Posted by: Ann Treacy | May 7, 2013

Blandin Broadband eNews May 2013

BBC MapNews from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Minnesota Broadband Task Force In April, the Broadband Task Force heard from broadband providers and supporters that offered reduced rate access and training to low income Minnesotans. Also there was some discussion of current broadband-related legislation, especially sales tax exemption for broadband deployment. The Task Force had recommended tax exemptions, but the Governor’s broader tax plan reduces exemptions. There was some discussion on the proposed Office of Broadband Deployment as well.http://wp.me/p3if7-2dt (An entrepreneur from the Iron Range voices his opinion on the tax issues as well, echoing opinions heard at Task Force. http://wp.me/p3if7-2e4)

The Governor’s Office recently appointed two new members to the Minnesota Broadband Task Force: Fred Underwood, Director of  Technology at the Fond Du Lac Reservation and Andrea Casselton, Director of the Office of Technology and Communications in St Paul.http://wp.me/p3if7-2dY

Minnesota Broadband Not World Class The latest Akamai report has been released, tracking worldwide broadband growth from Q4 2012. The US does not rank highly by international standards; Minnesota does even worse when compared to other states. We don’t do well with speed or adoption. We saw the same results last August. http://wp.me/p3if7-2dE

Update on Policy Broadband-Related Bills

  • The Legislature learned more about the Minnesota Telecommunications Regulations Bills (HF 985/SF 584) inclduing enforcement authority, tariffs, alternative regulation plans, obsolete provisions and plans to meet with FCC plans for 2019.http://wp.me/p3if7-2d5
  • The Legislature is looking at E-Government Advisory Council (SF804) to improve online government information services to citizens and businesses. (They are also looking at State procurement and solicitation provisions modifications.) http://wp.me/p3if7-2cZ
  • Senator Klobuchar talks about unlocking cell phones so that consumers can change providers without steep penalties; she also speaks about the importance of enforcing call completion regulation to ensure that rural areas receive calls from all providers.http://wp.me/p3if7-2cT
  • The House Taxes Committee met and quickly dismissed bills with potential to provide funding for broadband. Anything in HF1686 that related to fiber was dismissed once the legislators realized that this amendment might conflict with other policies. Legislators were not in favor of the broadband development grant program (HF389); perhaps relating to the tenuous connection between pre-paid phones and broadband more than the fund itself. http://wp.me/p3if7-2cP
  • North Dakota passed legislation exempting telecommunications equipment purchases from the sales tax, creating an incentive for high tech firms to invest in North Dakota’s communications infrastructure. http://wp.me/p3if7-2dN

Local Broadband News

Cloquet Valley Some progress is being made toward better broadband in a group of townships north of Duluth known as the Cloquet Valley Internet Initiative. They are encouraging local collaboration and awareness. http://wp.me/p3if7-2cw

Eagan Joining an informal worldwide initiative of programmers who are working to teach students the language of computers, Thomson Reuters offers computer-coding classes for 50 middle-school-age children . http://wp.me/p3if7-2dQ

Lake County Lake County breathes a sign of relief as half of their ARRA-funded fiber network is complete and the incumbents who have opposed the network seem to be backing away from the project. http://wp.me/p3if7-2dr

Minneapolis The Minnesota High Tech Association hosts their annual Spring Conference. Hot topics included innovation and creativity. http://wp.me/p3if7-2dS

Minneapolis is named fifth nerdiest city. http://wp.me/p3if7-2d8

Monticello Monticello extends the statute of limitations on legal claims bondholders can file against the city (related to FiberNet broadband network), striving to reach a resolution with the temporary agreement, set to expire June 1, 2013. http://wp.me/p3if7-2d2

Redwood County The Redwood Area Development Corporation (RADC) posts their recent feasibility study. It indicates that residents in town have better access to broadband than residents in small communities or living on the outskirts of communities. http://wp.me/p3if7-2cj

Southwest Minnesota Thanks to a grant from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, portable Interactive Television systems will be placed in 36 elementary schools within in Southern Minnesota providing advanced educational opportunities for more than 9,000 K-6 children.http://wp.me/p3if7-2co

St Paul PetChatz is the ultimate petcam; it can be controlled from afar using a phone app or desktop browser. With the tap of a touchscreen or a keyboard, the owner can release a treat from within the device for Fido to enjoy. http://wp.me/p3if7-2dB

Events

May 14: Webniar – Broadband Adoption Toolkit - 2:00-3:30 p.m. EDThttp://wp.me/p3if7-2dV

May 16: Webniar - Economic Development Webinar: Planning, Benefits and Impact - 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT http://wp.me/p3if7-2dV

May 22: Webniar - Broadband Adoption Toolkit Webinar with Toolkit Creatorshttp://wp.me/p3if7-2dV

June 1-2: Civic Hack Day (various locations TBA) http://wp.me/p3if7-26t

July 29-30: eLearning Summit (St Paul) http://wp.me/p3if7-2dj

Looking for more events? Check out TechDotMN’s calendar http://tech.mn/events/. Many events are based in the Twin Cities but it is a comprehensive list. (If you have an upcoming event, consider submitting it.)

Bill_ColemanStirring the Pot

Question: What does our extended cold and snowy weather have in common with broadband?

Answer: The promise of 10-20 Mb ubiquitous broadband and 70 degrees and sunny weather both seem like they will never come!

We do know that 70 and sunny will be here sometime in the next 90 days, but the path to meeting the state broadband goal is much less certain.  The areas that lack wired broadband solutions that meet state broadband goals are clearly not easy to serve; densities and terrain ensure that private sector companies cannot invest in these areas and reach their ROI hurdles.  We know from the feasibility studies recently completed in some areas that the business case for these areas is marginal even with much longer public sector financing horizons and 100% adoption.   These areas with broadband are the same areas that needed significant subsidies to get telephone and electric utilities as those technologies emerged as standard requirements for quality of life and economic competitiveness.

The legislative session is almost over and once again, there are no signs of any new tools, financing programs or incentives to stimulate private or public sector investment, or a more defined or enabled public sector authority to stimulate broadband investments at the local or county level.

Even as we fail to reach the current state broadband goals, those very goals seem increasingly inadequate as Gb broadband is fast emerging as the new global standard.

What’s more, in Minnesota we still have health care, education, public safety all doing their own thing with no coordination in sight and not even on the task force agenda.

I am encouraged to see some regional planning emerging and hope that they can push their way forward to some new solutions – kudos to the east central broadband initiative and to the new group in Region Five!

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Posted by: Ann Treacy | May 7, 2013

Open Data for Agriculture: News tools available online

Last week the World Bank hosted a conference on Open Data for Agriculture. The goal was to “brainstorm about how Open Data can be harnessed to help meet the challenge of sustainably feeding nine billion people by 2050.” It seems like that might be of interest to farmers and food advocates in Minnesota for a couple of reasons. First, Minnesota may have a role to play as food producer. Second, a range of tools have been developed that could be as useful in Minnesota as they are in Kenya. Third, this is an example of an industry that’s going digital – farmers without access to broadband and technology will be falling behind their international counterparts!

Here are some of the programs that were highlighted…

  • MFarm has built a mobile application that allows farmers to receive accurate, real-time crop-price information from five major markets in Kenya, via daily text message, six days per week. The service helps farmers to make informed decisions on what to plant when, how to price produce, and where to sell to the largest profit.  MFarm is currently refining their service and will soon begin integrating USAID data into their product to help deliver more accurate price information to users.

  • INSEAD has introduced Toto Agriculture, a smartphone interface fueled by USAID data that provides village-specific agricultural data. Users can use this free application to access localized information on soil, pests, climate, and planting tips in over 100 languages.

  • iPlant: A community driven collaborative of researchers, educators, and students working to enrich all plant sciences through the development of the cyberinfrastructure essential for modern biology. The collaborative can sequence the genome of an individual cow in 3 hours, taking the time of sequencing from months down to hours.

 

There was also a huge push and unveiling of open datasets…

At last week’s conference, USDA, USAID, and a number of other entities—both domestic and international—unleashed a host of new datasets, tools, and platforms—with more to come in the weeks and months ahead. For our part, the U.S. Government:

  • Launched The Food, Agriculture, and Rural “data community” on Data.gov, which offers more than 300 datasets (and growing!) that relate to the social, economic, and environmental aspects of agriculture. For example, the new community offers Quick Stats—a comprehensive tool for accessing agricultural data profiles by subject area or commodity, such as crops and plants, or livestock. Over the next few months, USDA will make these data available in a robust Application Programming Interface (API) to enable easier sharing of data by third party applications and services.

  • The Millennium Challenge Corporation released an open evaluation data catalog that contains household survey metadata from food security programs in Armenia, El Salvador, Ghana, and the Philippines, and more data is coming soon.

  • Launched USAID.gov/Developer, a page that curates APIs and datasets specifically for developers looking to scrub in and work with open global development data. APIs include the U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants, or Greenbook, which encompasses all international aid funding allocations.  This data will help developers and researchers more dynamically parse these data, that goes all the way back to the Marshall Plan.

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Posted in Conferences, economic development, New Media, Rural

Posted by: Ann Treacy | May 6, 2013

An outsider’s view of CenturyLink: Tips for Public-Private Partnership

Chris Mitchell promotes community networks. He’s at the Institute for Local Self Reliance, so his view makes sense. He follows broadband access closely. Late last week he posted an interesting article on CenturyLink, noting that CenturyLink’s plan for 1 Gbps service in Omaha is an outlier, not a sign of the times to come.

Chris points out that Omaha – or at least the part of Omaha getting the upgrade – needed the upgrade for technical reasons. And I think it doesn’t hurt that the area getting the upgrade sounds like an affluent area. It’s certainly positive news for Omaha that the upgrade is coming. And if it does well financially, it could be good news for other areas as well – but for the reasons that Chris points out, I agree that it’s probably an outlier, especially in terms of rural communities. Also I’ve heard the folks at CenturyLink say as much. Rural areas are a tough investment – tough terrain, low population density and managers are obliged to make business decisions that benefit shareholders.

What does this mean for local underserved communities? Chris looks at that question…

CenturyLink just doesn’t have the money to upgrade most of its communities. Will it in future years? That is a question that Phil Cusick of JPMorgan asked: “Okay. And, so we should look at CapEx as being essentially flat for the next few years?”

CFO Stewart Ewing response:

That’s our thinking now. Pretty flat, we could bring it down some, cut it off a little bit depending on. It’s really based on the success of these new initiatives, I mean, what we think we can drive in terms of revenue and margins going forward.

CenturyLink is not dumb or evil, it just has different priorities for investment than what communities need. The sooner local governments understand this, the better. Heck, CenturyLink itself has made this point in Minnesota:

We’re a public company. We have shareholders. We have rules and commitments. If you’re smaller, the shareholders are the owners. There’s more flexibility – especially if owners/shareholders are local.

Minnesota Public Radio summed it up:

Noting that CenturyLink wants every customer it can find, Ring pointed out that the company nonetheless needs a return on investment that satisfies shareholders and meets the demands of larger commitments and fiduciary responsibilities.

If you’re a community looking at broadband and you are served by CenturyLink (or CenturyLink is nearby), it still makes sense to invite them to the table to talk about broadband. They know broadband. They may know if your area is expecting an upgrade in the near future. They may be in a position to be swayed by growing interest in broadband. Most providers will talk to specific customers about upgrades to their service – maybe it’s a matter of aggregating those demands. But it’s also wise to keep Chris’ observations in mind. The key to a public-private partnership is finding a solution that meets the needs of the community and commercial provider and the first step may be recognizing that those needs are not necessarily the same.

An area/project to watch is the North East Central communities. They held a broadband summit in February – inviting community leaders and providers. One of the stated outcomes from the summit was an effort to continue discussion between community leader and providers. Brian Estrem from U-reka Broadband spoke about the moving the public-private effort forward…

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Posted by: Ann Treacy | May 6, 2013

Iron Range Entrepreneur Speaks up for Broadband Deployment and Tax Incentives

Last November the Minnesota Broadband Task Force met in Duluth – a meeting that coincided with the Minnesota Broadband Conference. The Task Force heard from one young entrepreneur about his business developing apps and the difficulty he had getting his job done with limited broadband on the Iron Range. Yesterday the same entrepreneur (Jake Dahl) had a Letter to the Editor in the Duluth News Tribune…

I’m a 2012 graduate of Eveleth-Gilbert High School and currently attend Mesabi Range Community and Technical College. For the past couple years, I’ve been developing a series of handy smart phone apps that users can download on their iOS devices. In the short time I’ve been doing this, the app consumer community here has grown significantly as more and more people are using wireless devices (mostly the iPhone) for a wide variety of needs. Entrepreneurs like me are tapping into those needs and developing useful applications that mobile users want.

It’s a thriving industry, but we need a strong wireless broadband system to support our efforts.

He pleads the case for improving broadband infrastructure by allowing tax incentives to defray costs of broadband deployment…

That’s why we’re even more concerned about recent developments in the state Legislature that would increase taxes on broadband network providers. Instead of doing everything it can to encourage network providers to expand broadband services, the Minnesota Senate recently passed a bill that would repeal some of the tax breaks the state offers on purchases of telecommunications equipment.

Many Internet-related entrepreneurs like me worry that such a move would slow mobile broadband development and deployment on the Iron Range and around the state. The state needs to do everything it can to encourage private investment in broadband. The high-tech community here and elsewhere in the state depends on it.

I thought I’d include the video of Jake’s remarks from last November too…

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Posted in Broadband Summit 2012, economic development, MN, Policy, Wireless

Posted by: Ann Treacy | May 2, 2013

New MN Broadband Task Force Members: Andrea Casselton & Fred Underwood

An abbreviated press release; I’m just pulling out the broadband related appointees…

Notice of Appointments by Governor Dayton

Today Governor Mark Dayton announced the following appointments to the Board of Psychology, the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband, and the Minnesota Higher Education Facilities Authority.

Andrea Casselton – St. Paul, MN
Governor’s Task Force on Broadband
Member
Effective: May 7, 2013
Term Expires: January 5, 2015
Replacing: Steve Peterson

Fred Underwood – Cloquet, MN
Governor’s Task Force on Broadband
Member
Effective: May 7, 2013
Term Expires: January 5, 2015
Replacing: Keith Modglin

Fred Underwood is Director of  Technology at the Fond Du Lac Reservation.

Andrea Casselton is the Director of the Office of Technology & Communications in St Paul.

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Posted in MN, Policy

Posted by: Ann Treacy | May 2, 2013

Highlights from various BTOP/NTIA Updates

Just wanted to share some highlights from NTIA. The following webinars with shared with BTOP (ARRA-funding) recipients..

MAY 14, 2013
Broadband Adoption Toolkit Webinar
2:00-3:30 p.m. EDT
Click Here to Register
Conference No.: 1- 888-790-1746
Passcode: 9944288

MAY 16, 2013
Economic Development Webinar: Planning, Benefits and Impact
2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT
Click Here to Register
Conference No.: 1- 800-857-5054
Passcode: 4604398

MAY 22, 2013
Broadband Adoption Toolkit Webinar with Toolkit Creators
1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT

And they recently announced the Toolkits created based on many of the BTOP projects…

Today we are pleased to announce the release of the “NTIA Broadband Adoption Toolkit” based on the field-tested practices of recipients from the Sustainable Broadband Adoption and Public Computer Center grant categories.  The Toolkit is a guide to planning and carrying out effective adoption programs with a wide variety of audiences, including youth, low-income, and seniors.  It includes chapters on planning a new program, designing outreach and communications activities, setting up training classes, and choosing engaging curriculum. It also has links to detailed examples, tools, and videos that can save time and resources for program developers.

Publication was announced by Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator Lawrence E. Strickling in a speech at the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition’s conference here in Washington.  He said, “We developed the toolkit in order to share the expert knowledge and experience of the broadband adoption and computer training projects with a broader base of anchor institutions, government agencies, non-profits and others engaged in this effort.”

BTOP (http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/awards) provided funding for 44 Sustainable Broadband Adoption projects and 66 Public Computer Center projects. Through these investments, more than 500,000 household broadband subscribers have been added, more than 41,000 new workstations have been installed, and 12.3 million hours of training have been provided to 4.2 million participants.

You can download a copy of the Toolkit from our web site at:

http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/BTOP-Reports

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Posted in Building Broadband Tools, Conferences, Digital Divide

Posted by: Ann Treacy | May 1, 2013

MHTA Spring Conference: innovation, cloud computing and mobile technology

Yesterday I attended the Minnesota High Tech Association Spring Conference. It’s always a good opportunity to see folks and hear about what’s happening in the high tech industries and what folks are thinking about. It seems they are thinking about innovation, cloud computing and mobile technology.

I heard a lot of speakers talk about the need to open up their technology and their ideas –in terms of getting feedback from customers, getting customers to help spread the word (generally via social media), listening to what others are doing. Technology projects can no longer be done in a vacuum – because the technology outside of that vacuum changes so quickly.

I tried to take notes during the sessions I attended. Also I have a video of my colleague Bill Coleman talking about the MIRC project. All of the Tekne Award recipients from 2012were invited to speak at the conference – and the MIRC project was a recipient.

Read More…

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Posted in Broadband Applications, Conferences, economic development, MN

Posted by: Ann Treacy | April 30, 2013

Technology education coming from Minnesota businesses

I always like to hear about people improving their use of technology – especially when that means engaging kids in exciting activities that help them learn. There are some schools that are doing that well – but it’s difficult partially because technology changes so quickly and teachers often do not have the luxury of time to keep up on these changes. So I was delighted to read about a project at Thompson Reuters that got folks in industry working directly with kids…

When a group of Attracta Abulu’s co-workers at Thomson Reuters in Eagan decided to offer computer-coding classes for about 50 middle-school-age children of their colleagues, she jumped at the chance for Obi.

“I knew it was something he would really enjoy,” she said.

By developing those classes, Thomson Reuters programmers joined an informal worldwide initiative of programmers who are working to teach students the language of computers.

“We have to take some of the mystery out of technology so students can understand they can learn to control it,” said Rick King, Thomson Reuters’ chief operating officer for technology. “We want to stimulate more people to think about technology careers.”

Rebecca Schatz, who advocates for more computing education with the website CodeSavvy.org, said there is a “groundswell” of similar programmers worldwide working to pass along skills to the next generation. A group recently launched CoderDojo Twin Cities, a free workshop where students can learn to code, build websites and develop games from mentors who work around the metro area.

“Since it isn’t happening in our schools, it’s rippling up from everywhere else,” Schatz said. “It’s high time for it. It is amazing that it’s 2013 and we are not teaching our kids to code.”

It’s great to see industry and community partners stepping up to fill the gap in education – almost like a call back to mentorship or apprenticeship. I think it’s another sign of the change in the industry of education. Last summer I wrote about another impact of technology on education – specifically the ability to learn online from schools (k12 to top universities) with or without getting credit. I think we’re at a crossroads in education and how we teach will change a lot in the next decade with schools partnering with businesses and offering more personalized solutions to individual students.

 

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Posted in Broadband Applications, economic development, MN

Posted by: Ann Treacy | April 29, 2013

Exempting telecommunications equipment from sales tax build jobs in North Dakota

There was an interesting editorial in the Grand Forks Herald over the weekend urging Minnesota to look at creating policies that support technology sector growth. It builds the case that North Dakota has made policies to exempt telecommunications equipment purchases from sales tax and it has reaped benefits; the Minnesota Legislature is looking at doing the opposite.

There is more to North Dakota’s strong success than the oil boom. Lawmakers in North Dakota at the state and local levels are making sound policy decisions that create a climate favorable to business and job creation. For example, well-known tech firms such as Microsoft are choosing to locate and expand operations in the state. …

Case in point: North Dakota recently passed legislation that exempts telecommunications equipment purchases from the sales tax, thus creating an incentive and a “welcome sign” to high tech firms to invest in North Dakota’s communications infrastructure.

Technology is growing exponentially, and this kind of forward-looking policy is sure to put North Dakota in an excellent position to continue to be one of the most attractive places in America for new investment.

Minnesota, on the other hand, seems to be going in the opposite direction, especially as it relates to new, high-tech investment.

Minnesota is seriously looking at eliminating its sales tax exemption for telecommunications equipment. Investments in communications equipment is what will help to break down the digital divide, a stated goal of Minnesota’s Gov. Mark Dayton’s broadband taskforce.

Increasing taxes on investment in this infrastructure is a step backwards for Minnesota if it wants to attract modern business and the jobs it creates.

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Posted in economic development, MN, Policy

Posted by: Ann Treacy | April 26, 2013

Akamai broadband reports – MN doesn’t rank!

The latest Akamai report has been released, tracking worldwide broadband growth from Q4 2012. The US does not rank highly by international standards; Minnesota does even worse when compared to other states. We don’t do well with speed or adoption. We saw the same results last August.

Average Measured Connection Speed by Country/Region – US is #8

akamai - avg measured connection speed

Average peak connection speed, we’re worse with US at #13.

In terms of adoption US is #8 – the report measures broadband and “high broadband” defined as 10 Mbps and up. (US ranks #13 for plain old broadband – defined as 4 Mbps.)

akamai - high bb connectivity

Akamai only reports on the Top Ten of each listing – except as you can see above including info on the US when it doesn’t make the Top Tem list. So while I don’t know where Minnesota ranks in terms of speeds and adoption, I can tell you we aren’t in the Top Ten of any metric. You can see on the maps below that the ranking lean heavily to the East Coast.

It’s discouraging. We hear in rural areas of Minnesota about how good broadband can help reach and retain business and residents. And I’ve heard people talk about lack of broadband has the opposite effect. I don’t think it’s a far stretch to point out that the same effect may be seen at the state and international level. Minnesota and the US may be overlooked by businesses.

I’m most interested in the Akamai rankings – but their highlights from the last 5 years were interesting too…

This issue of the State of the Internet Report marks the end of five years of publication — the near equivalent
of an eternity in Internet time. Over this half-decade period, we have seen:

  • The rapid rise of mobile phones and tablets using Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems as the  primary devices for accessing Web content

  • The exhaustion of IANA’s central pool of IPv4 address space, and the ongoing depletion of available IPv4 address space across the Regional Internet Registries

  • Growth in IPv6 adoption across major backbone networks, end-user networks, major Web sites, and leading content delivery networks, including Akamai

  • The development of “national broadband plans” in countries around the world, laying out target connection speeds and adoption/availability targets for the next several years

  • “Internet disruptions” used as a means of control in some countries during periods of political unrest, where  international Internet connectivity is severely limited, or severed entirely

  • Growth in Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks as a means of protest, targeting government, financial services,  commerce, and other enterprise Web sites and applications

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Posted in MN, Research

Posted by: Ann Treacy | April 25, 2013

PetChatz – Minnesota-built webconferencing for pets

I  love to hear about innovation online. I love when it comes out of Minnesota. Not being a pet owner, I think PetChatz is very funny – but again I love when innovation and economic development happen in Minnesota because of broadband. We should all be thinking of our next innovation!

Here’s a bit about PetChatz from the St Paul Pioneer Press…

Now a Minnesota company has come up with the ultimate petcam — one that dispenses treats and exudes soothing aromas while letting pets and their masters see and hear each other.

Called PetChatz, it can be controlled from afar using a phone app or desktop browser. With the tap of a touchscreen or a keyboard, the owner can release a treat from within the device for Fido to enjoy.

The product is not yet available, but maker Anser Innovation of Minneapolis is aiming to ramp up production soon with the goal of offering the petcam in Minnesota in the fall and around the country in early 2014.

Anser CEO Lisa Lavin calls the product “a greet-and-treat videophone.”

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Posted in Broadband Applications, economic development, MN

Posted by: Ann Treacy | April 25, 2013

Google Training Day in Minneapolis May 4

I know it’s not in everyone’s backyard, but I thought the following was worth sharing – and maybe worth travel…

STEP-UP Entrepreneurship Training Day

CoCo coworking and collaborative space
Saturday, May 4, 2013 from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM (CDT)
Minneapolis, MN

 

CoCo, STEP-UP and Google are teaming up! Join us for a one-day Google for Entrepreneurs “entrepreneur-in-training” program for students participating in the Minneapolis Step-Up Program. The purpose of the day is to prepare students for their summer employment at small businesses in Minneapolis by equipping students with the knowledge and tools necessary to help them effectively think through problems, and create a business plan from scratch to solve real world challenges.

Draft Agenda: (9:00a - 4:10p)

  • 9:00      – 9:30a Breakfast

  • 9:30      – 9:45a Intros/Icebreaker

  • 9:45      – 10:15a New technologies at Google/Moonshot projects

  • 10:15      – 10:45a Panel on Career (feat. Googler, StepUp member, CoCo member(s))

  • 10:45      – 11:30a How to Pitch Investors: Best Practices (CoCo entrepreneur to give presentation?)

  • 11:30a      – 12:15p Lunch w. pre-assigned groups

  • 12:15      – 1:45p Work groups (Split into 10 groups of 8)

  • 1:45      – 2:00p Break

  • 2:00      – 4:00p Pitch competition (Two rounds)

  • 4:00      – 4:10p Judge/Announcement of winners

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Posted in Conferences, economic development, MN

Posted by: Ann Treacy | April 24, 2013

Last call for comments on Lifeline

I know I heard from folks who were glad to hear about the Lifeline program last time I posted something. So, I thought I’d post this too…

The Rural Broadband Policy Group (RBPG), a working group from the National Rural Assembly, would like to make you aware of a last-minute opportunity to support the federal Lifeline program.

Lifeline is a government benefit program that provides discounts on monthly telephone service for eligible low-income consumers to help ensure they have the opportunities and security that telephone service affords, including being able to connect to jobs, family, and 911 services. In rural, Tribal, and low-income communities, Lifeline is literally a lifeline for residents. However, Lifeline has recently come under attack and cuts to the program have been proposed.

Tomorrow, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will host a hearing on the Lifeline program. RBPG would like to encourage you to share your opinion about the program and how it impacts your community.

Annually, the program helps millions of families across the country afford a basic telephone line. Lifeline is essential to the success of our country because it ensures that even the most unserved areas are safe, able to communicate, and included. RBPG believes that any cuts to Lifeline will leave rural communities more vulnerable and locked out from full participation.

Share your thoughts on Lifeline!

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Posted in Digital Divide, MN

Posted by: Ann Treacy | April 24, 2013

Minnesota Broadband Task Force April Meeting: Full Notes

Yesterday I attended the Minnesota Broadband Task Force meeting. They heard from several folks who offer reduced rate packages (broadband, computers and training) in Minnesota. They also heard from two ARRA-funded broadband adoption programs.

There was some talk about policy. It boiled down to two issues that remain open. First the establishment of an Office of Broadband Deployment – the big question is where it will land and who will do the hiring. Second is the Dig Once issue. Read More…

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Posted in Conferences, Minnesota Advisory Task Force, MN, Policy

Posted by: Ann Treacy | April 22, 2013

Lake County Fiber Plan Apparently Good as Done

The Minneapolis Star Tribune paints a happy picture for the ARRA-funded Lake County Fiber Network…

Since the northern Minnesota county won the state’s largest package of federal broadband grants and loans, $66.4 million, in 2010, it’s been fighting a running battle with its competitors — cable TV company Mediacom and telephone company Frontier Communications — over whether a publicly funded network should compete with private business. But the opponents were unsuccessful at stopping the project, and about half of the 1,500-mile fiber network will be built this year.

“Our funds are committed,” said Lake County Commissioner Paul Bergman in an interview Friday. “We’ve already applied for $40 million of our loan and grant money. It would take an act of Congress to kill the project now.”

They report that both Mediacom and Frontier are backing off the project. There is one potential hiccup, but even if that doesn’t go well, the network will press on…

The county’s only remaining challenge related to the broadband project is a $4.9 million, 2011 lawsuit over the way the county originally planned to obtain bonds for its roughly $3.5 million share of the nearly $70 million broadband network. The plaintiff, Orix Public Finance, alleged that it was initially asked to participate, then dropped from the project. It has asked U.S. District Court in Duluth for a summary judgment in its favor.

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Posted in FTTH, MN, Rural

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