Daily Archives: November 21, 2007

FCC Reports State of Broadband in US

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Thanks to Mary Ann Van Cura for sending me an article on the FCC recent report on broadband (The FCC’s Rose-Colored Broadband Glasses).

I have to quote the article directly because the author is so eloquent:

It’s that time of year again; time for the FCC to release U.S. broadband data that’s about as reliable as a heroin addict in charge of your retirement funds. Despite years of criticism from everyone from consumer advocates to the GAO, the FCC continues to insist that if one home in a zip-code has broadband, that zip code is wired for service. The FCC also insists that anything over 200kbps is broadband. Collectively, this methodology makes the state of the broadband union look rosy.

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Quick Survey on Community Tech Needs

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Blandin FoundationI’m passing on the following invitation/request from the Blandin Foundation. If you have a minute please tell us about your community tech needs. We are particularly interested in hearing from people in rural Minnesota.

Blandin Foundation will soon launch the Blandin Community Broadband Resource Program, a flexible assistance program to help communities overcome barriers to a shared broadband vision.

I invite you to take a few moments to assist us by completing a very short survey about the types of information and services that would be most valuable to you and your community team. Your participation will go a long way in informing our decisions.

Thank you!

Municipal Networks Update

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Thanks to Jamie for sending me an article on municipal networks (City Fiber Networks) a week ago. I finally had a few minute to check it out. It’s a great short list of what’s going on with various municipal networks. There’s a nice run-down of who’s making money and who isn’t, what services are offered where and at what cost. Also there are some great charts and graphs such as the graph detailing FTTH (fiber to the home) and FTTN (fiber to the node).

In details various municipal networks (current, planned and defunct) there was some interesting news from MN:

Miles of empty cable conduits now crisscross the Twin Cities, a consequence of Minnesota officials pulling the plug on a $200 million plan to wire the state. The “Connecting Minnesota” project granted exclusive rights-of-way for network infrastructure to a single contractor in return for a 20-percent cut of broadband capacity. But uneconomic requirements demanded by the state scared away investors. And unable to attract financing, the project folded.

Hmmm. I didn’t remember much about Connecting Minnesota. So I did a little research. I’ll post what I learned below and invite those who remember it to please chime in too.

A quick description from the National Council on Private-Public Partnerships:

Connecting Minnesota has set national precedence for procurement of telecommunications resources and capacity at no cost through leverage of access to public right-of-way assets. Not only are state and local units of government needs being met, but in doing so, 80 percent of Minnesota’s population will be within 10 miles of the fiber-optic backbone. A potential eight out of ten citizens (3.6 million) could realize better telecommunications services at lower costs.

An update (dated update) from the MN Legislature (back in 2003):

Through the Connecting Minnesota Project, high-speed telecommunication access is provided to Minnesota residents via a two-step process: first fiber-optic cable is installed between communities, and then local access providers take the connection further into homes and businesses. This measurement tracks the first step in this process, where fiber is made available to communities.

Construction contracting problems stalled the Connecting Minnesota Project during 2001.