronicle, they remain optimistic…

“I don’t look at it as a rejection,” said Paul Bergman, Lake County commissioner. “There’s still money left. Somebody has to be the last project funded.”

The quick description of their project is…

The county broadband project is expected to cost $70 million and would bring service to every home in Lake and parts of St. Louis County currently served with electric service. The “last-mile” project, meaning service to homes from a central system, is what much of the federal money is tied to.

If the ARRA funding doesn’t work out, municipal financing through revenue bonds may be an option. As the article points out, there will be some improvements in the areas through another ARRA-funded project…

The Northeast Service Cooperative is in the engineering phase of the project to bring broadband to agencies such as medical facilities, counties and schools throughout northeastern Minnesota.

But we keep our fingers crossed for Lake County and the other Minnesota projects waiting to hear the good word.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Community Networks, Funding, MN, Rural | Tags:

Posted by: Ann Treacy | August 27, 2010

More info on ARRA awardee Woodstock Telephone

I have a few local Minnesota broadband stories to share this afternoon. I thought about grouping them – but I know it’s easier for folks to find them later if I keep it to one topic per post. I hope folks won’t mind the overload on a Friday afternoon.

First – thanks to Ann Higgins for the heads up on a recent article about Woodstock Telephone. I didn’t know much about them except that they were awarded $15 million in ARRA funding earlier this month and I welcomed the opportunity to learn more.

The article is really more of a case study written by Tellabs, which provides the Multiservice Access Platform (MSAP) that allows Woodstock to take fiber all the way to customers’ desktops. If you are interested in technical details – this case study is for you. But even if you aren’t interested in the nitty gritty the study paints of picture of what it’s like to be or have a small independent broadband provider…

Woodstock Telephone Co., where Knuth is owner and president, decided that FTTH was essential for staying ahead of both his customers’ bandwidth needs and the competition. With 1,300 access lines serving an operating territory of 450 square miles in southwestern Minnesota, the independent operating company provides Internet and voice services to subscribers in 5 neighboring communities and the surrounding rural areas.

Knuth said many of his customers are farmers who use the Internet for applications such as checking commodity prices, buying equipment, plowing their fields along GPSdefined grids and using software to measure crop yields in real time.

So it sounds as if the upgrade has been done like patchwork over the last few years. They upgrade when replacements are required. They upgrade equipment on a more planned basis – but as they could, including a few miles of fiber with each upgrade.

They ARRA grant will help them be more organized, systematic and obviously quicker with their upgrade. Their plan (taken from the ARRA award announcement) is…

Woodstock Telephone Company will use this more than $15.1 million award to expand its fiber network into neighboring rural communities by providing Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) for over 3600 premises in 15 communities located within 3 counties in Southwest Minnesota. This expanded fiber network will provide bandwidth of over 20megabytes per second for advanced voice and data services. More than 8,000 people stand to benefit, as do approximately 180 businesses and nearly 50 community institutions. In addition to the jobs this project will create upfront, it will help drive economic development and create jobs for decades to come.

Leave a Comment

Posted in Building Broadband Tools, FTTH, Funding, MN, Rural | Tags:

Posted by: Ann Treacy | August 26, 2010

Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force Meeting August 26 – full notes

It felt like the first day or school today for the Minnesota Broadband Advisory Task Force at their first meeting since being appointed a week ago. There were a couple of sophomores who were there to help lead the pack – but otherwise it was freshman orientation. Introductions went well, there was some discussion of rules (open meeting et al), the outgoing class president had some suggestions, they worked our some logistics (next meeting is September 23) and then they talked about what they needed to do to get a passing grade (meet the Legislative objections for an annual report) and what they could do for an A.

I tried to take full notes and have posted them pretty mush asis below.

Commissioner Glenn Wilson started -
We are hoping that you will help meet the goals of the legislature, which is fairly general, please also will focus on ways to help meet those goals. How can we have an impact on how we can improve? And remember the goals are minimums.

Help us draw consensus – help think more broadly so that we have good coverage. Read More…

5 Comments

Posted in Conferences, MN, Minnesota Advisory Task Force

Older Posts »

Categories