Monthly Archives: September 2009

Update on NTIA/RUA grant reviews

Posted on by
Reply

Online and off I’ve heard a lot of grumblings about the NTIA/RUS review process. I think that they were supposed to announce the first round cuts from the first round of grants this week. It didn’t happen. Then I heard from Geoff Daily’s blog that the grants were going straight to the states for their input. Today I heard from Diane Wells (Dept of Commerce) that the State had indeed heard from the NTIA and they are getting the applications for early inspection. The State is supposed to make their comments by October 14.

The State is working getting an evaluation team together.

I’m not sure what that means for anyone with an application in the hopper – but there you go. I was in the right place at the right time for this latest update but I still think Mike O’Connor continues to keep people as informed as he is with the BTOP Review blog.

US Broadband Coalition reports on a National Broadband Strategy

Posted on by
1

Here’s the latest from the US Broadband Coalition…

On September 24, the US Broadband Coalition – a broad and diverse array of 160 organizations – will issue a report that identifies the key issues and a range of policy options that the U.S. should consider in determining its broadband future. The report is especially relevant and timely because the Federal Communications Commission must submit a national broadband plan to Congress by February 2010. The report builds on the Coalition’s December 2008 “Call to Action for a National Broadband Plan” that not only provided a policy framework for a national broadband plan but also committed the signatories to work together to address key issues and policy priorities. The Coalition’s membership includes representatives of many prominent communications providers, high technology companies, manufacturers, consumers, labor unions, public interest groups, educators, state and local governments, utilities, content providers and other groups concerned about America’s broadband future.

For more information please visit http://bb4us.net/

I got a sneak preview of a draft report. What I liked was how they outlined the various policy options. After watching the Minnesota Ultra High Speed Task Force, I can see that smart people really disagree on some issues. In some areas you can’t compromise, both because compromise waters down the recommendation but also because sometimes there’s no middle ground. (You can’t half chop down a tree.) In some ways just laying out the issues and the reasoning behind the divergent views is as valuable.

Sadly I don’t see an online aspect of the meeting.

Broadband Helps Rural Digital Economy

Posted on by
Reply

Do you ever wish you had a nice well-researched essay on the importance of broadband in rural areas? One that you could share with people who had little more than a passing understanding or interest in broadband? Well a new essay came out this month that would fit that bill: Broadband Internet Service Helping Create a Rural Digital Economy.

It’s published in het September Amber Waves by the USDA Economic Research Service. The authors make the point that broadband hard to get, but essential to rural areas. They point to research that has come out in the last 6 months. I’ve mentioned the research reports before so I won’t delve in too deep – but this is a perfect essay to bring to a funder, community leader, potential partner interested in promoting growth in rural areas.

More info on U of M BTOP grant

Posted on by
1

I’ve been debating about how much to look into the specific broadband stimulus grants applications from Minnesota. I’ve decided that if it crosses my desk, I’ll post it. (So if you know more about an application and want me to post info – please send it my way.)

Here’s more info on the University of Minnesota/Ethnic Media proposal. Here’s the description from the NTIA:

Applicant Regents of the University of Minnesota
  Minneapolis, MN
Contact Kevin McKoskey
   612-624-5599 
Project title Broadband Access Project
Program BTOP
Project type Public Computer Center
Grant request $ 2,862,334
Status Received
Description The Broadband Access Project will eliminate directly the disparity in broadband awareness and use in four federally designated poverty zones in the Twin Cities. The University of Minnesota will provide broadband training to vulnerable populations to gain information about education, health care, and job opportunities. Increased broadband access and usage, and job creation will result in these areas

The Liberian Journal wrote more about the partnership. The partners include the Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC) and the Office for Business and Community Economic Development (BCED) and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC)They propose development and improvement of 11 computer labs throughout underserved neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. They predict that the project will create 36 new jobs and save 12 existing jobs. The project also would provide Internet computer training for almost 17,000 individuals who rely on public community-based computer centers.

St Paul & Ramsey County looking at ARRA for fiber funding

Posted on by
2

I feel as if I only have half the story here, but I’ll share what I know. (I saw the notice on Facebook, funny enough.)

According to a recent St Paul City news flash…

Saint Paul and Ramsey County are joining together in a bid to provide high speed fiber optic connectivity to support the delivery of city and county services to the public. The project is intended to provide a fiber optic network that will serve both city and county buildings with flexibility to expand to other public entities and school districts depending on their needs. The new broadband network would also have a community benefit component.

They posted an RFP looking for a partner to build the network. The proposals are due October 12, 2009.

The city and county are pursuing a grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to pay for the replacement, estimated between $20-25 million. The Recovery Act includes $4.7 billion in funding for broadband initiatives. The private company awarded the contract would match 20 percent of the grant and utilize the second conduit for both their use and also to provide community benefits.

I assume they are thinking about Round 2 RUS funding.

TISP Forum September 30: Blandin stimulus project

Posted on by
Reply

Telecommunications and Information Society Policy Forum presents
Blandin Foundation Project: an Application for Sustainable Broadband

Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
Roy Wilkins Room (215)
301 19th Avenue South * Minneapolis, MN 55455

September 30, 2009 * 4:00 to 5:30 PM

The MN Intelligent Rural Community Project encompasses a $6.3 million dollar plan with creative
and wide-ranging elements to help secure a better broadband future for rural Minnesota. The project
has brought together an impressive array of partners and will work with demonstration communities
on project goals. This forum offers a first-hand report on the Blandin Foundation Project application
to the federal Sustainable Broadband Program. Come learn how Blandin Foundation developed the
partnerships and strategies that are included in this application and help Blandin identify how its
efforts might benefit many more communities in Minnesota. Panelists listed below will present their
views and engage in open dialogue. Please join us for what promises to be a lively discussion.

MODERATOR:
MILDA HEDBLOM, DIRECTOR, TISP FORUM
PRESENTERS:
BERNADINE JOSELYN, Director, Public Polity & Engagement Program, Blandin Foundation
BILL COLEMAN, Founder, Community Technology Advisors
KELLY PETERSON, KPGrants

Please RSVP to tisp@umn.edu
The idea behind this forum is simple and essential: purposeful exchange on key issues with engaged stakeholders to create a better information future.

More on the Minnesota Broadband Stimulus Applications

Posted on by
Reply

The list/database of NTIA applications for broadband stimulus funding came out late last week. Minnesotans submitted 28 applications in the hopper. Chris Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self Reliance took a look at the applications in terms of who best deserves the money to bring last mile connectivity to rural Minnesota. Chris, who would lean heavily towards community-based networks, put Lake County, Cook County, and City of Windom. He also favorably mentions the applying cooperatives and Jaguar Communication, which uses an open network. Chris has done a good job analyzing and distilling the infrastructure applications in Minnesota – so I thought I’d look at the broader picture.

There are 31 applications that are either submitted from Minnesota or plan to cover at least a part of Minnesota. (Applications received from outside Minnesota are listed below – where it says click for more info.)

How much?
Total grant funds requested: $306,655,771
Total loans requested: $107,641,221
Total when combined: $414,269,992

Who is submitting?
Applications from businesses: 18
Applications from government entities (counties, cities, schools): 5
Applications from cooperatives: 2
Applications from nonprofits: 2
Applications from private/public partnerships: 2
Applications from tribal entities: 2

What type of technology will they use?
Fiber: 13
Wireless: 6
DSL: 3
Not specified (in the summary provided): 3
Adoption focused: 5

Where are they?
Twin Cities: 4
Not specified: 1
ND: 2
WI (and partial MN): 1
The rest are in rural Minnesota. I was going to look for counties represented but too many summaries were too broad. When or if I can get more details I look into it.

Anyone going for more than one?
Donny Smith: 4
Hastad Telephone: 4
TDS: 2
John Schultz: 3
City of Minneapolis: 2 Continue reading →

Rural Use of Social Media

Posted on by
3

rural_soc_mediaThe Daily Yonder has been writing a lot (well some) on rural use of social media lately. Last week there was a great story of a farmer in Oregon and her use of Twitter. She started a Twitter account for the farm to connect with other farmers, which took off when she found herself the proud owner of piglets and needed some help.

Her story reminded me of Jennifer Peterson in Pine City. She was the blogger without broadband that I interviewed last year. It’s great to see the increase in stories about rural social media use.

A couple of weeks ago I read an article (The Party Line is Crackling) and a study on use of social media in rural America. The report looked at 3,000 MySpace accounts (at the time MySpace was more popular than Facebook) of rural and urban users.

They found that rural users had fewer MySpace friends, and the friends that they did have tended to reside closer to their home, that rural women are more likely to use social media than men, and they are more apt to set their profiles to “private” than their urban counterparts. The article said, “In short, rural users relied on social media primarily to bond with existing close friends rather than building friendship bridges to users in other areas of the country.”

I wanted to see how rural use would stack up more locally so I invited members of the Minnesota Voices Online (an email list of social media types, which includes a number of rural folks) to take a survey that looked at the same characteristics. (Your welcome to take the survey now too if I get a lot of new data I’ll do an update.)

I’ll post the raw data below. I found similar results, which also rang true with the comments made in the one open ended question I asked. What I thought was interesting was the difference in Twitter versus Facebook, which also came up in the open ended question. More rural folks use Facebook – and they tended to have more friends living within 10 miles of their home. Fewer rural folks used Twitter.

I was only dealing with about 25 respondents. It appears as if there were a handful of super users who probably skewed the results – except that at least one was in a rural area and one in an urban. And in real life there are super users and there are the rest of us. Like the original study, I was looking mostly at current users too – so this doesn’t include the hordes of people who aren’t using social media yet. Although I hitnk that group is shrinking. I happened to talk to a group of about 20 Metro-based women realtors this week and a quick show of hands indicated that about 90 percent were on Facebook.

It’s interesting to see growth of social media. I think as more and more people become proficient social media users that more will want to post video clips and pictures – and more and more broadband will be required. I hope that the supply will be there to meet the demand. Continue reading →

Changes in the next (final?) round of stimulus grants?

Posted on by
Reply

According to Broadcasting & Cable, the NTIA is rethinking a lot about the broadband stimulus funding. First, they’re thinking two rounds might be better than one, especially in terms of saving on administrative costs.

Second, they’re rethinking some of the definitions – it sounds as if the definition of remote community is one that was not well received. I know we saw in Minnesota where that definition disappointed potential grant applicants because to qualify for the 80%-100% grant level for remote communities, a community can’t be within 50 miles of a city of 20,000 or more. Again according to the article, the folks out East took particular exception to that definition.

Third, it sounds as if they will be rethinking the definition of broadband. They said that the definition of high-speed–768 kbps–was not high enough and that 1.5 mbps might be a better baseline so that the definition of unserved vs. underserved was not too restrictive.

Something worth considering if you were looking at future funding.

List of Broadband stimulus applicants is out

Posted on by
2

On Wednesday, the RUS and NTIA posted a searchable database of all applications received during the first funding round. You can download a full list of applicants or each by a couple of fields, such as state.

There were 28 applications from Minnesota. Here they are. (I hope in a month I’m writing about how they were all funded!)

Applicant Lake County
  Two Harbors, MN
Contact Gary Fields
   651-343-3128 
Project title Lake County Fiber Project
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request $ 11,050,770
Loan request $ 22,436,409
Status Received
Description The Project will be the first rural county fiber network in the U.S. to fully serve every home and institution that is currently served by wired telephone or electrical service. The advanced services offered will be priced lower than the very limited services currently available. The Project will be a public-private partnership between Lake County and National Public Broadband, a non-profit org.
 
Applicant Minnesota Valley Television Improvement Corporation
  GRANITE FALLS, MN
Contact Daniel Richter
   320-564-4970 
Project title Minnesota Wireless Expansion
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request $ 562,776
Loan request $ 562,776
Status Received
Description MVTV Wireless is proposing to continue building out it’s two-way broadband internet network to un-served and underserved areas of west central and south central Minnesota. The proposed project will add 34 additional WIMAX Access Points in 34 un-served and underserved communities adjacent and contiguous to its current service area.
 
Applicant Arrowhead Fiber, Inc
  Owatonna, MN
Contact Donny Smith
   507-214-1000 
Project title Arrowhead Regional Last Mile Project
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Remote Area
Grant request $ 23,017,861
Loan request $ 5,754,466
Status Received
Description Provide broadband connectivity to every business and residence in this part of the Arrowhead region. This will be provided on a state of the art fiber to the home system capable of gigabit delivery. All premises including homes, anchor institutions and businesses will have these services available.
 
Applicant C. K. Blandin Foundation
  Grand Rapids, MN
Contact Bernadine Joselyn
   218-327-8728 
Project title Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities
Program BTOP
Project type Sustainable Broadband Adoption
Grant request $ 4,858,219
Status Received
Description The Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities (MIRC) initiative is a comprehensive, multi-sector approach to sustainable broadband adoption. Through education, training, technical assistance and barrier removal, an array of market development strategies will provide opportunity to residents, small businesses, local governments, and critical needs providers in rural Minnesota.
 
Applicant Arvig Telephone Company
  Pequot Lakes, MN
Contact Timothy Ulrich
   608-664-4114 
Project title Arvig Telephone Company: Project to serve rural, remote and unserved establishments
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Remote Area
Grant request $ 7,358,993
Status Received
Description Arvig Telephone Company, a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, proposes a project to bring high speed DSL broadband service to remote, unserved households within its rural service territory, which is comparable to the DSL service provided in its more populated areas. The network is also engineered so that it can be easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet future needs.
 
Applicant Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative
  Aitkin, MN
Contact John Pierson
   218-927-2191 
Project title Mille Lacs Energy Wireless Broadband
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Remote Area
Grant request $ 1,679,650
Status Received
Description MLEC is proposing a terrestrial fixed wireless system to provide broadband Internet to 5 remote and unserved areas in north central Minnesota. The technology used will be unlicensed 3.65GHz WiMax. With this technology MLEC will be capable of providing speeds up to 5 MB to the end user. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1,679,650. The amount requested from BIP is 100% grant.
 
Applicant Tekstar Communications, Inc
  Perham, MN
Contact Mark Birkholz
   218-346-8868 
Project title Naytahwaush Project
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Last Mile Remote Area
Grant request* $ 1,103,397
Status Received
Description Naytahwaush is located in rural Mahnomen County 15 miles east of the county seat on the White Earth Indian Reservation. A successful broadband project in this rural remote Unserved area will serve 315 households, total population 534. Also serving all community anchors including critical facilities, medical, public safety services, tribal government buildings, and the school will be served.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant Mid-State Telephone Company
  New London, MN
Contact Timothy Ulrich
   608-664-4114 
Project title Mid-State Telephone Company: Project to serve rural, remote and unserved establishments
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Remote Area
Grant request $ 8,376,308
Status Received
Description Mid-State Telephone Company, a subsidiary of TDS Telecom, proposes a project to bring high speed DSL broadband service to remote, unserved households within its rural service territory, which is comparable to the DSL service provided in its more populated areas. The network is also engineered so that it can be easily upgraded at a reasonable cost to meet future needs.
 
Applicant Regents of the University of Minnesota
  Minneapolis, MN
Contact Kevin McKoskey
   612-624-5599 
Project title Broadband Access Project
Program BTOP
Project type Public Computer Center
Grant request $ 2,862,334
Status Received
Description The Broadband Access Project will eliminate directly the disparity in broadband awareness and use in four federally designated poverty zones in the Twin Cities. The Universit of Minnesota will provide broadband training to vulnerable populations to gain information about education, health care, and job opportunities. Increased broadband access and usage, and job creation will result in these areas
 
Applicant Hiawatha Broadband Communications, Inc.
  Winona, MN
Contact Gary Evans
   507-474-5800 
Project title Southeastern Minnesota Last-Mile Project
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request* $ 5,729,891
Status Received
Description This project will provide last-mile service to Minneiska, Miesville, New Trier, areas in Lake City and Red Wing, in addition to constructing middle-mile connections between the five communities and Hiawatha Broadband’s network termination in Wabasha. The farm service area connections will offer broadband services to an additional 215 underserved homes and farmsteads along the route.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant A-Vu Media Corporation
  Minnetonka, MN
Contact John Goodman
   612-839-2329 
Project title A-Vu Media – new bundled broadband for Older Adults, Disabled, and HealthCare Adoption
Program BTOP
Project type Sustainable Broadband Adoption
Grant request $ 9,431,000
Status Received
Description A highly simplified user interface facilitates preprogrammed direct access to broadband and other services delivered though an integrated digital “TV”. All services are remotely programmed and controlled by a 24/7 customer service operator on a secure network. This network creates new high value connections for the users and all those providing healthcare and other broadband based services.
 
Applicant Federated Telephone Cooperative
  Chokio, MN
Contact Kevin Beyer
   320-324-7111 
Project title FTC – Appleton, Madison and Rural Morris MN
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Remote Area
Grant request $ 6,783,111
Loan request $ 6,783,111
Status Received
Description This project consists of building a FTTP system to deploy voice, video, and data services to the exchanges of Appleton, Madison, and rural Morris Minnesota.
 
Applicant Cook County, Minnesota
  Grand Marais, MN
Contact Danna Mackenzie
   218-387-3662 
Project title Cook County Fiber Initiative
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Remote Area
Grant request $ 33,658,409
Status Received
Description This grant application is being filed by the Cook County, Minnesota. Cook County proposes to build and operate a ‘fiber-to-the-premises” broadband communications network to bring broadband to the unserved areas in Cook County. The County plans to bring a triple play network to the County, bringing high speed Internet access to the service area for the first time plus competition with video and voi
 
Applicant Northeast Service Cooperative
  Mountain Iron, MN
Contact Lyle MacVey
   218-748-7623 
Project title Northeast Minnesota Middle Mile Project
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Middle Mile
Grant request* $ 32,135,681
Loan request $ 11,362,539
Status Received
Description The Northeast Service Cooperative in partnership with state & local agencies, schools & 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. The project will improve access to critical education & health care services to 20,000 households which lack broadband services.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant County Wide FTTH, Inc.
  Owatonna, MN
Contact Donny Smith
   507-214-1000 
Project title County Wide Fiber Project for Steele and Dodge Counties in Minnesota
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request $ 24,073,840
Loan request $ 24,073,841
Status Received
Description This project will provide high speed broadband access to every home, business, government entity, and anchor institution in the entire county of Steele, the entire county of Dodge with the exception of an area already served by an existing incumbent provider. This project will be an open access network that will deliver current speeds in excess of 20 mbps and the capacity of 1 gbps per user.
 
Applicant Small Town Fiber, Inc.
  Owatonna, MN
Contact Donny Smith
   507-214-1000 
Project title Small Town Fiber
Program BIP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request $ 13,047,125
Loan request $ 13,047,127
Status Received
Description This project is being submitted with the hopes of serving a few small towns that have no access to broadband at all and a few more that have very limited access. This would be a state of the art passive fiber optic network.
 
Applicant Carver County Fiber Collaboration, Inc.
  Owatonna, MN
Contact Donny Smith
   507-214-1000 
Project title Carver County Fiber Collaboration
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Middle Mile
Grant request* $ 4,770,776
Loan request $ 4,770,778
Status Received
Description This is a collaborative effort between Carver County and Jaguar Communications to put in a county wide middle mile ring to serve each town and township within the county and connect to the existing Jaguar ring in Scott County. This ring will be used to provide services to many different anchor institutions including libraries, law enforcement, and government centers as well as broadband providers.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant Halstad Telephone Company
  Halstad, MN
Contact Thomas Maroney
   218-456-2125 
Project title HTC Hillsboro ND Rural FTTP
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request* $ 2,337,600
Loan request $ 2,337,600
Status Received
Description Halstad Telephone’s project will deploy fiber-to-the-premise broadband internet and video services to 430 locations in rural Hillsboro, Traill County, North Dakota, utilizing 283 miles of fiber optic cable and providing those locations with broadband capability of 100 Megabits.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant City of Windom
  Windom, MN
Contact John Schultz
   651-967-7196 
Project title Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group (SWMBG)
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request* $ 6,350,250
Loan request $ 6,350,000
Status Received
Description SWMBG is proposing to build fiber-to-the-premise infrastructure to eight rural communities throughout Southwestern Minnesota. The network will consist of a 125 mile fiber ring which will connect the eight communities and an FTTP infrastructure within the communities that will support a total of over 3,500 passings.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant Halstad Telephone Company
  Halstad, MN
Contact Thomas Maroney
   218-456-2125 
Project title HTC Hillsboro ND Town Broadband
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request* $ 246,500
Loan request $ 246,500
Status Received
Description Halstad Telephone’s project will install electronic enhancements to existing Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) to increase broadband capability to 100 Megabits for internet and video service to 800 locations in the town of Hillsboro, Traill County, North Dakota.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant Halstad Telephone Company
  Halstad, MN
Contact Thomas Maroney
   218-456-2125 
Project title HTC Crookston MN WiMax Wireless
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request* $ 317,250
Loan request $ 317,250
Status Received
Description Halstad Telephone’s project will install a Wireless Wimax broadband system in Crookston Minnesota to provide broadband to this underserved town and surrounding unserved 314 square miles of rural area. This system will provide up to 10 Megabit broadband service, operating on Halstad Telephone’s license. (FCC registration Number 0003744224,Call Sign WQIQ973 in the 2500 MHz band)
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant Halstad Telephone Company
  Halstad, MN
Contact Thomas Maroney
   218-456-2125 
Project title HTC Minnesota Exchanges FTTP
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request* $ 3,277,500
Loan request $ 3,277,500
Status Received
Description Halstad Telephone will install Fiber-to-the-Premise broadband to 1,069 underserved locations in 5 towns and surrounding rural/farm areas in Norman and Polk Counties in Minnesota, utilizing 320 miles of fiber optic cable and providing those locations with broadband capability of 100 Megabits, thus converting an existing Fiber-to-the-Node system which does not meet the required service level.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant Asian Media Access, Inc.
  MINNEAPOLIS, MN
Contact David Kang
   612-376-7715 
Project title Asian Pacific American Community Network (APA ComMNet) Public Computer Center
Program BTOP
Project type Public Computer Center
Grant request $ 500,000
Status Received
Description The Asian Pacific American Community Network (APA ComMNet) Public Computer Center will be a technology access and training facility with 30 computers, a mobile lab of 15 computers, and media production equipment to mitigate the ever-growing digital divide. APA ComMNet will provide computer access and computer/IT/media training to under-served immigrant and refugee residents of the Twin Cities.
 
Applicant City of Minneapolis
  Minneapolis, MN
Contact Elizabeth Cousins
   612-673-2820 
Project title Broadband for Minneapolis Public Housing
Program BTOP
Project type Last Mile
Grant request $ 3,302,955
Status Received
Description The City of Minneapolis will bring broadband connectivity to the residents of Minneapolis Public Housing’s 41 high rises using a DSLAM network. Through use of rooftop transmitters connecting to the existing municipal WiFi network, the City of Minneapolis is able to empower these underserved residents with broadband capability for a minimal cost to both the government and to end-users.
 
Applicant Mid-State Education District
  Little Falls, MN
Contact Kay Campbell
   320-631-2515 
Project title Central Minnesota Rural Broadband Access
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Last Mile Non-Remote Area
Grant request* $ 65,213,019
Status Received
Description The project will deliver advanced broadband solutions that enable County & City Government, MLB Ojibwe, K-12 & Higher Education, Healthcare, Law Enforcement, Community, Cultural & Arts Organizations, residents, businesses & visitors across our area to access high capacity Broadband services, decrease costs, enhance productivity & improve the economic & civic vitality of Central Minnesota.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
  Cass Lake, MN
Contact John Schultz
   651-967-7196 
Project title Leech Lake Community Computer Centers (CCC)
Program BTOP
Project type Public Computer Center
Grant request $ 1,581,252
Status Received
Description The Leech Lake Community Computer Centers Project (CCC) will bring four station computer centers to 13 Community Centers spread across the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in remote, rural Minnesota. This reservation is over 1100 square miles and transportation to a centralized computer center would not be an effective solution. This project is in concert with the Leech Lake WAN project.
 
Applicant Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
  Cass Lake, MN
Contact John Schultz
   651-967-7196 
Project title Leech Lake WAN Project
Program BIP/BTOP
Project type Middle Mile
Grant request* $ 4,148,870
Loan request $ 4,148,870
Status Received
Description This project will connect Community Anchor Institutions across the Leech Lake Indian Reservation to bring health, public safety and human services across the reservation. This network will consist of a 115 mile fiber optic network with a WiMax overlay to reach outlying areas and provide public safety connectivity.
*For BIP/BTOP joint applications, grant amount reflects grant request for BIP.
 
Applicant City of Minneapolis
  Minneapolis, MN
Contact Elizabeth Cousins
   612-673-2820 
Project title An Engaged Community, Minneapolis Public Housing
Program BTOP
Project type Sustainable Broadband Adoption
Grant request $ 5,298,236
Status Received
Description The City of Minneapolis’innovative Sustainable Adoption program will result in skilled, informed public housing broadband subscribers. This model can be replicated in any of the 3,200 public housing authorities across the United States. Communities can expect to decrease the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic barriers to jobs, skills training, health care, education and citizenship resources.

Comcast is offering big broadband in the Twin Cities

Posted on by
2

Hot on the heels of Qwest’s upgrade last week, Comcast is upgrading too. Here’s the news:

Comcast is debuting 100-Mbps Internet service for businesses in Minneapolis/St. Paul, an opening salvo in one of its most aggressive attacks on telephone companies’ commercial services.

The DOCSIS 3.0-based service, priced at $369.95 per month, is “highly competitively priced” compared with typical telco business-class T-1 lines, according to Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas. The cable operator is initially offering the 100-Mbps tier to commercial customers–rather than residential subscribers–“because we think this kind of speed will be of more interest to them,” he added.

That’s great for us in the Twin Cities!

But what about rural areas? Fred Pilot pointed out after my Qwest post that the big providers are willing to upgrade their current footprints but that interest in new areas is small. How can we encourage the big providers to go into new areas? What do improvements in metro areas mean to rural areas? Is it a tide that will raise all boats?

Task Force Meeting coming September 18

Posted on by
Reply

Just a reminder of the next Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force next week – on September 19. It’s back at Thomson Reuters in Eagan. Here are the details and agenda:

Friday, September 18, 2009
9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Location Thomson Reuters D4 – Special Events Room
610 Opperman Drive
Eagan, MN 55123 Agendas and meeting dates available at www.ultra-highspeed-mn.org

9:30 – 9:45: Opening comments; review meeting agenda; Approve meeting minutes from August 21st meeting 9:45 – 10:00: Public comment
10:00 – 10:45: Final Broadband Mapping Report – Brent Legg, Connected Nation
10:45 – 10:55: Review and approve symmetry language
10:55 – 11:10: Break
11:10 – 11:50: Role of Government – sub-group report
• Review and approve language for the report
• [Tom Garrison, Mike O’Connor, Vijay Sethi, Karen Smith, John Stanoch, Robyn West]
11:50 – 12:30: Recommendation #5 – Evaluation and recommendation of security, vulnerability, and redundancy actions necessary to ensure reliability – sub-group report
• Review sub-group recommendations
• [Mike O’Connor, Steve Cawley, Craig Taylor, Jack Ries/Gopal Khanna, Shirley Walz]
12:30 – 1:00: Break for Lunch 1:00 – 1:30: Ongoing Council – sub-group report
• Review and approve sub-group recommendations
• [Mike O’Connor, Steve Cawley, Mary Ellen Wells, John Stanoch]
1:30 – 2:15: Discuss and provide feedback on report draft (v4)
2:15 – 2:45: Recommendation #4 – Evaluation of strategies, financing, financial incentives used in other states/countries to support broadband development and Recommendation #6 – Cost estimate – sub-group report
• Review sub-group recommendations
• [John Gibbs, Dan McElroy, John Stanoch, Dick Sjoberg, Diane Wells]
2:45 – 3:00: Plans for Upcoming Meetings
• October 2nd,16th, 30th Thomson Reuters
• Report release on November 9th
• Blandin Conference November 18-19 in Duluth
3:00: Closing comments, adjourn meeting
3:15 – 4:15: Optional: Thomson Reuters Data Center Tour

Monticello wins NATOA award

Posted on by
2

Congrats to Monticello. Here’s the news from the press release:

NATOA Announces Recipients of Community Broadband Awards for Outstanding Endeavors to Bring Broadband to More Communities and Consumers

Alexandria, VA – September 9, 2009 – The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) Board of Directors today announced the recipients of NATOA’s 2009 Community Broadband Awards. These honors are awarded to exceptional leaders and innovative programs that champion community interests and broadband deployment in local communities nationwide. Recipients will receive their awards at NATOA’s 29th Annual Conference, to be held in New Orleans from September 30 to October 2.

“NATOA’s Community Broadband Awards proudly recognize the people, communities, and organizations that lead the nation in promoting community interests through broadband projects,” said Mary Beth Henry, president of the NATOA Board of Directors.

The award recipients were chosen based on their extraordinary efforts, achievements, and innovation in community-based approaches to broadband. These individuals, organizations, and communities have distinguished themselves in the effort to ensure that more American communities and citizens benefit from new technology.
The 2009 Community Broadband Award recipients are:

Community Broadband Visionary of the Year:
Chris Vein, Chief Information Officer of the City and County of San Francisco, for providing free broadband Internet service to residents of San Francisco public housing, by piloting high-bandwidth health care services over fiber optics for vulnerable communities, and for demonstrating vision and innovation in community broadband solutions.

Community Broadband Hero of the Year:
John L. Byrd, Mobile Command Unit leader and Sergeant of the Harris County (TX) Sheriff’s office, for building mobile command unit capabilities that, during and after Hurricane Ike, deployed to the affected area for a record 72 days to enable emergency communications and field emergency 911 calls. In the absence of this effort, the affected community would have been without emergency services during a major natural disaster.

Community Broadband Organization of the Year:
City of Monticello, MN, for its vision and courage in planning a community fiber-to-the-home network and for fighting in the courts against an anti-competition incumbent for its right to determine its own broadband and economic future.

Community Broadband Project of the Year:
MI Connection, a public broadband communications network owned and operated by a consortium of municipalities in North Carolina that refused to accept sub-standard broadband and cable service and decided to deliver better quality themselves.

Community Broadband Wireless Network of the Year:
Digital Redwoods, Digital Rio Dell, and Access Humboldt, a series of municipal and community wireless broadband media projects that make wireless service available to vulnerable communities in six areas of Humboldt County in rural California.

Community Broadband Fiber Network of the Year:
Bristol Virginia Utilities, for pioneering community fiber to the home and for demonstrating how true broadband can bring jobs and economic development to rural America.
Honorable Mentions for Community Broadband Awards for 2009:

• Wes Rosenbaum, President and CEO, Bristol Virginia Utilities
• Alvarion and the City of Binghamton’s Public Safety WiMax Program
• Alvarion and City of Elmira Public Housing Wireless Program
• City of Boston Fiber Network and IT Department
• Michael Butler, Director of Network Services, Palm Beach County, Florida
• Oregon Regional Fiber Consortium
• Mayor Thomas Menino, Boston, Massachusetts
• Click! Network, Takoma, Washington
• IRNE Network, Portland, Oregon
• Palm Beach Broadband
• Pleasant City-Delray Beach Digital Inclusion Program
• Steve Bordelon, CIO, Palm Beach, Florida

For more information on the award recipients, the NATOA Community Broadband Awards, and NATOA’s efforts to bring about a national broadband strategy that recognizes the vital and integral role of local governments, visit http://www.natoa.org or contact Tonya Rideout, acting executive director, or Mary Beth Henry, president, at the number above.

NATOA promotes community interests in communications. A national trade association based in Alexandria, VA, NATOA represents local government jurisdictions and consortiums, including elected and appointed officials and staff, who oversee communications and cable television franchising.
###

Staples wins Community Pride Award for fiber

Posted on by
2

Over the weekend, 13 communities were recognized in a Community Pride Contest. People could nominate a community based on whatever made them proud. So it was fun to see that the Staples area signed up (and won!) based on their fiber broadband initiative.

Here’s their story:

Project/Initiative: Fiber Broadband Initiative

Reinventing and connecting rural and urban communities statewide is the goal of a consortium effort in Staples, a community of 3,100 in Todd County. Leaders from the K-18 system, area businesses and nonprofits, and the City of Staples see broadband capacity as key to economic growth and development and a means to ensuring long-term survival of the community: “This is truly an opportunity to reinvent a low-income, rural area by establishing the groundwork necessary to bring in new people, new ideas, and new economic opportunities.”

This initiative involves the installation of fiber optic lines to bring high speed internet to all homes and businesses in Greater Staples. In February 2009, phase one of this effort—installation of a direct wireless system to make wireless internet available to those just outside Staples city limits—went live. Phase two will involve installation of the broadband ‘backbone’ that will link each collaborative entity.

Planners believe that the community collaborative team approach is unique; the collaborative team is willing and excited to document and share its methods with other communities undertaking ‘big picture’ projects.

Selected Key Partners: City of Staples; Lakewood Health Systems; Central Lakes College; Motley-Staples Schools; LEAP Staples Business Group.

They won for communities with a population between 1,000-4,999.

OSP Expo is Full of Optimism

Posted on by
1

I spent Wednesday and Thursday at the OSP (Outside Plant) Expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The OSP Expo is national trade show and this year was sponsored by Qwest.  The buzz was very positive between vendors, construction contractors, engineering firms and service providers. While catching up with a lot of old friends and colleagues the question that was asked the most was “How likely do you think your stimulus project is to be funded?”  The companies that were attending the show will be some of the biggest beneficiaries of the Stimulus dollars as they will be the ones who will be providing products, designing and constructing these networks.

Most people I spoke to also believed that the $28.8 billion that was submitted  means that not only is there stimulus dollars to be spent but many of these projects could go forward if they are funded by other means.  It was great to see people being positive about the industry and the future.

I did not see any real ground breaking new products or services but what was exciting is the continued development of products to support the fiber-to-the-home market making the turn-up and maintenance of these networks  easier.  I guess that means we have a real industry there.  There was not only discussion about fiber-to-the-home but also fiber-to-the-cellsite.  Much more concentration on fiber than copper this year, maybe we have finally hit the tipping point of companies trying to pump the most of their copper pairs but instead focusing on the future of fiber optics.  It was also refreshing to hear persons speaking about the future requirements being 25-40 Mbps not 1.5 Mbps or 768 Kbps like regulatory bodies keep referencing.