Monthly Archives: February 2018

Blandin Broadband eNews: Federal and MN policymakers on broadband

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MN Broadband Task Force releases annual report
The Broadband Task Force released their latest annual report. They recommend $35.7 million a year for ongoing broadband grants. https://wp.me/p3if7-4qx Word is spreading in local media. https://wp.me/p3if7-4r5

Minnesota Policymakers on Broadband

Federal (and International) Policy Topics

Local Broadband News

Aitkin
Broadband efforts in Aitkin County mean Wifi is filling the gap between the haves and have-nots https://wp.me/p3if7-4rZ

Bois Forte Band, Cook & Orr
Broadband efforts in Orr, Cook and Bois Fotre Band include digital inclusion classes, broadband upgrade and new equipment https://wp.me/p3if7-4rA

Bemidji
Why is Bemidji best? Courageous conversations, Broadband and Art https://wp.me/p3if7-4so

Chisholm
Chisholm broadband efforts include wifi on buses, in parks, to check out and an upcoming coworking space https://wp.me/p3if7-4rw

Dakota County
Dakota County shares Broadband Joint Powers Agreement https://wp.me/p3if7-4rI

Ely
Ely broadband efforts include a feasibility study, community portal and helping local businesses do online marketing https://wp.me/p3if7-4rv

Hibbing
50 Seniors in Hibbing get PCs thanks to PCs for People https://wp.me/p3if7-4sE

Broadband efforts in Hibbing are helping businesses and students better use technology https://wp.me/p3if7-4sb

E-marketing training changes a Hibbing business completely https://wp.me/p3if7-4qv

Isanti County
Isanti County broadband survey indicates community needs more broadband https://wp.me/p3if7-4t0

Lyon County
Lyon County gets results of broadband feasibility study https://wp.me/p3if7-4rE

Mille Lacs
Mille Lacs is unhappy about not getting broadband grant https://wp.me/p3if7-4r8

Mountain Iron
Broadband efforts in Mountain Iron take the form of lots of training and getting kids excited about technology https://wp.me/p3if7-4s8

Northwest Minnesota
Midco acquires fixed wireless provider from NW Minnesota https://wp.me/p3if7-4sU

Palisade
Palisade works with a local provider to get wireless access in town and encourage FTTH https://wp.me/p3if7-4sK

Sunrise Township
Public-Private Partnership is working with Sunrise Townships, CenturyLink and MN State Grant https://wp.me/p3if7-4sW

Twin Cities
Super Bowl hype brings more wireless solutions to the Twin Cities https://wp.me/p3if7-4sg

AT&T Boosts Minneapolis area mobile coverage for Super Bowl https://wp.me/p3if7-4rq

Comcast is increasing Internet speeds for Twin Cities Customers https://wp.me/p3if7-4qT

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

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 – by Bill Coleman

The big game will have come and gone by the time you read this post.  A week from now, most of the event and marketing glitz will be removed – zip lines, ice sculptures, event stages and tents.  But some things will remain in place, especially newly installed telecommunications infrastructure.  At the next Broadband Task Force meeting, Minnesota’s largest ISPs will share details of their recent investments in a super-connected environment that I imagine encompasses most of downtown Minneapolis, the Mall of America and 494 strip, US Bank Stadium, the airport and other key sites.

This is a preview of the future that raises all kinds of question about the future. For rural community leaders, key questions include:

  • Who is going to bring this level of connectivity to your community?
  • If yes, when will they do it?
  • Will you leave these decisions to others?

Broadband topic of political discussion in Granite Falls with Rep Swedzinski and Sen Dahms

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The Advocate Tribune reports…

With state legislative elections on the horizon, State Representative Chris Swedzinski (R) and State Senator Gary Dahms (R) held a town hall meeting on Monday, January 29 at the Granite Falls City Hall. Roughly a dozen residents in all attended the hour long meeting. Topics of conversation included infrastructure, housing, childcare, broadband, and buffer strip regulations.

They talked about government help for infrastructure…

Granite Falls Mayor Dave Smiglewski asked about grant programs to help municipal governments with the steep financial burden of infrastructure expenses. Both legislators lauded the financial assistance provided by the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority (PFA). Dahms said that overregulation by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency made infrastructure projects more expensive and difficult to execute. Swedzinski agreed, and argued that projects should be non-partisan, joking, “you can be a constitutional libertarian or liberal, but when you flush the toilet, you want it to go away.”

And gave some details on the topic of broadband…

Another big ticket item that came up during the town hall meeting was the issue of rural broadband connection. Yellow Medicine County Administrator Peg Heglund, who has been an advocate for broadband at the county level, asked if local governments can expect more financial support from the state. Swedzinski began by stressing that Minnesota was already a regional leader in rural broadband investment, and said that future investments should strategically focus on extending service to rural residents who currently don’t have any internet connection. Dahms agreed, adding, “This needs to be treated like any other piece of infrastructure. We maybe should have done rural broadband like we did rural electric.”

Public-Private Partnership is working with Sunrise Townships, CenturyLink & MN State Grant

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Sunrise Township worked with CenturyLink to get a Minnesota broadband grant. They have been one of the projects to watch – and now there’s a great video that tells their story, which goes into details (like cost of bonding to households – pay back will be roughly $100 a year!) and benefits.

Isanti County broadband survey indicates community needs more

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The Isanti County News reports on the results of a broadband survey taken last summer. (The survey was sponsored by a grant from the Blandin Foundation, the Initiative Foundation and Isanti County.)…

“We had a 12 percent response rate which is stunning. The expected response would be four to five percent,” said Janna King with Economic Development Services. “Eighty-three percent of the people said their Internet was inadequate. Among the 44 businesses that responded, 10 said they would consider re-locating because of their Internet service. That is pretty dramatic from an economic development perspective.” …

Survey results indicate Internet service is highly important and there is a high level of dissatisfaction with current level of service.

  • Eighty-eight percent of residents say they need better Internet-data service, 92 percent said Internet access is very important and 1 percent said it is not important.
  • Eighty-three percent of businesses say they need better Internet-data service and 95 percent said the Internet is essential to their business.
  • Sixty-six percent of businesses said limited Internet access at employees’ residences impacts their business.
  • Twenty-four percent of businesses said Internet service options impact their business’ decision to relocate or stay in the county.

“Clearly, the business responses indicate this is an economic development issue. With the residents, there are multiple reasons it is highly important. It is not just about playing games and looking at Facebook. Over 30 pages of comments indicate challenges for families with students who need Internet access to complete homework, employees who need to log-in remotely to work on computers, farmers and rural small businesses who need better Internet access, and people who could telecommute part- time or full-time if they had better service. Respondents indicated that satellite and cellular service are helping them access the internet, but there are important limitations and challenges with those services for many people. Health care organizations are concerned about the lack of rural broadband, because they see tremendous opportunities to save money and improve service through existing and emerging telemedicine technologies. Realtors report that the lack of Internet access impacts home sales,” King stated.

Next MN Broadband Task Force Meeting at Feb 8

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I plan to attend and take notes. I will also livestream it if I can and will post here.

Governor’s Task Force on Broadband
February 8, 2018
State Capitol, Room 316
75 Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard
St Paul, MN 55155
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

  • 10:00 a.m. – 10:10 a.m. Introductions, approval of minutes, public comments
  • 10:10 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Update from Office of Broadband Development
  • 10:15 a.m. – 10:35 a.m. CenturyLink: Super Bowl Technology Investment Update – Jesse Sullivan, CenturyLink
  • 10:35 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Q&A/Discussion—CenturyLink: Super Bowl Technology Investment Update
  • 10:45 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. AT&T: Super Bowl Technology Investment Update
  • Paul Weirtz , AT&T State President
  • Andy Sackreiter, Director of Engineering, AT&T Minnesota/ Northern Plains
  • 11:05 p.m. – 11:15 a.m. Q&A/Discussion—AT&T: Super Bowl Technology Investment Update
  • 11:15 a.m. – 11:35 a.m. Comcast: Super Bowl Technology Investment Update – Chris Hanna, Engineer, Comcast Business Services
  • 11:35 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Q&A/Discussion—Comcast: Super Bowl – Technology Investment Update
  • 11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Lunch
  • 12:15 p.m. – 12:45 p.m. LTD Broadband presentation – Corey Hauer, LTD Broadband
  • 12:45 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.  LTD Broadband presentation discussion
  • 1:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. 2018 topic discussion/work plan
  • 1:45 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Workgroup formation/meeting
  • 2:15 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Workgroup report back to Task Force
  • 2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.  Next meeting and wrap-up

Super Bowl hype brings some awesome wireless solutions to the Twin Cities

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Here’s an infomercial on the role of wireless access on the Super Bowl. They mentioned the 1300 wireless access points around the US Bank Stadium. It’s created by National Association of Tower Erectors (NATE) – the builders of the network.

Having adequate broadband for a conference is a big deal. A few weeks ago I was helping with a conference in St Paul. The location (which fit 2,500 people) had a wireless network but it wasn’t enough for the sold out audience. They only had a 100 Mbps into the building. (And I assume that was down only – they never did get me in touch with the person who knew.)  We wanted to invite people to live stream and post on social media during the conference. And we wanted them to not use up their personal cellular data caps or run into congestion.

It was expensive to have anyone upgrade the connection – especially for one day. We weren’t as big as the Super Bowl so probably not worth 1300 wireless access points – but still worth consideration for any community (or business) looking to attract conferences – broadband matters. In the end – we went with what was available. People got a little frustrated – I quickly moved off the free wireless to my own hotspot. And I think next time broadband might move of the list of necessities for a location.

Midco acquires fixed wireless provider from NW Minnesota

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According to the Grand Forks Herald…

A Minneapolis-based company that provides internet, cable and other networking services to the Grand Forks region has acquired a fixed wireless internet provider in Warren, Minn.

Midco announced Thursday it had acquired InvisiMax, which serves more than 4,000 customers in the Fargo and Grand Forks areas, according to a news release.

This will expand their services…

InvisiMax provided services to about 75 cities in northeast North Dakota and northwest Minnesota. The company sent a letter to customers Thursday informing them of the merger.

Midco provides services in 342 communities in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Kansas.

Minnesota Rural Legislative Interests – transportation, bonding, child care & broadband

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The Voice of Alexandria (KXRA) recently published an article on the rural take on the legislature…

Last year, the Republican-led Legislature, buoyed by GOP gains in rural areas in the 2016 election, passed some favorable legislation for Greater Minnesota, such as a bonding bill that will pay for public works projects and an increase in funding for the Local Government Aid program. This year, lawmakers will meet for just three months – Feb. 20 to May 21 – with a projected $188 million deficit (based on a November economic forecast) serving as a backdrop.

That hasn’t dampened enthusiasm for legislation that could help the rural economy – at least for organizations that represent rural interests.

They spoke to a few associations and organizations representing rural interests. Growth & Justice listed broadband as a priority…

Meanwhile, a think tank that’s been focused on issues related to the rural economy, Growth & Justice, hopes to build on a list of a dozen priorities it released during last year’s session. Besides a bonding package and child care needs, among other issues, the organization would like to see more broadband expansion and investment in a program that helps to equip workers with enhanced skills for technical jobs.

“We’ve got to be able to hold all of these issues up at the same time and understand how they all interrelate,” said Growth & Justice President Jane Leonard, who joined the organization in January.

And the article notes broadband as a topic to watch…

Broadband expansion: High-speed broadband has expanded into many remote regions, with 87 percent of Minnesotans now having access to high-speed internet, according to state estimates. But the work to connect everyone continues. Last year, the Legislature set aside $20 million for the Border to Border Broadband Development Grant Program, which provides grants to providers for the infrastructure they need to expand their reach. This year, the Greater Minnesota Partnership would like to see at least $50 million for the Border to Border program, with at least half of the money made available to areas that lack access to 2026 state speed goals — 100 megabits down, 20 megabits up.  The current federal standard is 25 megabits down, 3 megabits up.

CAF II vs A-CAM a comparison of federal broadband funding strategies by Doug Dawson

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Here’s a concise and apt comparison between CAF II and A-CAM by Doug Dawson…

Companies like AT&T, Verizon, Frontier and other big telcos accepted the federal subsidies (CAF II) to upgrade the rural parts of their service territories. That program requires the carriers to upgrade rural facilities to be able to deliver broadband speeds of at least 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. The upgrades also need to have latency less than 100 ms (which is a dreadful latency if near to that threshold).

AT&T and Verizon say that they plan to mostly meet their obligations by converting rural copper lines to cellular connections. Most of the other telcos, which aren’t in the cellular business plan instead to upgrade rural DSL. A few, like Frontier Communications say that they plan to upgrade some customers using point-to-multipoint wireless networks.

But they key element of all of this is the 10/1 Mbps broadband speeds. The CAF II program is spending $10 billion dollars over six years to upgrade 4 million homes to at least the 10/1 Mbps speed. Since most of these households have had little or no broadband today those speeds are going to be the first time that many of these homes get any kind of a broadband connection. But the 10/1 Mbps speeds are already obsolete for any home that wants to use broadband the same as urban households, allowing multiple users and devices on the network simultaneously.

The FCC also has a lesser-known broadband subsidy program aimed at the smaller telephone companies. This program is called A-CAM (Alternate Connect America Cost Model). The A-CAM program is paying out a little over $1 billion per year for ten years and will support a broadband upgrade to 4.9 million households. Just under half of the money is aimed at upgrades to supply at least 25/3 Mbps, with the rest aimed at the same slower 10/1 threshold as the CAF II program for the bigger telcos.

The A-CAM program gets interesting when you look at what the small telcos are actually doing with this funding. While the big telcos in the CAF II program area upgrading to just enough speeds to get them over the 10/1 Mbps requirement, many small telcos are doing a lot more. All around the country there are small telcos using the A-CAM funding as the seed money to finance and build fiber to small towns, farms and other rural areas. The A-CAM money provides the basis for borrowing the money needed to build a permanent new fiber network. Even where small telcos are only upgrading DSL, I see many of them that upgrading speeds to as much as 40 Mbps.

It’s also interesting that the smaller companies are getting less funding, on average. The big telco CAF II money is providing roughly $2,470 per rural customer while the small company A-CAM money is $2,091 per customer. The amount received by each company differs, but overall the small telcos are doing a lot more with less funding.

Getting Broadband for Palisade MN

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I want to thank Darrell in Aitkin County for writing up his experience getting community WiFI set up in Palisade and for Scott from SCI for sharing some added info. It’s a nice example of public-private partnership at a very local level.

The problem:

Palisade is a rural community with few options for high-speed connectivity.  The only wired internet connection is via DSL through the local telephone provider.  Satellite is available but we have found it has the propensity to go disconnect due to weather situations and has limited bandwidth to support hot-spot activity.

The solution:

After much investigation, we found an existing solution.  Savage Communications Inc. (SCI) has fiber in place near the downtown area.  After several conversations with them, we were able to negotiate the construction project to bring fiber to the City Hall.

One of the considerations was that the community of Palisade wasn’t going to provide free internet or go into business of offering internet to the downtown area businesses.

There were scheduling issues to begin with as SCI was working other larger project in the county.  By October 2017, the fiber was connected and that portion of the Wi-Fi hotspot project was complete and the rest of the process could proceed.

Talk about great connectivity, the speed for upload and download is slated at 100 Mbps.  Now the Wi-Fi hotspot and community reading room are ready for the next phases of their respective projects.

SCI currently has fiber to the business available in Palisade and they plan to have residential services available by the end of 2018. (This is a privately funded project for SCI.)

Closing the Digital Divide Broadband Infrastructure Solutions – Archive of federal discussion

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I’m providing the archive of yesterday’s House of Representatives Commerce Committee meeting…

And Benton Foundation’s summary…

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology examined  25 bills that seek to improve broadband infrastructure across the country. Members engaged with a panel of seven expert witnesses who provided a range of perspectives on this important issue. Chairman Blackburn said, “We wanted to have a very inclusive hearing today to discuss all of the ideas from Subcommittee members on both sides of the aisle to promote broadband infrastructure deployment with a goal of closing the digital divide. Whether you agree or disagree with any individual idea, it is so important that we get the conversation started. And we have plenty to talk about, with 25 bills introduced in time to be part of our hearing today. I very much appreciate all of the thoughtful proposals and look forward to seeing many of them progress in the coming weeks.”

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) said, “I appreciate Republicans scheduling a hearing on broadband deployment and including some Democratic proposals, but I’m concerned that the Majority is simply trying to jam too much into this one hearing.  Seven witnesses discussing 25 bills will not help the American public understand these proposals, let alone the members of this Committee.  What’s more, we do not even have the relevant agencies here to help us understand how they will interpret the often conflicting directions included in the Republican bills. We are now a little over year into this Administration, and all Washington Republicans have  to show the American people in this Subcommittee’s purview are a check-the-box hearing designed to paper over the Republicans’ failure on infrastructure; their erosion of our privacy rights; and their elimination of net neutrality.  When it comes to governing, this Subcommittee is falling short.”

I’ve been listened to the meeting. It’s interesting but also as Benton points out – it’s a lot. Rather than recap, I thought I’d  list the speakers and approximate times they spoke so you can check out the parts that most interest you.

  • 23 minutes in – Mr. Jonathan Spalter – President and CEO, USTelecom – representing all broadband providers. Spoke about the need for public funding to supplement the $1.5 trillion invested in broadband in last two decades
  • 28 minutes in – Mr. Brad Gillen – Executive Vice President, CTIA – focusing on wireless and the race to be first in wireless access
  • 32 minutes in – Mr. Matthew Polka  – President and CEO, American Cable Association – focused on streamlining, funding but not for overbuilding, and tech neutral
  • 37 minutes in – Ms. Shirley Bloomfield  – CEO, NTCA– The Rural Broadband Association – there is ongoing work in providing rural broadband
  • 42 minutes in – Mr. Scott Slesinger – Legislative Director, Natural Resources Defense Council – cash and political will are needed for better broadband. Federal rules are not the biggest issue.
  • 48 minutes in – Ms. Joanne S. Hovis – President, CTC Technology and Energy – focus on locally driven efforts and public-private partnership
  • 53 minutes in – Ms. Elin Swanson Katz – Consumer Counsel, Connecticut Consumer Counsel – assess affordability of broadband in low income areas