Blandin on Broadband

I love to see broadband get more play in mainstream media – so I was delighted to see/hear the story of Duluth/Twin Port’s pursuit to become *the* Google network on Minnesota Public Radio. Good for Twin Ports for raising awareness and jumping on the opportunity. And good for other communities in Minnesota for jumping in too; Bill Coleman (who many readers will know through Blandin broadband initiatives) mentions in the article that Dakota County will also be pursing the Google opportunity and St Anthony Park and St Paul are also considering making the leap.

If nothing else the Google opportunity has generated interest and enthusiasm I love to see that especially in light of the FCC report that came out last week indicating that adoption of broadband is as necessary as deployment. Adoption includes educating people about how to use broadband but also why it’s important. And an important rule in learning anything is – first you’ve got to want to and the Google effort is priming communities and residents to want to learn more about broadband.

But not everyone whole-heartedly loves the Google plan, especially when taking the long term perspective. Chris Mitchell from the Institute for Local Self Reliance points out in the story that…

“Google’s interest lies with Google,” Mitchell said. “Communities need to be in control of the infrastructure that they depend on. So even though the interest of Google today lies in providing this great network, no one knows if 10 years down the line Google is still going to be interested in doing that.

He brings up a good point, building networks is not Google’s bread and butter and I doubt that it will become their core competency but in the short term, it’s building a buzz. Chris offers some sage advice in his MuniNetworks blog…

I think Google’s program can do much good, so long as communities aren’t misled into believing the search (advertising) king is going to solve their problems for them. I wouldn’t discourage communities from applying for this fascinating program — 1 gigabit speeds will certainly set them apart — but for most communities, this will be a distraction from what they need to do themselves to succeed in the 21st century.