Monthly Archives: August 2010

Three more Minnesota projects get ARRA broadband funding

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Thanks to Ann Higgins for the heads up on the good news …

U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) today (Wednesday, Aug. 18)announced $23,666,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for three broadband projects in Minnesota.

…

Sjoberg’s, Inc. – This approximately $866,000 award will allow Sjoberg’s, Inc. to offer FTTH broadband service in Roseau, Thief River Falls, and the hamlet of Fox. This project will benefit many small farms located in the “grain belt”. Approximately 656 people stand to benefit, as do roughly 15 businesses and 3 community institutions.

Carver County – This nearly $6 million award will allow the County of Carver to offer affordable middle-mile broadband service in south central Minnesota. The project plans to connect schools, libraries, and community colleges, including the Waconia Library and the South Metro campus of the Dunwoody College of Technology, to improve educational services, distance learning, and remote teaching. The project also proposes to construct 121 miles of new fiber that will be open to as many as nine last-mile providers in the region in order to improve commercial broadband availability and adoption. As many as 57,600 people stand to benefit as do 2,700 businesses.

Enventis Telecom – This approximately $16.8 million award, with more than $7.2 million in matching contributions, will allow Enventis Telecom to offer affordable middle-mile broadband service in Minnesota. The project plans to directly connect 70 community institutions to broadband. As many as 350,400 people stand to benefit as do 28,000 businesses. Enventis estimates that the project will create more than 250 jobs.

Senator Klobuchar Broadband Summit Invitation

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I wanted to made sure folks saw the following invitation…

US Senator Amy Klobuchar will host a Broadband Summit at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management to discuss the need for making high-speed broadband available to all Minnesotans. Senator Klobuchar will be joined by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski and will gather input and ideas on broadband access from community and business leaders.

At the summit, FCC Genachowski will give the keynote address to the followed by a panel discussion moderated by Senator Klobuchar.

Who:
US Senator Amy Klobuchar
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski

Panelists:
Pam Lehmann, Director, Lac qui Parle EDA
Tim Lovaasen, President, Minnesota Communications Workers of America
Bernadine Joselyn, Director of Public Policy and Engagement, Blandin Foundation
Bruce Kerfoot, President and Owners, Gunflint Lodge Grand Marais, MN
Rick King, VP and COO for Thompson Reuters & Chair, Minnesota Broadband Task Force

When:
Tuesday August 24, 2010 10 am to 12 pm

Where:
University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management – 3M Auditorium
321 19th Ave South, Minneapolis MN 55455

Please RSVP to this event by emailing broadbandsummit@klobuchar.senate.gov.

This event is free and open to the public.

More worry in Minnesota about National Broadband Plan

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The Alexandria Echo Press reports that local Internet service providers are meeting with local policymakers to discuss the National Broadband Plan…

Leaders from Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association met with Representative Torrey Westrom and Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen on July 28 to discuss their concerns with the National Broadband Plan (NBP) being proposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

According to Dave Wolf, Gardonville’s CEO/general manager, the NBP will threaten Gardonville’s ability to provide both broadband and affordable basic telephone service to the communities it serves.

The concern is that the plan does not strive for ubiquitous broadband coverage. The National Broadband Plan shoots for 100 Mbps to 100 million Americans by 2020. It shoots for 4 Mbps in the remaining areas, which will be predominantly rural areas.

As the article points out, Minnesota has focused on ubiquity – striving for universal coverage of 20 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up by 2015. It’s a plan that sets out to create a more level playing field.

Winning strategy for ARRA networks

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On Wednesday, I met up with John Schultz of U-reka Broadband to talk about the ARRA awards and his model for success. John is involved with several projcts that have been funded. So far, his projects are bringing $35 million to our area. It’s an impressvice record.

John is inovled with the following:

So I wanted to know John’s winning model and he was kind anough to share it. Here are his guidelines:

  1. Choose good projects
  2. Build partnerships with existing providers. This will allow you to hit the ground runing, which allows the customers see the difference more quickly and the project ROI is quicker.
  3. Find partners who are flexible and who aren’t tied into a particular way of dong things – flexible with partner and technology choices as well as flexible with their roles in the project.
  4. John didn’t say this, but I would mention the advantage of having soemone or an organization such as John (U-reka Broadband) who is there to facilitate the deals, manage the moving pieces and create win-win-win partnerships.

John mentioned that he enjoys working with municpalities, cooperatives and locally based independents. These are folks who have similar values. They want their towns and territories to be successful and they are generally able to take a longer view of a project than larger providers and/or start ups.

I asked about how he might think of this if he were a community. What might be different? He had some additional advice:

  • Look at the list of the tasks required to bring better broadband to your areas.And take a realistic look at what is required and what your optmial role might be.
  • Know what you can and cannot do. Know what you want and don’t want. For example – know if you want to own and manage the network or if you are intersted in forming a partnership with someone who migth take care of that side of the network.
  • When choosing a partner, look nearby. Proximity make building or expanding a network easier. So talk to your local providers. If they aren’t interested, map out the cooperatives in your region and appraoch them about coming into your area.

Prove Models and Build Demand

It might have been handy to have John’s winning secrets before the ARRA applications were due – but then hindsight is always 20/20. We talked a little bit about the “now what?” part of the equation – for John and folks like him, for the communities that got funded and the ones who didn’t as well as for federal funding.

Many of the folks who build networks are pretty much booked for the next 2-3 years. We’ll see a lot of building and digging next spring and the spring after. And the projects that were funded will be sending in reports to the RUS and NTIA. So, half of the players will be busy proving their models.

Then there’s the broadband adoption folks – like Blandin’s MIRC project – who are working to get nonusers interested, trained and involved in using broadband. Building up that demand, may help spur more broadband deployment. Again these folks will be sending in their reports, proving their models.

Folks who are on the sidelines will probably be playing a waiting game. Waiting to see if successful models and/or technologies emerge from the ARRA projects. Waiting to see of the NTIA/RUS/FCC offer more incentives to expand broadband.

John‘s final note was that funding mechanism was essential for getting networks to areas that will not be served by market-driven providers – but he was confident that more federal funding will emerge – maybe not to the same extent as it was made available by the recent ARRA funds and/or maybe not to any great extent in the next 2-3 years but that once the models have been proven and demand built, more funding will come. I’m thinking that when the time comes, I might just repost John’s advice.

Pre-FCC Hearing Radio Show in Minneapolis on Aug 16

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Earlier, I posted info on the FCC public hearing (in Minneapolis!) on August 19. Twin Cities community radio KFAI, is hosting a discussion on the hearing and likely topics on August 16. It should be a good opportunity to bone up on topics and/or get a sneak preview of the actual hearing.

Here’s the announcemetn on the program:

TruthToTell’s ANDY DRISCOLL and LYNNELL MICKELSEN explore the issues and testimony Minnesota media justice types will deliver to Federal Communications Commissioners Michael Copps and Mignon Clyburn at a hearing on the future of the Internet.

STEVE RENDEROS – Media Justice Coordinator, Main Street Project
MARGARET KAPLAN – Operations Director, MN Center for Neighborhood Organizing (CURA)
CHAKA MKALI – Director of Organizing and Community Building, Hope Community, Minneapolis
LAURA WATERMAN WITTSTOCK – Author, Consultant, Co-Producer/Host – First Person Radio (KFAI)

How important is Government support of broadband?

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Yesterday Pew Internet & American Life unveiled their latest report on Home Broadband use/access/opinions. I’m trying to create in my own mind a take-away from the results, which were interesting. The report is eminently readable and brief – so it’s worth checking out firsthand – but here are some of the points that struck me:

  • African-Americans experienced 22% year-over-year broadband adoption growth; compared to an overall growth if 3% for all adults
  • A fifth of American adults (21%) do not use the internet. Many non-users think online content is not relevant to their lives and they are not confident they could use computers and navigate the web on their own.
  • By a 53%-41% margin, Americans say they do not believe that the spread of affordable broadband should be a major government priority.
  • Younger users (those under age 30) and African-Americans were the most likely to favor expanded government efforts towards broadband access, while older Americans were among the least likely to back the expansion of affordable broadband access as a government priority.
  • Disadvantages to not having broadband:
    • Job opportunities and career skills: 43% of Americans believe that lack of broadband is a “major disadvantage” when it comes to finding out about job opportunities or gaining new career skills. Some 23% think lack of access is a “minor disadvantage” and 28% think it is “not a disadvantage.”
    • Government services: 29% of Americans believe that lack of broadband is a “major disadvantage” when it comes to using government services. Some 27% think lack of access is a “minor disadvantage” and 37% think it is “not a disadvantage.”

The demographics of the nonusers remain the same: older, in rural areas, with less education and earning lower incomes.

I guess when I say I’m trying to find a takeaway, I really mean I’m trying figure out why. Why have we seen such a great leap in broadband adoption with African-Americans? Is there some hot broadband adoption strategy that’s worked magic? (And let’s get the details if there is!) Are there factors beyond the scope of broadband that come into play?

Why do folks not think broadband deployment should be a top government priority? Well, let’s start with who? The results show that younger users and African American users think it is important. In the commentary on the report Pew notes that it’s actually folks who aren’t online that think it shouldn’t be a priority, which make sense since the report also indicates that those folks don’t think there’s value for them online. I wonder if they would feel the same if they had more experience with broadband. For example, if the older folks who didn’t support government backing of broadband expansion experienced some of the advantages of telemedicine, would they still agree.

I find it interesting too – that this report came at the same time that the House cut $302 million from the ARRA broadband funds. In short, the money has been shifted from broadband to keep teachers. In the past, I’ve accused research and surveys of reflecting the American ideal of wanting everything – maybe this new turn (and use of priority, which is a comparative term) reflects a recognition that we can’t say yes to everything. Not that the question mentioned anything about teachers – but maybe now when we see a questions like that we think of what we say no to when we say yes to broadband.

A bigger question is – how will this sentiment affect the National Broadband Plan? There’s a lot of talk about funding broadband deployment and adoption in the plan. Is that in to stay?

Minnesota Public Radio asks: Is it time to change the way we pay for the internet?

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Spurred by the recent Google-Verizon friendship, Minnesota Public Radio asked folks to chime in on that question:

Is it time to change the way we pay for the internet?

The answers are interesting and varied. Some are very astute. Here’s just a glimpse of the comments… (They are in order presented and I’m trying to grab a good sample – not promote these ideals. In fact at least one comment made me growl.)

  • How much more could they possibly charge?
  • Yes, access to it should be free to all. Just like materials in the library.
  • Without Network Neutrality and flat fees for unlimited data, we risk losing humanity’s greatest potential technology to corporations who only want us to consume their information
  • I just wish I could something more than dial up where I live.
  • When the free market is working, government shouldn’t meddle. When the market runs rough-shod over ordinary folks, government should step in.
  • You know, if we were in Finland, we would all have a 1 Mb/s broadband connection with an attempt to give everybody a 100 Mb/s connection by 2015 as a legal right.

House votes yes to $302 million cut from broadband stimulus funds

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If I had two extra hours to my day, I still wouldn’t be able to keep up with the broadband news these days. I just saw the latest on the ARRA broadband funds on BroadbandBreakfast…

The House has voted to pass HR 1586, which primarily provides funding for states for education funding and Medicaid. In order to offset the costs of the new funds, $302 million will be rescinded from broadband stimulus funds. The Senate has already passed the legislation.

The vote passed 247-161.

The last I heard this was off the table – but I heard that from BroadbandBreakfast too – so I guess the game has changed.

Here’s more info on the vote according to WorldNewsVine…

The bill passed the House 247 to 161 with only one Republican voting in favor of the bill, and three Democrats voting against the bill.

And according to a comment in the same story, here’s even more info…

The One Republican That Voted Yea:
Yea LA-2 Cao, Anh [R]

Democrats Voting Nay:
Nay AL-2 Bright, Bobby [D]
Nay MS-4 Taylor, Gene [D]
Nay TN-5 Cooper, Jim [D]

I didn’t find any info on the FCC sites – but while they’re good with transparency, they aren’t always the first to report the news. It will be interesting to see what that means for ARRA broadband applications in the hopper.

KeyOn’s footprint grows with SouthWest Wireless Net Acquisition

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In May I spoke with some folks at KeyOn, they were very forthcoming with their business plan, particially because as I noted at the time – it’s laid out in press releases…

KeyOn believes it can significantly improve its growth opportunities while achieving positive net earnings through:

  • strategic acquisitions of wireless broadband companies that complement its market footprint;
  • “Greenfield” network builds in new, strategic markets through participation in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“ARRA”);
  • contiguous market deployments combined with organic growth within KeyOn’s existing footprint;
  • offering its subscribers bundled and additional services, such as satellite video and VoIP, to further increase average revenue per user; and
  • the strategic introduction of next generation networks, including fourth generation (4G) Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (“WiMAX”), that also provide advanced services such as nomadic or mobile data and video (“4G WiMAX”).

Well, they’ve increased their Minnesota footprint a little bit this week. According to Communications Technology…

Wireless satellite broadband provider KeyOn has acquired a major portion of SouthWest Wireless Net’s broadband assets from New Vision to help extend KeyOn’s network footprint in southwestern Minnesota.

Looking at the SouthWest Wireless Net web site it appeared as if the deal was completed on August 2 and the impact to customers will be minimal. I couldn’t find a good description of their geographic service areas – except that their main office and NOC are in Windom and they have 18 tower locations, which appear to be located on grain elevators. (You need to have “line of sight to our tower location and be within at least 6 or 10 miles to have internet depending on the location”.)

More on FTTH in Lac qui Parle

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Last week I posted a quick note on the most recent Minnesota ARRA-funded projects – inclduing Lac qui Parle. Here’s a quick reminder of their project…

This approximately $9.65 million award to Farmers Mutual Telephone Company will bring Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) technology to Minnesota’s Lac qui Parle County. This network will make Lac qui Parle, now an area with limited technology choices, one of the leading technology counties in the state. More than 3,700 people stand to benefit, as do roughly 165 businesses and 12 community institutions. Farmers Mutual estimates the construction will directly support 110 jobs upfront, and will also drive economic development and create jobs for decades to come

Dave Peters, at MPR, just wrote a nice history of how Lac qui Parle got where they are sitting now. As he points out, it’s not a story that starts when the ARRA funding was announced. Like so many other strong broadband projects (well any project!), it starts with a local champion (Pam Lehmann, director of the LqP EDA), a plan and being prepared for good luck.

Pam has been at the EDA since 2007. They got funding from the Blandin Foundation and worked with Bill Coleman on broadband plans. Just recently they have moved forward the Commuter Computer. In fact the Commuter Computer is getting its official launch on August 25. It will be fun to see how the project progresses and what LqP will do with FTTH!

MIRC Opportunities outside MIRC partners

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Yesterday I attended a MIRC (Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities) partner meeting. We discussed a lot of the nitty gritty and I won’t go into those details – but within the nitty gritty I noticed two important trends. First, the MIRC partners are working together. This sounds simple – but it was really exciting to hear how partners and communities are working together to meet the need on the street. For example, DEED will be working more closely than ever before with ABE (Adult Basic Education) teachers – because that’s a good place to start digital (and employment) literacy training.

A second, related trend is that the MIRC partners are interested in finding and creating opportunities for folks outside the MIRC communities – both in terms of bringing resources into MIRC and sharing MIRC resources with a wider audience. I have a couple of examples below, since I figured many readers might be interested in upcoming opportunities.

In the spirit of stone soup, we had a vendor who was new to MIRC join us today to offer their ingredient to our mix. Atomic Learning has offered free online training resources to PCs for People for each of the 1000 computers they give out through MIRC. New computer users will now get a free yearlong subscription to Atomic Learning’s resources. This is a boon to the new users – especially since many of the folks who aren’t online say that knowledge about how to use – or why you might use – a computer is a barrier.

We’re looking for more joiners in the form of broadband providers in the MIRC communities. PCs for People offer computers to low income users. They will be providing computers to folks in rural Minnesota through the MIRC project. It would be nice to pair those new (or re-newed) computers with discounted broadband connections. If you are or know a local ISP who might be interested in offering some kind of discount to a group of new user, please contact Bill Coleman (651-491-2551). Currently, 85 percent of PC for People’s new computer recipients sign up for broadband – making the connection more affordable might boost that number.

Then, as I said, there are tools that are being developed for use outside MIRC communities:

Basic Literacy Skills Class

DEED is working on developing a basic digital literacy class. It will be a blended class where the curriculum will be online but the intention is to offer the course in an instructor-led classroom setting. Available in early 2011, the class will first be offered in MIRC communities through the Workforce Centers but will eventually be available to anyone who wants it. It will be designed to be a helpful tool for folks involved with Adult Basic Education (ABE).

Knowledge Worker Course

Minnesota Learning Commons is working on developing a 16-hour course to train knowledge workers. Again it will start as a blended class – with an online and on-site component. It will be a class prepares attendees to take more online classes to get training for a wide range of knowledge worker positions. This class will also be available to the general public as well through the Minnesota Learning Commons. The beta version should also be ready early in 2011. We anticipate that the course will be a good follow-on to the one DEED is developing.

Courses for Renewable Energy Businesses

MNREM (Minnesota Renewable Energy Marketplace) will be assessing training requirements for renewable energy businesses and developing curriculum to meet those needs – both on-site and online.

And that’s after only a few months. As more tools and opportunities develop, we’ll make sure to mention them here.

Telemonitoring Good for Heart Failure Patients

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According to a recent Cochrane Review, telemonitoring is beneficial to heart failure patients. (I got the heads up from iHealthBeat. The Cochrane Review appears to be a scientific/medical journal, “established to ensure that up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare interventions is readily available worldwide”.)

The study in question reviewed 9,500 patients. It compared heart failure management through the use of structured telephone support or telemonitoring with usual post-discharge care. According to iHealthBeat…

The study found that:

  • In the telephone group, 164 patients per 1,000 required hospitalization, compared with 213 per 1,000 in the control group;
  • In the telemonitoring group, 225 patients per 1,000 required hospitalization, compared with 284 per 1,000 in the control group; and
  • In the telemonitoring group, 102 patients per 1,000 died, compared with 154 per 1,000 in the control group.

Obviously that’s great new all around, or at least you’d think so – but I saw a discouraging comment in MedPage about the study…

Despite cost-effectiveness on the larger scale, “there is not always financial incentive or additional payment to physicians or physician groups or hospitals around providing this extra level of care and monitoring,” he [Gregg C. Fonarow, MD, of the University of California Los Angeles and an American Heart Association spokesperson] said in an interview with MedPage Today.

A week or two ago I wrote a post on “meaningful use” incentive being used to encourage health care providers to e-prescribe. In short, health care providers are able to earn money by using technology with purpose. I attended a workshop to learn more about meaningful use – but I must admit I don’t feel much smarter having attended the workshop (one reason I didn’t write about it earlier) but I’d hope that it could be used to encourage telemonitoring as well as e-prescriptions, especially given the results seen in this recent review.

ID Insight confirms recent FCC report

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Northfield-based ID Insight recently published a new report on the State of Broadband Availability in the US. The report confirms the finding of the FCC recently published Sixth Broadband Deployment Report.

The FCC changed the definition of broadband in the latest report from 200 kbps downstream to 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream. That resulted in a big change in determining who was unserved. The FCC found that now 1,024 out of 3,230 counties in the United States and its territories are unserved by broadband. ID Insight found that 1,205 counties were unserved. So while there’s a slight difference – it confirms the FCC’s report.

ID Insight also found that the unserved counties tended to be less densely populated (rural) and folks earned less money – again this confirms what the FCC reported.

Future dates for ARRA broadband announcements

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The Department of Agriculture is awarding roughly $1.2 billion for 126 projects across the country, including 5 that will deploy networks in Minnesota. They also unveiled their plan to award the nearly $4 billion left in the ARRA broadband funding.

Here’s the calendar taken from the White House’s ARRA site:

Agency Expected Approx # of Projects Expected Approx. Dollar Amount Description
Week of August 16
USDA 50 $190 million These awards will support a series of last-mile projects.
Commerce 70 $1.3-$1.6 billion These awards will support public computing, broadband adoption, community infrastructure, and some public safety projects.
Week of Sept. 6
USDA 65 $450 million These awards will support a series of last-mile projects, as well as satellite and technical assistance projects.
Commerce 50 $600-$900 million These awards will support public computing, broadband adoption, community infrastructure, and some public safety projects.
Week of Sept. 27
Commerce 15 $300-$600 million These awards will primarily support public safety projects, but may also include a handful of community infrastructure, public computing, and broadband adoption projects.
Commerce $100-$200 million These awards will support broadband mapping efforts.

Minnesota schools and broadband: is the connection half full or half empty

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school

Sharon Schmickle wrote a nice piece earlier this week about the importance broadband in the schools and the uneven distribution of broadband in the schools.

Using a recent study(Broadband speeds in Minnesota’s Schools) from the Center for Rural Policy, Sharon points out…

In 243 school districts surveyed, broadband connections were available to access the Internet at speeds up to 28 megabits/second on average. But the median speed was 10 mbps.

Why the wide disparity in these two measures of the middle? Simple. A few districts enjoyed ultra-high-speed connections of 100 mbps and higher, skewing the average higher. Many others, though, were trying to get by with no more than 1.5 mbps.

She follows that up with a great quote from Marnie Werner from the Center for Rural Policy…

“Nobody feels like they have enough,” Werner said. “No matter how much we purchase, people are going to figure out how to fill that up given the way the technology is going.”

I can’t decide whether I’m depressed or inspired by the observation. The depressing part obviously is that there’s just not enough bandwidth. Mary Mehsikomer from NW-LINKS tell a frustrating story…

But too many schools still are struggling with access that would be considered inadequate by most modern measures, especially small schools in rural regions.

Eighteen of the districts surveyed by the Center for Rural Policy & Development reported speeds of 1.5 mbps. Even some in the NW-LINKS network are trying to get by on download speeds of 3 mbps or less, Mehsikomer said.

How does that limit a school in a practical sense? She offered one example: “During statewide testing week, they basically don’t allow any other Internet use in the school while they are downloading the tests and running them.”

But the inspiring news is that the broadband is getting used – and that there’s a feeling that build it and it will get used in the schools. That means that there is opportunity and that students (and teachers) are finding broadband to be beneficial.

I’ve been reading up on the National Broadband Plan; there’s a whole section on education that rests solidly on expanding, deepening and assessing the E-Rate. But as Sharon points out – the National Plan won’t stand alone and luck favors the prepared it behooves us in Minnesota to ask our policymakers what they plan to do to make sure that being able to “use as much bandwidth as we get” is inspiring, not depressing.