The Minnesota Broadband Task Force 2015 report said Minnesota needs to increase its broadband speed goal and likely needs $200 million to meet the objective.
Gov. Mark Dayton has proposed a $100 million investment on broadband, while the House Republicans have proposed $35 million.
Both are far short of the need.
The rural shortfall on broadband is hindering and harming Minnesota schools, colleges, residents and businesses. It is also limiting economic development through out rural Minnesota.
The time has come for Minnesota legislators — Democrat and Republican — to put up or shut up in transportation and broadband. These two infrastructure sectors are vital to the education and commerce of this state, and it is critical to many businesses, especially agriculture.
I have so much Minnesota-specific broadband news happening lately that I’ve been trying to focus BUT I found the following results of a broadband adoption survey almost shocking. I’ll just quote directly from the Washington Post…
For the most part, America’s Internet-usage trends can be summed up in a few phrases. The Internet is now so common as to be a commodity; the rich have better Internet than the poor; more whites have Internet than do people of color; and, compared with low-income minorities, affluent whites are more likely to have fixed, wired Internet connections to their homes.
But it may be time to put an asterisk on that last point, according to new data on a sample of 53,000 Americans. In fact, Americans as a whole are becoming less likely to have residential broadband, the figures show: They’re abandoning their wired Internet for a mobile-data-only diet — and if the trend continues, it could reflect a huge shift in the way we experience the Web.
The study, which was conducted for the Commerce Department by the U.S. Census Bureau, partly reaffirms what we already knew. Low-income Americans are still one of the biggest demographics to rely solely on their phones to go online. Today, nearly one-third of households earning less than $25,000 a year exclusively use mobile Internet to browse the Web. That’s up from 16 percent of households falling in that category in 2013.
To be fair a mobile-only choice for all income brackets still lags behind wired or wired/wireless combination but the mobile-only percentage is growing.
The House and the Senate are chalk and cheese when it comes broadband policy. Earlier this week the House moved forward a budget of $40 million for broadband funding. The Senate moved forward a budget of $85 million. They’re far apart on the specifics and management of the money as well.
Today I wanted to share a letter of support for the Senate’s Broadband position from League of Minnesota Cities, Association of Minnesota Counties, Minnesota Association of Townships, Minnesota Association of Community Telecommunications Administrators, Minnesota Rural Education Association, Minnesota Rural Counties Caucus, Metro Cities, Greater Minnesota Partnership, Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, Minnesota School Boards Association, and Schools for Equity in Education…
(And remind you that if you have an opinion – now is a good time to contact your legislature and let him know how you feel!)
April 21, 2016
To: The Honorable Governor Mark Dayton
The Honorable Lieutenant Governor Tina Smith
Members of the Minnesota State Legislature
From: League of Minnesota Cities, Association of Minnesota Counties, Minnesota Association of Townships, Minnesota Association of Community Telecommunications Administrators, Minnesota Rural Education Association, Minnesota Rural Counties Caucus, Metro Cities, Greater Minnesota Partnership, Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities, Minnesota School Boards Association, and Schools for Equity in Education
Subject: Unified Support for Senate Broadband Position
Affordable broadband access at world-class speeds is critical to the future of Minnesota. It has become a necessary tool for education, health care, economic development, agriculture, and government. That need will only continue to grow. All Minnesotans, no matter where they live – in a city or in the rural countryside – need and deserve access to online information and services.
Our organizations have recognized that we need to provide a strong and unified voice in support of significant broadband funding. We have joined together to advocate for adequate funding and appropriate policies for the Border-to-Border Broadband Grant Program. This program, when adequately funded and designed, provides an essential tool to ensure that robust broadband is available throughout the state.
Our groups believe that Senate Bills 2447 and 2448 provide the proper policies and funding that will enable quality projects with a high rate of return for improving broadband access for the following reasons:
• A fund of $85 million dollars will motivate providers and government partners to do the hard work to develop the plans and partnerships necessary to create a quality application and successful deployment.
• The grant definitions of unserved (25 Mb/3 Mb) and underserved (100 Mb/20 Mb), tied to the proposed 2022 and 2026 Governor’s Broadband Task Force broadband goals, ensure that communities with substandard broadband will not be left behind with investments in last generation technologies.
• Border-to-Border Broadband grants should create long-term broadband infrastructure that will provide both immediate benefits and a platform for future enhancements. Quick, but short-term solutions are not smart investments of limited state funds.
Thank you for your consideration and support of statewide, world-class broadband that is increasingly required to ensure Minnesota’s economic competitiveness and quality of life.
As a happily displaced librarian, I am especially pleased to share the following endorsement of the Minnesota Broadband vision! Thanks to Peg Werner and others for making it happen!
Everyone in Minnesota will be able to use convenient, affordable, world-class broadband networks that enable us to survive and thrive in our communities and across the globe.
Whereas: the twelve Regional Public Library Systems and the State Of Minnesota provide a broad array of critical library services via the Internet to support student learning and critical decision making by businesses and private citizens; and
Whereas: broadband, or high speed Internet, is essential to individuals today and increasingly essential for community vitality, including competitive economic development, affordable and quality health care, equitable education and effective government; and
Whereas: vast areas of Minnesota and thousands of Minnesotans lack access to affordable and reliable broadband services that meet or exceed the federal broadband standard of 25/3 Mbps; and
Whereas: the long and short-term benefits of achieving our broadband vision will be spread widely across our entire Minnesota community, while failing to reach our broadband vision will sentence some rural areas to second class status and permanent decline;
Now therefore, the twelve Regional Public Library Systems adopt the Minnesota Broadband Vision and encourage the Minnesota Legislature and Governor to provide sufficient leadership, resources and legal framework to ensure that the State of Minnesota achieves this vision by 2020.
Resolved 21 April 2016
… with some local variations noted
By the Governing Boards of the following Minnesota Regional Public Library Systems:
Arrowhead Library System
East Central Regional Library
Great River Regional Library
Kitchigami Regional Library
Lake Agassiz Regional Library
Metropolitan Library Service Agency
Northwest Regional Library
Pioneerland Library System
Plum Creek Library System
Southeastern Libraries Cooperating
Traverse des Sioux Library Cooperative
Viking Library System
Vision created by participants of the Minnesota Border to Border Broadband Conference, Nov 18-20, 2015
I just wanted to send an update from NewCore Wireless on their Border to Border grant project to bring better broadband to businesses in Becker County…
– NewCore Wireless, a leading fiber engineering company and hosted wireless network provider working with rural carriers to deliver their next-generation broadband needs, and Palmer Wireless, a Central Minnesota communications company, announced today they have completed one of the State of Minnesota’s first Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant fiber projects. The project was awarded to Palmer Wireless at the end of 2014 by the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development, an arm of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
The grant focused on delivering broadband to businesses in Becker MN, bringing service to 21 underserved businesses in the Becker Industrial Park and 12 vacant city-owned lots covering 70 acres in the Becker community. One of the vacant lots is the future site of the Northstar Commuter Rail. Palmer Wireless partnered with NewCore Wireless, the leading full-service hosted switching and services provider, for engineering and construction services.
“We are pleased to have worked with Palmer Wireless on this project,” said Paul Vershure, Executive Director of Site Development and Construction Services at NewCore Wireless. “Our experience in the rural industry made this project a great success, for not only the people in Becker, but for the State of Minnesota, as well. We look forward to working with Palmer Wireless and others on similar projects.”
“We are pleased to have completed such an important project on time and in budget,” said Laura Kangas of Palmer Wireless. “We are a locally owned and operated business and proud to be part of the local communities we serve. The Border-to-Border grant addressed 50% of the project’s needs, and Palmer Wireless invested the remaining $175,000 towards this project. The end result has been a great success for our community. and without the Border to Border grant the project would not have been feasible.”
Despite this progress, a 2016 study found that nearly 60 percent of all businesses in Sherburne County would like faster internet connections than are currently available to them. In addition, nearly four in ten businesses in the county believe slow speeds put them at a competitive disadvantage. To help businesses and families like those in Sherburne County all across Minnesota, Governor Dayton and Lt. Governor Smith have proposed a $100 million state investment to expand rural broadband internet access this year. This funding would leverage additional local and private resources to significantly expand access across Minnesota.
About NewCore Wireless
NewCore Wireless, in addition to working with its business partners to provide hosted wireless switching solutions, has experience working with Federal, State and Local officials, as well as municipality leaders to provide a host of solutions and services in both the wireline and wireless industries. The company has provided solutions for agricultural monitoring, wireless surveillance, Wi-Fi solutions for school and school buses, fleet tracking and management and many more. To learn more about how NewCore Wireless is leading the Internet of Things (IoT) with its solutions and services, click here.
About Palmer Wireless Palmer Wireless is a local company bringing affordable broadband and voice service to Central Minnesota using a unique combination of wireless and fiber solutions. We also offer mobile phone service through a cooperative partnership with other local Central Minnesota wireless partners. Formed in 2006, Palmer Wireless services the Palmer, Duelm, Clear Lake, Becker, Big Lake, Clearwater, Cold Spring, Annandale, Albertville, Foley, Sauk Rapids, St. Joseph, Sartell, Rockville and St. Cloud communities. We are a locally owned and operated business and proud to be part of the local communities we serve. www.palmerwireless.com
Sherburne County is looking for broadband partner. It’s a good opportunity is you are a potential partner and a good model if you are a community that might be looking for a partner yourself soon. Here’s the overview from the RFQ…
Sherburne County is seeking qualifications from potential firms to work in partnership with the County to install, maintain and operate a fiber optic network. The goal of the fiber network is to serve the residents, businesses, institutions and public facilities within Sherburne County. The intention of the RFQ is to select a well-qualified partner or partners to leverage their fiber broadband expertise and business acumen enabling the County to better position itself for future grant and partnership opportunities.
With the assistance of the selected partner(s), the County will submit an application to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (“DEED”) for a broadband development grant. DEED grant funding will be requested to help fund the installation of a fiber optic infrastructure network that meets the needs of the County. In the event DEED grant funding is unavailable, the County will review other possible funding alternatives.
The selected partner(s) will enter into a contract with the County that will secure the opportunity to design, construct and ultimately operate a community broadband network. This RFQ is designed to solicit potential qualified partners who will assist the County in developing creative broadband infrastructure solutions.
Thanks to those to attended the webinar today. Here are the notes and archive…
You can download a PDF of the PPT.
Description:
To get the full benefits of new fiber network investments, communities must make targeted audiences aware that this new community and economic development asset is in place. All too often, here in Minnesota and elsewhere, the community efforts to market their fiber networks for business and resident attraction are weak, fragmented and short-term. Finding mention of robust broadband availability cannot be found on community websites. Targeted marketing to attract new firms ignores the competitive advantage that the fiber network provides for data-hungry businesses like manufacturing, data storage, engineering and marketing.
Please join us as we welcome Aaron Brossoit of Golden Shovel Agency as he provides background and strategies on how communities can build targeted marketing initiatives that place robust fiber networks as the centerpiece for community marketing. Aaron Brossoit has over 10 years experience in community development markets. Brossoit has developed cutting-edge interactive work for communities all across the country. Brossoit is a board member for the Mid-America Economic Development Council (MAEDC) and on the communications committee for the National Rural Economic Development Association (NREDA). Brossoit’s work has won local, state and national design awards.
Bring Me the News wrote about the discrepancy in proposed state broadband funding…
Three budget targets have been unveiled, according to a statement. Governor Mark Dayton proposed investing $100 million, the Senate DFL has proposed $85 million, and House Republicans only want to spend $35 million. The final amount should be decided in May.
Lt. Governor Tina Smith criticized the Republicans’ proposal in a separate statement, pointing out that it would “barely make a dent in the need for high-speed, affordable broadband access in Greater Minnesota.”
However, the Republicans are the only group that has also outlined how their proposed money should be spent.
Their proposal focuses on helping students, said the Pioneer Press. $7 million would be allocated for school Internet grants, including wi-fi hot spots that students could bring home, and $28 million for rural broadband expansion.
I’m not sure it’s entirely correct to say that the Republicans are the only ones to outline how the money should be spent. There is an Office of Broadband Development. I think the assumption is that the OBD would manage the broadband border grants as they have for the past two years. The OBD takes their cue from the Legislature (such as the unserved/underserved direction) but the OBD is there to handle the process.
The Republicans have added a number of proposals that seem to get legislators more involved in the process (or at least inspection) of administering the grants. I think this is in reaction to the communities that didn’t get funded. Those communities were disappointed – but I think the bigger issue is that some deserving communities didn’t get funded because there simply was not enough money to fund all of the deserving projects. I’m not sure the more efficient or effective answer comb through criteria and weighting as much as to budget enough money to invest in more deserving projects.
Having talked to the folks in education, I’m not sure that the specificity of funds for education will help schools get what they really need. While wifi spots are a great idea – the school may be better served with funding that helps cover basic costs – and that would be $7 million a year to offset cost of broadband.
I’m posting for two reasons. First – in case readers are interested in attending or spreading the word. Second, it’s an event worth replicating in other areas!
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The Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee met earlier passed their proposed budget with a vote of 11 to 6. They heard a lot of public testimony in the last 24 hours.
The big news is that they have budgeted $40 million for broadband over the next two years. Many representatives were disappointed in the low number. The other issues seemed to be:
How to balance the needs of unserved and underserved?
Are the speed goals adequate/realistic?
Why offer first Rights of Refusal to incumbents when a new provider applies for funding to upgrade service to their area? And is there any way to hold the incumbent accountable to serve that area if they cause another proposal to get denied?
I took some notes – but mostly focused on video. Some very impassioned language from Representatives.
Here are the start of my notes in case they are helpful…
Rep Baker – A25
Speed goals 25/3 by 2022 and 100/20 by 2026
Unserved is 10/3 or below
Underserved is 25/3
Unserved needs 1/1 match
Underserved needs 3/1 match and needs job retention/creation
Right of refusal
We need to stretch dollars to reach unserved areas. TO do that we need to not overbuild one way to so that is to give incumbents right to challenge – but they will need to disclose their plans, especially as relates to using CAF II funding to expand/deepen networks.
CenturyLInk just said they’d dedicate $1 million for CAF II in Willmar
Dan Dorman
This is supposed to be the Greater MN Session and I’m surprised that we’re discussing unserved vs underserved.
MAK
Good to allow flexibility in expenditure of funds.
Good to have some direction on economic development – we haven’t hit the perfect way to address economic development issue because the original intent of the Task Force was to focus on unserved.
Good to have Task Force member goals.
Good to have 25% cap vs $5M cap
Question: Kids need access to broadband for homework. Access in the library doesn’t suffice in rural areas – especially since kids do homework late at night. How are we doing there?
MAK: There are times in a rural area where you stay up late working and then drive home. Kids do face this. It would be nice if they had the broadband to do their work at home. It might be even worse on a reservation – they have the worst broadband coverage.
Rep Simonson
State goal: do we have a cost estimate for 10/20 in 2026?
What is estimate of public funding required?
What’s the estimate for ongoing costs?
$9M to $3B to reach broadband goals if nothing changes but I think that’s worst case scenario.
We want to take advantage of federal funding when we can. We need to see how CAF II projects get deployed.
$40M is a good kickstart combines with CAF II funding. Maybe the costs to deploy broadband will come down.
Rep Johnson
Rights of first refusal is a big concern.
Big problem with broadband legislation is the lack of investment.
Rep Fabian
What is the intent of economic development?
Priority is unserved – if families can’t get online workers will move.
How much was spent last year on telecom infrastructure?
$705M
How many miles of fiber?
Not sure – grants aren’t done yet. Projects slated for 2017.
Rep Mahoney
Want to treat urban & rural equally. Seems like technology changes a lot. In 10 years we’ve gone from flip phone to smartphone. That’s a generation. Can rural areas afford to lose a generation of kids when we don’t invest?
Baker: I want to be a good steward of money. Good ideas like wifi on buses will keep kids in the area.
Are we getting rid of past pots of money? The pots for education and economic development?
Yes.
The West Central Tribune reports on a recent meeting in Willmar where Lt Smith heard from numerous local residents about their problems with inadequate broadband…
The dialogue, hosted by Jennie-O Turkey Store, came in the midst of legislative debate over how much the state should invest in its border-to-border broadband access program, particularly for grants to bring services to areas of the state that are unserved or underserved.
Gov. Mark Dayton and Smith have proposed a $100 million appropriation to expand rural broadband access this year.
An allocation this size could leverage up to $100 million more in state and local resources for broadband expansion.
A bill making its way through the Minnesota House would provide substantially less — $40 million over two years, an amount some critics have called a drop in the bucket.
One person after another at Monday’s roundtable discussion testified to the need for better service.
The article also highlights a possible upgrade in the area via CAF II funding…
Representatives of CenturyLink, Charter Communications and Frontier Communications said they know there’s a need and that they are willing to leverage their own investment with state and federal funding.
Patrick Haggerty of CenturyLink offered a bit of good news to the room: With the help of the federal Connect America Fund, CenturyLink expects to bring internet service to about 430 households in Kandiyohi County by the end of the year.
State and federal grants are one of the key pieces in helping service providers reach high-cost remote areas of the state, Haggerty said. “It is a very critical tool in our state to fill those gaps.”
Minnesota House Republicans edged up their proposed broadband spending Monday as they worked to wrap up their budget plan.
The new figure of $40 million for two years is $5 million more than the GOP said it would push last week. It is short of $100 million sought by Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and $85 million proposed by Democrats who control the state Senate.
The money would be used to expand high-speed Internet to unserved areas, mostly in rural Minnesota.
This morning the Senate Committee on Finance began their day discussing broadband. Senator Schmit introduced broadband article and it passed with some but not a lot of discussion. The biggest concern seemed to be the impact of the State broadband funding and CAF II funding.
It may be helpful to say that the CAF II funding requires a provider to upgrade their network to 10 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up. The Senate is looking at a 25/3 speed definition to qualify unserved projects and asks that the network be upgradable to 100/100. The State does not have influence over CAF II funding projects BUT by allowing projects that qualify for CAF II to also qualify for State funding changes that – because once State funding is involved the State does have influence. So it is one way to help leverage CAF II funding and ask CAF II funded projects to meet State speed requirements.
USDA Seeks Applications for Nearly $12 Million in Broadband Grants for Rural Communities
WASHINGTON, April 18, 2016 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced today that USDA is soliciting applications for grants to establish broadband in unserved rural communities through its Community Connect program. Community Connect is administered by USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and helps to fund broadband deployment into rural communities where it is not economically viable for private sector providers to provide service.
“Through Community Connect and our other telecommunications programs, USDA helps to ensure that rural residents have access to broadband to run businesses, get the most from their education and benefit from the infinite services that fast, reliable broadband provides,” Vilsack said. “USDA is committed to supporting America’s rural communities through targeted investments in our bioeconomy and renewable energy, local and regional food systems, conservation initiatives and rural development.”
USDA plans to award up to $11.7 million in grants through the Community Connect grant program. The grants fund broadband infrastructure to help foster economic growth by delivering connectivity to the global marketplace. The grants also fund broadband for community centers and public institutions.
USDA has invested $160 million in more than 240 projects to bring broadband to unserved rural communities since the Community Connect Program was created in 2002.
In 2009, the Wichita Online telecommunications company in Cooperton, Okla., received a Community Connect grant to build a community center with computers. The center serves as an Internet library for local residents and is used by several government agencies. The sheriff’s office and volunteer fire department coordinate their public safety, fire protection and other emergency services from the center. During harvest season, many farmworkers use the computers to communicate with their family members far away. Cooperton is a farming and ranching community between the Slick Hills and Wichita Mountains in Southwest Oklahoma.
The minimum grant is $100,000 for FY 2016. The maximum award is $3 million. USDA announced new rules in 2013 to better target Community Connect grants to areas where they are needed the most. To view the rules, go to https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2016-04-18/pdf/2016-08931.pdf
Prior Community Connect grants cannot be renewed. However, existing Community Connect awardees may submit applications for new projects, which USDA will evaluate as new applications.
For more information on how to apply for grants, see page 22567 of the April 18, 2016 Federal Register.
This Community Connect round builds on USDA’s historic investments in rural America over the past seven years. Since 2009, USDA has worked to strengthen and support rural communities and American agriculture, an industry that supports one in 11 American jobs, provides American consumers with more than 80 percent of the food we consume, ensures that Americans spend less of their paychecks at the grocery store than most people in other countries, and supports markets for homegrown renewable energy and materials. USDA has provided $5.6 billion of disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; expanded risk management tools with products like to Whole Farm Revenue Protection; helped farm businesses grow with $36 billion in farm credit; provided $4.32 billion in critical agricultural research; established innovative public-private conservation partnerships such as the Regional Conservation Partnership Program; developed new markets for rural-made products, including more than 2,500 biobased products through USDA’s BioPreferred program; and invested $64 billion in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America.
Since 2009, USDA Rural Development (#USDARD) has invested $11 billion to start or expand 103,000 rural businesses; helped 1.1 million rural residents buy homes; funded nearly 7,000 community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care facilities; financed 180,000 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines; and helped bring high-speed Internet access to nearly 6 million rural residents and businesses. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/results.
The Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee met earlier today to discuss the proposed budget. The continued the meeting this evening with more public testimony and discussion of amendments. (The meeting is slated to be continued tomorrow at 2 pm – presumably in Room 10 of the State Office Building.)
Below are videos of the folks who discussed broadband…
