It was fun to talk to Tim Marema from the Daily Yonder in Austin (Texas) after presenting with Bernadine Joselyn on the Case Studies Measuring the Impact of Broadband in Five Minnesota Communities – which I worked on with Bill Coleman. Then it was funny to see that interview in the Daily Yonder yesterday.

One question I really liked was sort – why do the study?

Marema: What interested me in this report is that someone could look at this for their own community and, in a rough and ready way, come up with a back-of-the-envelope estimate on what the public return on investment might be in high-speed fiber-to-the-home. Are the methods you used useful to other communities that are looking at broadband investment? 

Treacy: I think it would be …  Because all of a sudden if you’re having a conversation about how much tax money are we willing to put into a solution, well that factors in. I mean if it’s going to increase taxes by only $100 a year, and you know that you’re going to see an increase in value on your home, and an increase in economic benefit of $1,850 [on average for each house], well that $100 seems pretty minor. 

We’re looking at helping people do that back on the envelope math at the broadband conference this fall. (That’s still in development.)  I do hope people are able to use the formulas to figure out ROI for the community and household.