Monthly Archives: March 2009

Adrian MN looks at telepharmacy options

Posted on by
Reply

The Worthington Daily Globe recently reported that the Nobles County Commissioners appear to be looking favorably on plans for a pharmacy that would allow a pharmacist to provide adequate consultation to clientele via video and teleconferencing equipment. Plans are to have a pharmacy technician on staff at the Adrian location.

The project has already been approved for a $50,000 Light Speed grant from the Blandin Foundation, and it was approved for a $25,000 loan from the Worthington Regional Economic Development Corp. They are looking for funding from the County Commissioners to help reach the estimated $100,000 budget.

The Commissioners voiced support for the telepharmacy and directed the county administrator to work with the WREDC and the City of Adrian to finalize the funding plan.

March Blandin eNews

Posted on by
Reply

Blandin Get Broadband CommunitiesHere’s the news from our latest newsletter. It’s mostly a compilation of Minnesota-related stories from the blog in the last month – but sometimes it’s nice to have it compiled.

Minnesota News from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

Minnesota Broadband Coalition
The Minnesota Broadband Coalition is a new ad hoc group of citizens, businesses and organizations that believe that more, bigger, better broadband is needed to ensure Minnesota’s future. Interested parties are welcome to join. http://mnbroadbandcoalition.com

Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force
The Broadband Task Force met twice in February – the first was a special meeting to see preliminary broadband maps of Minnesota created by Connect Minnesota http://tinyurl.com/c9kf64 and their regular monthly meeting, where they heard from city and county representatives about their local broadband needs and some innovative ways they have addressed broadband demand locally. The Task Force also discussed shovel-ready projects for federal stimulus funding; that discussion remains open. http://tinyurl.com/bv97yy

Minnesota Broadband Scenarios
The Minnesota broadband maps unveiled in February have led to discussion on the level of detail provided and the reputation and of those doing the mapping, Connected Nation. To offer an alternative to mapping, Bill Coleman has created a matrix that categorized Minnesota broadband availability into a handful of likely scenarios based on location and incumbent providers. http://tinyurl.com/bv4wvl

Broadband and Stimulus Money
Congress finally approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 with $7.2 billion going to broadband. Funding is pegged for un-served and under-served as well as advanced services. http://tinyurl.com/aoskyf

Free Press vs Tech Policy Institute  on Broadband in Minnesota
Last fall, Scott Wallsten spoke to the Minnesota Broadband Task Force indicating that there was no real broadband crisis in the US. Recently S. Derek Turner from Free Press refuted Wallsten’s remarks with a point-counterpoint document. http://tinyurl.com/c26dgh

Dakota County
Dakota Future plans to be one of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities as judged by the Intelligent Community Forum within the next three years. http://tinyurl.com/aqvv9n

Monticello
While legal battles wage on, Monticello is moving forward with both FTTH construction and plans to begin marketing FTTH services. http://tinyurl.com/aj842n

Moose Lake
Moose Lake, a Blandin Get Broadband community, has expanded their wireless network to neighboring communities of Barnum, Kettle River, Sturgeon Lake and Willow river areas. The service is provided by Moose Lake Water and Light Commission. http://tinyurl.com/bgbh65

North St Paul
North St Paul held a referendum to authorize the City to construct a telephone exchange as part of a municipal fiber optic network. The referendum did not pass. http://tinyurl.com/dk8maj

Pine City
Senator Amy Klobuchar visited Pine Technical College to discuss broadband accessibility and how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will jumpstart our economy in the near term while also building the foundation for longer-term prosperity. http://tinyurl.com/b8lswu

Coleman’s Corner

With $7.2 billion in approved funding for broadband, the next step to getting that money to the people who need it is a plan for distribution. Jim Baller has a great summary (noted in the Blandin on Broadband blog http://tinyurl.com/atk5jf).  

Funding will come through the USDA and NTIA (National Telecommunications and Information Administration). It sounds as if USDA will distribute the funds as it usually does, through loans and grants to telecom providers. The NTIA funds are more of a mystery. Prior to 2000, NTIA had a set of robust programs to spread broadband infrastructure and applications. It went into hibernation through the Bush years, but now has $4 billion to distribute.

Hallmarks of NTIA include innovation and collaboration, so if I were seeking funds for my community or region, going it alone would be the wrong approach. Get your area’s technology wish lists from providers, educators and health providers and see where the mutual interests intersect.

Blandin has special funding available for Minnesota’s southwest region (regions 8, 9, 6E and parts of 6W). We would be particularly interested in participating in discussions in that region. Keep us informed about your initiatives; we may be able to highlight some partners or strategies that could strengthen your efforts. Don’t delay as others around the country are working aggressively at project development!

Rural broadband at a glance

Posted on by
1

Thanks to Deb Miller Slipek for sending me the Rural Broadband at a Glance report from the USDA Economic Research Service. The statistics are from 2007.

rural-mapsHere are some of the stats I found most interesting:

Percent of households with at least one person going online somewhere (US):
Urban: 72.6
Rural: 63.3
Total: 71.1

Percent of households with Internet access (US)
Urban: 63.7
Rural: 51.9
Total: 61.8

Percent of households with at least one person going online somewhere (Midwest):
Urban: 74
Rural: 65.7
Total: 72.1

Percent of households with Internet access (US)
Urban: 63.1
Rural: 53.7
Total: 60.9

I thought the discrepancies in the Midwest were interesting. That’s nearly a 10-point difference in Internet access!

The report gave plenty of uses for Internet and broadband, pointing out the general need for broadband for education, healthcare, business and consumer use. I don’t know that they emphasized as strongly as I might have the greater need for broadband in rural areas to take advantage of remote services in these areas.

They expressed the need for more and better data around rural broadband use – providing information to the zip code level, they point out, is not enough. They also point out the fact that the FCC has been slow to up the definition of broadband and even the most recent definition is insufficient because “includes a wide array of technologies with varying reliability and quality, making economic impact analysis and discussion of broadband Internet service challenging.”

NTIA public meeting on American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Posted on by
Reply

From the Federal Register…

Notice: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Broadband Initiatives
AGENCY: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce; Rural Development, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Federal Communications Commission

ACTION: Joint Notice of Public Meeting

SUMMARY: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S Department of Agriculture’s Office of Rural Development, and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will host a public meeting on March 10, 2009, in connection with the Broadband Initiatives funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,Public Law No. 111-5.

DATES: The meeting will be held on March 10, 2009, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Eastern Standard Time.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1401 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Auditorium, Washington, D.C. (Please enter at 14th Street.) The disability accessible entrance is located at the 14th Street Aquarium Entrance. The meeting location is subject to change. Any change in the location will be posted on NTIA’s website (www.ntia.doc.gov) prior to the meeting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding the meeting, contact Barbara Brown, NTIA,at (202) 482-4374 or bbrown@ntia.doc.gov or Mary Campanola, Rural Development, at (202)-720-8822 or mary.campanola@usda.gov or Christi Shewman, FCC, at (202) 418-1686 or christi.shewman@fcc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The public meeting agenda and information about the new program will be available at NTIA’s website at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants, Rural Development’s website at http://www.usda.gov/rurdev, and the FCC’s website at http://www.fcc.gov.  This will be the first of several Public Meetings.

Public attendance at the meeting is limited to space available. Members of the public will have an opportunity to ask questions at the meeting. The meeting will be streamed on the Web with captions and the archive will be made available on NTIA’s website at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants and Rural Development’s website at http://www.usda/rurdev.

I plan to watch as it steams; if not I’ll watch the archive and post notes.