Daily Archives: September 26, 2007

Chattanooga approves FTTH

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Just a very quick update (thanks to the Baller list!) on Chattanooga… The City Council voted 8-0 on Tuesday night to approve a $210 million Fiber-To-The-Home venture by EPB.

You can read the whole article from the Chattanoogan (City Council Votes 8-0 To Approve EPB Fiber-Optic Venture) and/or read our more detailed earlier blog post.

Their next steps are (quoted from the article above):

The EPB board is expected to approve a bond issue for the program at its meeting next month, and the City Council must also approve the bond issue before it is launched.

Ideas Primary on Broadband

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Ideas PrimaryAccording to its own web site, Ideas Primary is “a clearinghouse for new policy proposals. We’ll keep track of ideas the candidates put forward, offer some of our own, and invite elected officials from around the country to weigh in on what works.”

I think it’s safe to say they represent the progressive point of view.

Yesterday they ran a piece on broadband – A New Federal Broadband Policy

The author (Laura Spining) reports on the beauties of broadband especially in rural areas, the economic development boosts, access to education and healthcare, and entertainment. She goes on to suggest that we close the digital divide by:

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    1. Promote partnerships between state governments and industry to develop mapping programs to identify the availability and gaps in broadband access.
    2. Support Tax policies that encourage investment and innovation
    3. Require that all new publicly-financed affordable housing includes broadband ready infrastructure.

I think this is a great start. The third reminds me of something that was in the news in Dublin last week. The Minister for the Environment recently released building regulations (draft form I think) that insist that new homes built in Ireland are much more energy efficient. (Ireland is much more conservation-focused than we are at home. One example I don’t love is that you have to pay for bags at the grocery store; most people remember to bring their bags.)

Anyways – I was struck by the fact that they (seemingly) just decided to upgrade the building regulations and yes it was going to cost more but it was going to make things better for the long haul. It was great to see a policy that weighted the need to systemic change over short term cost saving.

I think we need some of this focus back home and requiring new housing to be broadband ready is a good start.

Also it was nice to see the broadband policy on Ideas Primary, a resource that doesn’t necessarily focus on technology or telecommunications. I think the perspective they represent and the info is probably not new to readers here – but it may be new to general policy wonks – and policy-interested lay people.