Monthly Archives: April 2016

Ely is so close to better broadband and yet so far

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The Lake County ARRA Project has had its ups and downs. The very abridged version – Lake County got a lot of money from the stimulus funds to build a network. They ran into every conceivable problem – some related to incumbents, some not. There was a time limit on how long the stimulus project could take. That time is up. They got the project 98 percent complete (according to a recent article in the TimberJay) but Ely remains unserved.

Actually the TimberJay outlines the whole project – from the Ely perspective. Here’s an excerpt…

The eastern St. Louis County portion, or the third phase of the project, included the communities of Ely, Aurora, Babbitt, Hoyt Lakes, and the townships of Basset, Colvin, Crystal Bay, Embarrass, Fall Lake, Morse Township, Stony River, Waasa White, and several unorganized townships, and consisted of more than 750 miles of fiber completing the fiber ring.

“The St. Louis County ring was at risk last year of not being completed hardly at all,” Roiland said, “because we ran out of money.”

The broadband project was federally funded through the Rural Utility Services (RUS) part of the United States Department of Agriculture and their broadband initiatives programs of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly called the Stimulus Act.

“There was a timeline for this project to be built,” Roiland said. “We started in 2012 in Two Harbors, and on the first day, at our first construction meeting, we ran into our number-one obstacle, using the city’s utility poles. Frontier Communications showed up and said we don’t have access to their poles.”

Roiland said his company spent the next year trying to determine ownership of the poles and the hierarchy of where various cable services would be located on those poles. “We were thinking we could be the bottom position (on the pole) which was the least intrusive, but Frontier wanted to maintain the bottom position which meant that we would have to touch every pole in the town to move the various cables and utilities with the cost being put on Lake County.”

And an update of sort on where it stands now…

“As of September 30 of last year this program has ended,” he said. The Fall Lake and Ely areas were not completed by the deadline. Lake Connections did some aerial work near Moose Lake, Garden Lake, and into the city of Winton and up the Fernberg Trail. “We still have about $1.5 million worth of work to finish that area,” he said. “Of the $55 million grant and about $10 million loan, we exhausted pretty much all of it.”

The fiber literally stops at the substation at the Ely city line, according to Roiland.

“We are now just doing (service) drops to individuals and hope to have about 2,000 connected in the those nearby areas by the end of this summer,” he said. “We pass roughly 14,000 homes on the network, and that does not include any homes in Ely.”

There’s no real resolution. It’s a picture of what some rural communities – and especially home and businesses between communities sit in terms of improved access.

Kandiyohi County residents speak up – tell the county what you want for broadband

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According to the West Central Tribune…

Kandiyohi County will be conducting a survey about broadband access in parts of the county in May, and the organizers need your help. [If you live in Kandiyohi.]

If you receive a call at your residence or business, it is important to participate.

One problem is multiple providers…

Kandiyohi County’s broadband improvement is a challenge as three separate companies now serve different areas within the county and there is little collaboration.

Broadband for rural Kandiyohi County is as important as rural electrification was in the early part of the 20th century. Appropriate broadband provides the communication and commerce power to rural residents of the county that are now available within Willmar and across Minnesota.

At least one of those providers seem to be making plans to upgrade (with CAF II money) but the question is where and at what speeds. Maybe there’s room for greater collaboration, especially if there’s community demand for more. So it makes sense to take the survey.

Communities outside of Kandiyohi County might watch and see how valuable a community survey can be. It might make sense for your area too.

A video on the evolution of broadband in Minnesota

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Thanks to Minnesota Telecom Alliance for letting me share their video on the evolution of broadband in Minnesota. It’s interesting to note the investments they mention – $7 million a year from telecom. And still there are homes, businesses and whole communities without the broadband they need. The industry and the communities need help – like a fully funded Border to Border Broadband program!

Connected Nation is working on new MN maps – and other Office of Development news

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Sharing information from the Office of Broadband Development newsletter…

Connected Nation Collecting Minnesota Broadband Data

The Office has finalized its contract with Connected Nation to collect broadband deployment data from Minnesota’s over 125 broadband providers. If you are a broadband provider and Connected Nation contacts you, we appreciate your cooperation! New maps of Minnesota’s broadband availability should be made available in mid-July. Assuming the grant program is funded by the 2016 Legislature, these maps will be used as the starting point for determining eligibility.

Governor’s Broadband Task Force

Governor’s Task Force on Broadband: The next meeting of the Task Force is scheduled for Tuesday, May 24th and will be held at Commscope’s facilities in Shakopee.

Border-to-Border Broadband Grant Update

As of April 15th, five of the 16 projects from the first grant round are reporting 100% completion of grant construction. Close-out site visits are being scheduled for these projects in coming weeks.

Century Link to spend a million dollars on broadband in Kandiyohi County

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I have alluded to this investment earlier – but wanted to call it out again, according to Lakeland Broadcasting Company…

Representative Dave Baker of Willmar says Century Link plans to invest a million dollars in Kandiyohi County to expand broadband services to underserved areas. Baker says the company will utilize federal Connect America Funds, or CAF-2, which match spending by private companies. Baker says a map of where they plan to expand was unveiled at a broadband meeting with Lt. Governor Tina Smith last week…

…Representative Tim Miller thinks Century Link is reacting to news that other providers are interested in expanding broadband in the county.

I suspect Kandiyohi County would be happy to work with any provider – all things being equal. But the requirements for CAF II funds are lower than requirements being discussed for state funding. So this may be a mixed blessing.

Announcing Code Switch: A June Civic Hackathon hosted by Blacks in Tech, Umbra, Hennepin County, and Open Twin Cities

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Sharing both for folks who might be interested in attending and folks who might be interested in replicating…

Please Join us for Code Switch, June 4 & 5 at the Downtown Minneapolis Library! Visit http://bit.ly/tccodeswitch to RSVP, vote and comment on ideas, and submit your own ideas.

Code Switch is intense, fast-paced, extremely fun [organized] chaos. Code Switch is a free two-day civic hackathon that seeks to achieve maximum social impact by expanding participation among members of underserved communities. Everybody is welcome to join diverse project teams to brainstorm and create products and solutions to enhance economic opportunity, education, health, and safety in the African American and other underserved communities.

We provide breakfast, lunch, caffeine, wifi, and a beautiful space to work. You provide the creativity.

Is this event for me? Really?

======================

**Yes**. Code Switch is for everyone. Tired of seeing problems in your community continue to go unsolved, and, in many cases, get worse? Join us at Code Switch. You hold the key to understanding issues and opportunities in your own community. Code Switch is for you.

Ask yourself these questions:

Have you ever had the thought, “This service should be easier”?

Have you ever had an idea for how to strengthen your community but did not know how to get started?

Are you frustrated that you have been unable to use your skills to help solve critical social problems?

Are you curious about the entrepreneurial approach of the technical community and want to see how it works?

If you answered yes, then join us at Code Switch to help us find paths to closing gaps and create new opportunities. Register TODAY at http://bit.ly/tccodeswitch !

What is a Hackathon?

=================

A hackathon is an event in which community members, designers, project managers, programmers, and people who just want to learn, collaborate intensively on projects. There are no fixed rules for what Code Switch project teams can work on. Projects can be technical or non-technical. Projects can be proposed by *anybody* (yes, anybody). You don’t need a detailed plan. Projects can begin and end at Code Switch, so don’t feel like proposing a project means you’ll have to maintain them forever. Some projects will be created on the day of the event and some projects teams will decide to join forces. This is your event, you decide how you spend your time! Don’t be shy, we are an open, supportive community who want to see you succeed!

Great solutions are born when innovators from the community are involved in the development process—from ideation to launch.

Our goal is to work together to develop ideas for solutions for problems that affect Minnesotans. Here are some example outcomes of potential projects:

An app that helps people find affordable housing A get out the vote plan for your neighborhood A website for discovering high performing schools A service to locate nearby job openings An interactive map that shows neighborhood living costs and economic opportunities To get your creative juices flowing, we have also identified a few “challenge areas” for you to consider when thinking about projects:

Closing the Achievement Gap

Economic Opportunity

Civic engagement

Health & Wellness

Connected Cities: improve access and safety for communities of color For more inspiration, have a look at the recent GeoCode 2.0 event where participants focused on issues of geography and technology in the Twin Cities: http://opentwincities.coeventer.com/events/16-geo-code-2-0 .

Great! How Do I Sign Up?

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Visit http://bit.ly/tccodeswitch

We can’t wait to see you on June 4th to discuss, brainstorm, laugh, and build.

Sincerely,

The Code Switch Organizing Team

Code Switch is sponsored by the MN chapter of Blacks in Technology, Hennepin County, Open Twin Cities, and Umbra: Search African American History / UMN Libraries. It is part of Hack for MN and the National Day for Civic Hacking 2016 to leverage open data, technology, and community for civic innovation and change.

Rep Simonson suggests MN House increase broadband budget to $85M. House votes out of order.

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Proponents of broadband funding had a glimmer of hope that the House could increase their broadband budget today. Representative Simonson asked the House to consider increasing the budget and align their broadband budget and plans with the Senate. But his suggestion was called out as out of order noting that a budget change would need to go through Ways and Means.

Clearly I’ve recorded from the livesteam. It was the best way to do it and get the info out ASAP…

Senate Press Conference and Twitter Town Hall on Broadband: Notes and Videos

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Today the Senate, led by Senator Schmit, held a press conference on broadband – followed by a Twitter Town Hall (#broadbandmn). I have the press release, video and Twitter highlights below…

Rural Senate Democrats Host Press Conference, Twitter Town Hill on Broadband

St. Paul, MN—Senators Lyle Koenen (DFL-Clara City) and Matt Schmit (DFL-Red Wing) were joined by Senate colleagues and statewide stakeholders at a press conference on Wednesday morning, as they commented on the strengths of the Senate broadband proposal and the importance of broadband expansion in rural Minnesota.

To date, the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program has received $30.6 million over the last two years, leveraging over $41 million in private investment. Combined with the economic benefit of serving 9,300 homes and 930 businesses, money put into broadband has some of the highest returns on investment state governments will ever see. (Read more)









Just a few highlights from the Twitter Town Hall – especially on two hot topics education and why rural needs broadband…

Education

Why rural needs broadband

@alyssa_joy – @tinaflintsmith @SenateDFL would allow my Mom to do biz from home while being my Dad’s caregiver as he recovers from surgery #broadbandmn

@DanielLFrazier – Rural Minnesota is also engaged in international trade and commerce. Rural areas need #BroadbandMN

@SenateDFL – Last year’s Farmfest dedicated an entire day to #BroadbandMN incl. precision ag – great econ & enviro benefits. -K https://twitter.com/MNTownships/status/725365220886102016

@AnnT – .@tinaflintsmith @SenateDFL Broadband saves household money too – $10,500 annually http://qub.me/fHEnvk #broadbandmn

@SenateDFL – #BroadbandMN really is the great equalizer for Greater MN – allows entrepreneurship from all across the state. -S h

@MNTownships – StoryFromTheRoad – Tractors can talk! Connected tractors tell owners when they need service, but only if they can connect. #broadbandmn

@MNBudgetProject – Smbiz owners want investments in broad prosperity like #broadbandmn, not large, poorly targeted tax cuts; read more http://bit.ly/1VBSp9O

@alyssa_joy – @amelia_maude My M designs quilting/sewing patterns now, w/o highspeed internet-can’t work @ home, limits her ability to do biz #broadbandMN

@SenateDFL- For my area, #BroadbandMN means e-commerce, distance learning, telehealth, precision ag, innvoation -it’s crucial -K https://twitter.com/tinaflintsmith/status/725363238041329664
tweeted 2016-04-27 11:42

@MNTownships – @tinaflintsmith @SenateDFL Allows people to stay in rural areas. Broadband access is critical to the next generation. #broadbandmn
tweeted 2016-04-27 11:40

@MarlaVagts – Entrepreneurs, education, getting $ worth on TV svcs all #BroadbandMN issues. @SenateDFL @DFL58

@MNTownships – Story from the road – town resident needs broadband access for accreditation for home day care business – but no home access! #broadbandmn

@DanielLFrazier – With high unemployment in U.S., there are $800,000 unfolded jobs. Many require tech skills. Schools need #BroadbandMN #mnleg

On Education

@tinaflintsmith – Students need broadband at home, not just on the bus, to get all their work done. #BroadbandMN #mnleg

@brjoselyn – #BroadbandMN Communities know best. Legislators should not be overly prescriptive. Hot spots? Something else? Let communities decide.

@marccjohnson – @SenateDFL One last post! Seriously, if you want to help fund broadband in ALL MN schools, TEA funding is the way to do it! #broadbandmn

@SenateDFL – It doesn’t directly fund TEA, but provides additional resources for tech & gives districts flexibility. -S https://twitter.com/marccjohnson/status/725360366616776708

@marccjohnson
Great discussion – Gotta Go! Rural Broadband = great for kids and communities! $7M in TEA program = great for schools! #broadbandmn

@SenateDFL – Appreciate new ideas, but ed-specific #BroadbandMN funding to leverage fed $ (e-rate) might be smarter approach -S https://twitter.com/AnnT/status/725360525245296642

@marccjohnson – @annT – If the $7M was put into the TEA program in a continuing fashion, it would help ALL schools in MN. #broadbandmn
tweeted 2016-04-27 11:29

@marccjohnson – @AnnT – The $7M in the house is onetime $ that would give short term help to a few districts but leave them hanging after a yr #broadbandmn
tweeted 2016-04-27 11:28

@MNTownships – Hotspots – great idea in the short term but limited by data caps and fails to allow students to study in the home #broadbandmn

@AnnT – Would the $7M for edu-wifi in House budget meet the needs of the schools? @marccjohnson @mnproyer http://qub.me/0FDCsN #broadbandmn

@marccjohnson – Does Generation Connect actually fund the existing Telecom/Internet Equity Aid (TEA) program? #broadbandmn

@SenateDFL – Tech investment inside AND outside the classroom is key: $10m for Generation Connect (TEA) is in our E-12 budget. -S https://twitter.com/mnproyer/status/725358471923785728
tweeted 2016-04-27 11:25

@marccjohnson – 2 issues regarding schools. 1- kids need access at home. YES! 2- Schools in rural MN need $7mil to fund their needs. #broadbandmn

@mnproyer – If MN K12 schools did not have Erate, most schools would not have any broadband as people think Internet just appears. #broadbandmn

@mnproyer – K12 schools only need $7 million to totally fund the remaining balance of Broadband at current levels. #broadbandmn

@mnproyer – How about we pay for K12 schools to maintain and acquire the Broadband they need thru a program that already exits? TEA #broadbandmn

@DanielLFrazier – If schools are to improve, the students need access to relevant and timely resources. Need high-speed broadband. #BroadbandMN #mnleg

Senate Broadband Press Conference Wednesday at 10 am – an invitation from Senator Schmit

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I wanted to share the following invitation from Senator Schmit. I will be there to take notes…

senator matt schmitSenate colleagues, broadband stakeholders and I will be holding a press conference this Wednesday, April 27, to voice support for the Senate broadband proposal outlined below. The event will take place at 10AM in Room 2237 of the Senate Building, located at 95 University Avenue in St Paul.

Please let me know if you’re interested in joining us. Otherwise the next month will be a critical time for negotiations with the House regarding the level of funding for our ‘Border-to-Border Broadband Competitive Grant Fund’ and related policy. If you have not done so already, now would be a good time to contact your local legislators and/or newspaper and urge support for this important legislation.

As previously outlined below, the Senate broadband proposal would:

  • Per Broadband Task Force recommendations, set state speed goals at 25/3 by 2022 and 100/20 by 2026
  • Apply the goals to our definition of “underserved” areas as we did in 2014 when the broadband fund was created
  • Fund the fund at an appropriate level of $85M to inspire collaborative planning, applications, and deployment across the state

Thanks for your continued interest and engagement in this important issue. Please let me know if you’re interested in joining us tomorrow — or if you have any questions or concerns regarding the broadband discussion taking place at the State Capitol.

Best,

Matt Schmit
State Senator / District 21
sen.matt.schmit@senate.mn

Omnibus education bill includes $7 million for mobile hotspots on buses: Is that best use?

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According to MN Session Daily…

An omnibus education bill with $56 million in additional funding for E-12 education and no funding for higher education passed the House Monday, 84-46. Rep. Jim Knoblach (R-St. Cloud) sponsors HF2749, which he said will also serve as the overarching supplemental budget bill for the House.

This includes…

$7 million for broadband expansion grants


You can hear the funds introduced at 23:45. Rep Loon talks about $7 million for hotspots on buses.

The funds for broadband were also discussed at a House Republican press conference on April 13. Someone asked about the $7 million when the Housed passed the Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee budget last week – but apparently it has surfaced here, not there.

It’s great that Representatives are thinking about ways to extend broadband to schools. The Washington Post just ran an article on how schools with “sub-par Internet access face a poor connection with modern life.” I’m not sure that hotspots on the buses are going to close the gap – especially if this is one-time funding.

Earlier this month, with the help of METN (Minnesota Educational Tech Networks), I noted that the schools need $7 million a year to cover their current broadband costs. It sounds like the money budgeted here won’t help.

I think hotspots on the schools buses is genius! I’ve written about the idea before (in MN in 2013). BUT I leave it to the local educators to decide if it’s the best fit for them. If the legislative budget only covers installation or installation and one year of service, it might create an even wider funding gap in the future. The ongoing costs can be the most expensive part of a bus wi-fi project.

The funding is great – but the stipulations might make the projects too expensive for many districts to accept.

RS Fiber Report – informative and inspirational look at the power of co-ops

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The Institute for Local Self Reliance has released a case study on RS Fiber – a cooperative that is successfully bringing fiber to 6000 farms, homes and businesses in southeast Minnesota. For those of us who know the story t’s nice to have a concise review of it – for anyone who is in a community that has had difficulty working with providers to bring better broadband to their community – in and beyond the townships – the report is very instructive. It’s a strong case for cooperatives.

Borrowed from the reports here are the bare facts:

RS Fiber Cooperative, named after Renville and Sibley Counties, is building an estimated $45 million telecommunications network to serve more than 6,000 households, farms, and other businesses in a 700+ square-mile area with both wireless and universal fiber-optic service. …

To attract funding, the cities created an unusual financing mechanism. Ten cities bonded for more than half the $15 million phase 1 cost. The bond proceeds were loaned to the cooperative and that loan was made subordinate to additional loans. Thus local governments would be repaid last if the network failed to meet financial targets. This structure was instrumental in attracting additional financing from local banks.

The cooperative partnered with Hiawatha Broadband Communications (HBC), a growing Internet Service Provider in southeast Minnesota, to operate the network. Without HBC’s guidance and support, RS Fiber might not have succeeded.

HBC provides telephone, television, and Internet access services across the RS Fiber network. Internet capacity ranges from 50 Mbps to 1,000 Mbps on the fiber network. Prices range from $50 to $130 per month for those connections. Unlike DSL and cable, these connections are just as fast on the upload side as download. Anyone who takes service from the network becomes a member-owner of the co-op.

The report does a nice job higlightling the work of the tenacious community leaders (Mark Erickson) and telling their story in an instructive and inspirational way.

rs fiber

MN Media’s take on broadband budget and speeds in House and Senate

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Not a ton of discussion over the weekend but here’s what I found on the broadband budget and speeds.

From Litchfield Independent Review – Urdahl backs $35 million package to expand broadband access. The article is from Wednesday so a little outdated. The House actually ended up with a $40 million package that was less specific about use for education.

From KDAL (Duluth) – Duluth Representative Simonson Says GOP Broadband Bill Is A “Disgrace”

From DL Online – Legislature should fund rural broadband “Enough talk. Now is the time to act. We urge Gov. Dayton and the state Legislature to get behind the creation of a $100 million broadband infrastructure fund to provide assistance to public agencies, private corporations and nonprofit organizations seeking to bring broadband technology to rural Minnesota.

Investment in rural broadband pays off in urban areas too

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Articles in the mainstream Twin Cities media about broadband funding in rural areas seem to spur comments from people who wonder why we should invest in rural areas, according to Telecompetitor the ROI is quick and positive for both rural and urban areas …

Rural broadband service providers contributed $24.2 billion to the economies of the states in which they operate in 2015, report author Hanns Kuttner said. And two thirds of this impact was felt in urban, rather than rural areas, according to the report titled “The Economic Impact of Rural Broadband.”

This occurs, in large part, because key equipment and services needed to support broadband construction come from urban areas, the author noted. “Broadband is a relatively capital intensive sector and the capital goods overwhelmingly come from outside the areas rural broadband providers serve,” the report states.

The report indicates that higher investment in rural areas would result in higher pay back…

Other key findings of the Hudson Institute’s rural broadband economic impact report:

The rural broadband industry supported 69,600 jobs in 2015, including its own employees and employees of companies from which the industry purchased goods and services.

Rural broadband supported over $100 billion in e-commerce in 2015, with the largest share in manufacturing. About $10 billion involved retail sales. If broadband had the same reach in rural areas that it does in urban areas, sales would have been at least $1 billion higher.

Doubling wireless capacity at the physical layer

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Ready for a fun Sunday science lesson – note this is for WiFi – but fun to see what the future might hold…

Broadband is economic development tool in rural areas – TEDx talk from Roberto Gallardo

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Here’s an interesting talk – mentions the Intelligent Community Forum take on innovation, which was a model for the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities, a forerunner to the Blandin Broadband Communities.