Blandin on Broadband

Thanks to Mary Mehsikomer for sending me the heads up on the latest OECD report. So the good news is that as of December 2008, the US is the most wired city in the world – when you look at sheer numbers. When you look at per capita basis, we’re not so hot.

The US ranks 15 in terms of broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants
The US ranks 14 in terms of average monthly broadband subscription price

So that’s not so hot. You know who is hot? Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Finland and then Korea. Maybe we need to start looking at what they do – build our National broadband plan after reading theirs.

Sorry for the not-so-early notice on the first webinar. I thought I posted this earlier this week.

Pre-Conference Webinars

Join us for one or all three of these FREE webinars sponsored by the Blandin Foundation!

This series is perfect for economic development commissioners or elected officials to learn more about telecommunications and its impact on economic development.

Register online at http://www.blandinfoundation.org/BBConf08/webinar.html  

“Get up to speed on Internet technologies and their impact on local economic development before attending the Blandin Broadband Conference in December. Participating in a webinar is both easy and convenient – give it a try.” – Bill Coleman, Webinar Moderator

Webinar Dates and Topics

October 22rd: Fiber to the HomeNetworks – Learn how this critical infrastructure can support economic vitality in your community. Get a better understanding of the costs and capabilities of community fiber networks, and how they can enable business, education, health care and quality of life. Presenter: David Russell of Calix.

November 5th: Wireless Technologies – Learn about emerging services that provide the increased mobility that business needs and citizens want. Hear about new wireless technologies that can extend broadband coverage into more rural areas. Presenter: Pete Borchert, Senior Market Analyst for Alltel Wireless.

November 19th: Broadband Policy – As a warm-up to our December conference, learn about the critical issues that the MN Broadband Task Force will be considering, including the role of the public sector in broadband network deployment, statewide video franchising and alternative network management practices (network neutrality, pricing, bandwidth and download caps). A panel of experts will provide perspective on each issue.

Webinar Times
8:30 – 9:30 AM

Webinar Instructions
Our webinars are internet and conference call based. It’s easy!

First, click this link to connect to us via the web: https://umconnect.umn.edu/blandinwebinar

Then, call in to the Conference Call line:
866-316-1519
Passcode: 14223904

The Pioneer Press has a nice article today on seniors online. The interesting statistic was that just 35 percent of Americans over the age of 65 use Internet. I was kind of surprised by that. Only 30 percent were online in November 2006. But I’m not sure that I think of that has a huge leap. I think that means that people who turned 65 in that time are online but I don’t know that it indicates that a lot of people over 70 are online.

A couple of the Blandin Get Broadband communities provided training to seniors, often through the library, a nursing home or community education center. I used to volunteer at the library to train folks on the Internet – and many who came were seniors. The article talked about getting private tutors. For folks who can afford it, I think the idea of having a private tutor come to the house is the way to go. That way the tutor can set up the computer and the learner knows the skills are going to transfer.

There is an organization called SeniorNet, created by and for seniors. It’s a national group but they have local branches, including a number of places to go in Minnesota for training. I think getting more seniors using the Internet will help boost the need for broadband. To start with I think most folks use email or Google. But the resources are there to jump quickly into using higher bandwidth applications – downloading video of grandkids or taking college courses online. I think the potential is there for serious bandwidth applications, such as those related to telemedicine are around the corner. It seems like once more seniors are online, the demand for telemedicine might have an impact on the supply of applications and access to broadband.

Last September, the Blandin Foundation awarded Northfield funding for an Open Access Feasibility Study. Well, they are moving ahead with the study and recently posted a RFP on their web site.

Here’s the gist from the proposal:

The City of Northfield is seeking proposals for a Fiber to the Premise Feasibility Study. The purpose of this effort is to hire a qualified firm to provide insight on the feasibility of installing fiber to the premise within the city limits of Northfield.

This RFP is designed to elicit responses to a set of defined issues, listed under the Scope of Work, and also stimulate creativity in adding value to the overall concept of fiber to the premise within the City of Northfield.

I thought some blog readers might like to see the RFP in case their own community may be embarking on a similar journey. I thought other readers might be interested in submitting a proposal. Either way – good luck!

Internet for Everyone is an organization that promotes:

1. Access – Every home and business in America must have access to a high-speed, world class communications infrastructure.
2. Choice - Every consumer must enjoy real competition in lawful online content as well as among high-speed Internet providers to achieve lower prices and higher speeds.
3. Openness - Every Internet user should have the right to freedom of speech and commerce online in an open market without gatekeepers or discrimination.
4. Innovation - The Internet should continue to create good jobs, foster entrepreneurship, spread new ideas and serve as a leading engine of economic growth.

The founding members of the organization include a lot of Internet-based businesses such as Google, Skype, eBay and BitTorrent. I recognize a lot of the names from the Net Neutrality camp too.

I think it’s a noble cause but I’m always cynical about organizations like this. The marketing is obviously great – they’ve been all over the usual broadband focused news sources. (And I don’t mean to disparage marketing here – I think marketing has been the key to success for ConnectKentucky-type initiatives.) But at this point I’ve got to ask – where’s the beef? Will they plan to lobby for policy change, pour money into supporting broadband, or is this just to raise awareness?

There are some powerful folks involved; folks who are innovative and motivated. So, I am hopeful that they will be successful and anxious to see what the strategic plan is.

They ask visitors to sign up to join the coalition. Then they will send emails letting you know what you can do to help. The other visible activity seems to be proposed local broadband meetings.

Thanks to Bill Coleman for passing on a paper by Joe Fuhr from Widener University. Bill saw Joe’s presentation at the Intelligent Community Forum and passed it (Broadband Services: Economic and Environmental Benefits) on to me.

His “study finds that wide adoption and use of broadband applications can achieve a net reduction of 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas over 10 years, which, if converted into energy saved, would constitute 11% of annual U.S. oil imports.”

Here are the potential savings:

1. Email and other electronic communications reduce the need for letters thus reducing the need for paper. Reduction in first-class mail, plastics saved from downloading music/video and office paper from emails and electronic documents could reduce emissions by 67.2 million tons.
2. Telecommuters use less gas to get to work thus saving gallons of gas. Over the next ten years that is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 247.7 million tons due to less driving, 28.1 million tons due to reduced office construction, and 312.4 million tons because of energy saved by businesses.
3. E-commerce required less square footage for shop space thus saving the energy required to operate shops. Over the next ten years that is predicted to reduce greenhouse gases by 206.3 million (U.S.) tons.
4. Teleconferences reduce the need for business travel – again saving gallons of gas for driving and/or flying to conferences and meetings. Over the next ten years that is expected to reduce greenhouse emissions by 199.8 million tons, if 10% of airline travel could be replaced by teleconferencing.

Joe points out that these savings will only be realized when broadband become ubiquitous. Right now I think cost is a big deterrent for many potential subscribers. Perhaps distilling the savings (monetary is probably better than environmental) to a family or individual level might help some potential subscribers find a way to shift expense from one bucket to another in the family budget to make broadband more affordable.

I like Joe’s paper even more than the Broadband Better than Roads report I read earlier this year.

I remember when Australia was connected to the Internet with a 56K line. Of course at that time MRNet (Minnesota’s biggest Internet provider at the time) was connected to the backbone with a T3. But it seems as if Australia is on track to leave Minnesota in the cyber dust.

The Australian government is geared to invest US$4.4 billion in a national fiber-optic network, to be built in partnership with the private sector. Even better – the government’s preference is to work with an open access provider or wholesaler that is separate from a retail provider.

Right now Telstra is the country’s largest retailer and wholesaler. And Telstra is kind of pegged as the provider for the new network. But the government might insist or at least encourage Telstra to divide itself based on operation (whole versus retail broadband service). This has been a successful approach in other areas such as New Zealand and Europe.

I know I’m the early bird with lots of news today. It’s because my favorite tax guy has already filed my extension so I can move on with life today and there seems to be a lot of broadband news.

Apparently the House Energy and Commerce telecommunications and the Internet subcommittee wants to know from the FCC and others why the recent 700 Mhz Spectrum Auction was so successful *except* for the segment saved for building a public safety network. The meeting to discuss the matter is planned for today (Tuesday April 15 at 9:30 to noon DC time and will be broadcast online.)

The plan was to use public airwaves and private money to create a nationwide emergency communications network. The winning vendor would build the network and make a profit by selling access to wireless service providers. However, the auction bidding didn’t meet the minimum bid requirements. Well, it sounds as if it didn’t get any bids.

There was one company (Frontline) who was expected to win this job but weeks before the bidding they dropped out, claiming they couldn’t raise the funds required, which was $1.33 billion.

I followed this story earlier on when a company called Cyren Call was the expected public safety net builder. They advocated for the use of public spectrum, but then they kind of disappeared except that the Chairman of Cyren Call became an adviser to the auction.

So now Congress wants to know – what in the heck is going on? And – what in the heck should they do now?