A recap of news from April…

The role of broadband feasibility studies
The Blandin Foundation has granted $718,321 to 24 rural Minnesota communities to support the cost of a broadband feasibility studies. It has proved to be an important step toward broadband expansion for many communities, especially those who have had access to funding. http://wp.me/p3if7-45M

Surveys show Minnesotans think broadband is essential
Minnesota Farmers Union unveiled distillation of 14 conversations in 14 rural communities held spring 2017. Broadband makes the short list priorities. http://wp.me/p3if7-45X

Minnesota Communities Need Better Broadband
Blandin Foundation President talks about the role of broadband in rural life, “Given Minnesota’s many opportunities and challenges — in economy, healthcare, education, and public life – it is easy to see how access and use of high-speed Internet is essential for progress. Yet absent adequate broadband, existing opportunity gaps across our state will continue to widen.” http://wp.me/p3if7-44g

Tool calculates cost of broadband
The Minnesota Broadband Coalition creates a tool to help figure out cost of broadband by speed (bit) and usage (byte) to compare providers, technologies and packages. http://wp.me/p3if7-44y

MN Broadband Task Force Meeting: Business case for broadband
The Task Force heard from practitioners in the field who communities and providers  understand what it will take to deploy broadband in rural areas. They also heard about the economic impact of the rural broadband industry both in rural and urban areas. http://wp.me/p3if7-452

Notes from MN legislative session
Currently legislators are discussing funding for the Border to Border grants in Conference Committee as part of the Omnibus Bill for the Job Growth and Energy Finance (SF1937). The Omnibus passed in the House on April 8. http://wp.me/p3if7-44d After their spring break, the MN Conference Committee compared the House and Senate versions. The House recommends $7 million for broadband grants; the Senates says $20 million. http://wp.me/p3if7-45E A week later, they decided on loose ends related to Senate/House comparisons http://wp.me/p3if7-45V They meet again May 1 http://wp.me/p3if7-463;  those notes may or may not be ready for this newsletter but will be posted on the blog. https://blandinonbroadband.org

Reactions to legislation:

• A telecom deregulation warning from Senators Simonson and Johnson http://wp.me/p3if7-45J
• Internet Privacy: what’s in Minnesota’s current internet privacy law? http://wp.me/p3if7-45k
• Matt Schmit makes a recommendation to double broadband investment in Minnesota http://wp.me/p3if7-44E
• Duluth Tribune supports statewide solutions to local small cell equipment collocation http://wp.me/p3if7-45f
• Rural broadband editorial from Duluth on cost, speed, and the frustration of data plans http://wp.me/p3if7-45b
• Tips from Government Technology on how to build momentum for broadband-friendly legislation http://wp.me/p3if7-44P
• MN Broadband Policy gets nice nod from West Virginia http://wp.me/p3if7-45d

Federal Legislations/Policy Items

• The FCC has announces members the members of the new Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) http://wp.me/p3if7-44p
• The FCC announces plans to roll back Net Neutrality http://wp.me/p3if7-469

Local Broadband News

Iron Range
“Entrepreneurs on Tap” series to connect small Iron Range businesses http://wp.me/p3if7-44L

Kandiyohi County
Kandiyohi County works on bond sale for Border to Border broadband network http://wp.me/p3if7-449

Minnesota
Frontier Communications expands broadband to 8,000 Minnesota Households http://wp.me/p3if7-44G

Renville & Sibley Counties
Mark Erickson, of RS Fiber, talks to NPR Rural Life on how fiber retains youth or calls them back http://wp.me/p3if7-44n

One farmer talks about how he uses a synchronous wireless connection in the fields http://wp.me/p3if7-44b

Rochester
Rochester looks at municipal network options http://wp.me/p3if7-44N but holds off on any decisions http://wp.me/p3if7-465

Southwest Minnesota
Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group is building “Gigabit Communities” http://wp.me/p3if7-45p

Twin Cities
MinnPost offers a three-pronged approach to making the Twin Cities smarter through technology use http://wp.me/p3if7-44I

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

• April Webinar Archive: Broadband Finance Strategies http://wp.me/p3if7-461
• May 9 – MHTA Spring Conference http://wp.me/p3if7-41o
• May 11 – MN Task Force Meetinghttp://tinyurl.com/zszfk7d
• May 15 – Better Together: Libraries and digital inclusion http://wp.me/p3if7-45m
• May 16-17 – Net Inclusion (St Paul)http://wp.me/p3if7-3MN (Learn about related tours http://wp.me/p3if7-45w)
• May 18 – Cybersecurity Colloquium (Sartell) http://wp.me/p3if7-44l
• June 21 – MACTA Annual Conference U of MN Continuing Education Center
• June 28 – MN Task Force Meetinghttp://tinyurl.com/zszfk7d
• July 19 – MN Task Force Meetinghttp://tinyurl.com/zszfk7d
• Aug 16 – MN Task Force Meetinghttp://tinyurl.com/zszfk7d
• Sep 28 – MN Task Force Meetinghttp://tinyurl.com/zszfk7d
• Oct 18 – MN Task Force Meetinghttp://tinyurl.com/zszfk7d
• Nov 2 – MN Task Force Meetinghttp://tinyurl.com/zszfk7d
• Dec 7 – MN Task Force Meetinghttp://tinyurl.com/zszfk7d

Looking for more events? Check out TechDotMN’s calendar http://tech.mn/events/. Many events are based in the Twin Cities but it is a comprehensive list. (If you have an upcoming event, consider submitting it.)

Stirring the Pot

According to company press releases, this summer will see the launch of Gigabit (1,024 Mb) services by both Mediacom and Midco in many regional centers and smaller communities in Greater Minnesota.  As a cheerleader for better broadband, I believe that this is great news for the businesses and residents in those communities.  These upgrades rely on a robust middle mile network that can supply multi-gigabit capacity, plus upgrades of electronics to support DOCSIS 3.1 technology.  While some broadband purists will lament the lack of symmetrical upload speeds, the vast majority of home broadband and small business customers will not suffer appreciably with a 25 Mb upload service.

What does this mean for community broadband leaders?  Is the battle won so that everyone can relax?  Hmmm, not yet.  First, ensure that all of the community’s business districts have access to this new service, whether downtown, in a strip mall or in the industrial park.  If not, supporting these new connections through encouragement, market development, or partnership would be a great step.  More broadly, increasing the use of technology by all businesses is necessary – with a focus on business technology assessments, e-commerce classes, shared online marketing strategies, cloud applications and online security. Communities can promote the availability and use of qualified local IT vendors and increase IT training for residents of all ages.  Those who have heard my broadband presentations have heard me use the analogy of an unused exercise machine.  Don’t let your local network be used for hanging laundry!

The other implication of emerging urban and rural gigabit networks is that un- and underserved rural areas are now even further behind in the bandwidth race.  Increasingly in small towns to metro areas, those served with cable modem Internet service have starter Internet at 25 Mb or 50 Mb.  For those served with new CAF2 funded networks, those are likely to be the top available speeds.  Depending on location relative to fiber-fed electronics, many consumers will have something closer to 10 Mb/1 Mb service and many people will still be unserved.  Much of the economic production in greater Minnesota happens outside of city limits – agriculture, forestry, tourism-oriented businesses, home businesses and tele-workers.

So it seems that rural broadband advocates still have plenty of work to do.  To energize your efforts, consider using Blandin Foundation’s Community Broadband Resources program to support your community or regional efforts on infrastructure or adoption strategies.