The Council of State Governments recently  ran an article on broadband in the Midwest. It was interesting. I was excited to see state ranking, until I realized they were from Tech.Net’s 2012 survey. I know a report that’s a year old shouldn’t be old, but when we’re starring down the barrel of a 2015 deadline, it’s old. What we need is a real time app that tracks broadband deployment! If only we could get the data, I bet the app would be pretty easy to develop. But back to tools at hand

Old data and open data got me thinking. Do we really care how Minnesota compares to other Midwest states? After all our 2015 goals are loftier than be tops in the Midwest…

Subd. 2. State broadband leadership position. It is a goal of the state that by 2015 and thereafter, the state be in:
(1) the top five states of the United States for broadband speed universally accessible to residents and businesses;
(2) the top five states for broadband access; and
(3) the top 15 when compared to countries globally for broadband penetration.

According to the 2012 survey we’re number 19 in the US; we’re number 2 in the Midwest. I’m afraid that potentially gives us a false sense of pride and if our competition for jobs, businesses and people was the Midwest I’d be OK with that. But our competition isn’t the Midwest, it’s the world.

I was disconcerted to see Minnesota goals and plans were lauded over action…

Four years ago, the Minnesota Legislature set a goal of having universal broadband by 2015, with every business and household having access to a minimum download speed of 10 megabits per second and upload speed of 5 megabits.

That goal likely won’t be met, but over the past two years, Minnesota’s access rate (to fixed or wired broadband, not wireless) has jumped from 57.4 percent to 74.5 percent.

I was pleased to see Minnesota policy makers’ responses…

“That’s good, but what we tell the governor and legislators is that natural growth — meaning without policy intervention — is probably not going to get us to 100 percent,” says Margaret Anderson Kelliher, the former Minnesota speaker of the House who now serves as chair of the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband.

And…

“We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the needs and identifying the problem,” Schmit says, “now it’s time to do something.”

The article even presages some specific steps forward for Minnesota…

In Minnesota, the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband has issued a new set of recommendations for legislative consideration in 2014.

They include eliminating a tax on telecommunications equipment (to promote more investments by providers) and providing direct loans, loan guarantees or other financial incentives to expand broadband access. Such state intervention is needed, the task force says, to “help bridge the gap between what is financially feasible and the actual costs of providing broadband” in some of the state’s sparsely populated areas.

On the adoption/user side, the task force proposes creation of a state fund that would help pay for connectivity services for low-income populations.

“Our argument is that these are short-term investments that can make a big impact economically and in the quality of life of Minnesotans,” Anderson Kelliher says.

Sen. Schmit, too, hopes the Minnesota Legislature will begin considering broadband as part of future bonding plans, included alongside the state’s other public infrastructure priorities such as roads and bridges.

He adds that the state needs to revisit some of its antiquated telecommunications laws; near the top of that list is the removal of a decades-old statute that requires a local referendum and approval by 65 percent of local voters for a city to provide municipal phone service. This law has led to confusion about whether it applies to publicly owned broadband.