This morning the MN Broadband Task Force met to comb through a late draft of the annual report. It’s not the final draft, it may not be the penultimate but it’s getting close.
You can read the draft report and watch the discussion below. The video focused mostly on the text so it would probably be easier to listen and use the PDF version to follow along.
Some high level comments on discussion:
There was discussion on the fourth recommendation related to permits and the OBD (Office of Broadband Development) working with partners. There was confusion more than disagreement. In the end I think the decision was to recommend a workgroup for public rights of way and look at greater oversight of railroad easements.
There was also a lot of discussion on RDOF and CAF II and the opportunity they have to help or hinder the state in reaching state speed goals. Concerns are that the CAF funding is sunsetting and the speed goals required with CAF funding do not meet even the MN 2022 speed goals of 25/3. Concern with RDOF is the surprising result in Minnesota where one provider received a large percentage of the funding to provide services that they are not known for providing, which results in both concern whether that provider will meet scrutiny of the RDOF long-form application to actually get the funding and concern that if they do they will be able to deliver fiber as promised. Some folks felt that as it was federal funding, it fell out of the scope of the state task force while others were concerned on the impact the federal funding would have on state funding moving forward.
There was also discussion on CARES funding with similar cases. Some thought it seemed beyond scope especially since State level CARES funding had not been dedicated to broadband. (Funding trickled down to counties and some did use it for broadband.) Others thought it might be helpful for legislators to see what other states did to improve broadband with CARES funding in case the opportunity arises again.
MinnPost has been following the potential impact of RDOF results on rural broadband in Minnesota. Here’s their latest…
When the Federal Communications Commission announced $312 million in grants for one relatively small company to build broadband in Minnesota earlier this month, it stirred controversy among those who worry the internet provider can’t deliver what it promised.
Now that squabble over the company, LTD Broadband, has spilled over into Minnesota’s own grant program for development of high-speed internet.
The Minnesota Rural Broadband Coalition — made up of internet developers, local governments and other groups like Mayo Clinic — sent a letter Wednesday to state officials asking them to award grant money to build broadband in areas expected to be served through the federal program, in part because they have so little confidence in LTD Broadband. Some internet companies said the state asked them to submit bids for cash outside of the federal program zones.
Minnesota officials haven’t made a decision on how to proceed, but the state must navigate the fight over broadband money and territory while balancing the best way to get internet to rural residents — and to spend taxpayer dollars.
They get into the background of the RDOF program and get comment from LTD…
LTD Broadband won $1.32 billion nationally and $312 million in Minnesota — the most of any one company in the country and the state. The money is doled out over 10 years but projects are supposed to be built in six years. LTD’s CEO Corey Hauer said they will deliver gigabit service through fiber-optic internet.
Competitors in the business balked at the auction results because LTD Broadband is a relatively small company with expertise in fixed-wireless internet, where homes get service from a signal placed high on a structure, such as a silo. It can be cheaper to build than fiber, which requires a physical connection to houses, though state officials who run the Minnesota grant program have avoided fixed wireless, arguing it is slower and less reliable than fiber.
Hauer says LTD Broadband has some experience in fiber and is ready to quickly expand and meet the challenge of providing gigabit service to a huge and disparate geographic area.
And they talk about the impact of grant applications awaiting results with the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development (OBD)…
Minnesota’s border-to-border broadband program, run by the Department of Employment and Economic Development, has $20 million in state money to dole out. Barbara Droher Kline, a broadband development consultant working with Le Sueur County, said DEED asked people to submit bids that don’t overlap with areas to be served under the FCC initiative. That’s meant to ensure a wider swath of the state can be covered.
But with deep skepticism from developers over LTD’s ability to actually deliver services, many are asking DEED to reconsider.
Organizations such as the Minnesota Rural Broadband Coalition are asking the OBD to move ahead with awards. OBD is undecided…
Angie Dickison, executive director of DEED’s Office of Broadband Development, said she was limited in what she could say because the state is in an open grant round and because there are federal limits right now on discussing development plans for the FCC program. An FAQ posted by DEED says: “In deciding which projects should be awarded state grant funding, information on any federal funding announced prior to the state announcement will be considered.”
Dickison said the state is still evaluating applications and hasn’t decided how to proceed with the state grants in light of the federal auction results. Final decisions on grants are planned for January. LTD Broadband’s “long-form application” is due to the FCC in mid-February and review could take months, Robinson said in his letter.
“We are aware of the concerns that folks have and are taking that all into consideration,” Dickison said. “We’re in a wait and see mode until we learn more about the final outcome of the auction and the end of the ‘quiet period.’”
The results of the RDOF awards (large amounts of federal funding going to broadband providers in rural areas) are creating concern for rural communities – especially in Minnesota. I’ve written about it before – the concern is that one provider received most of the funding being invested in Minnesota over the next 10 years through the fund. That provider (LTD Broadband) is known for the work in fixed wireless but the funding is to deploy fiber.
An immediate concern is that communities have submitted proposals to the Office of Broadband Development before the RDOF announcement was made and are worried that the RDOF award will impact their chances at state funding and/or require changes to their proposals to qualify for state funding. Le Sueur County has shared a letter with me that they have sent to the Office of Broadband Development outlining their concerns. (Pasted below.) I know others have sent or plan to send similar letters. I invite folks to send me copies and I will compile them here for the public archive.
Minnesota Office of Broadband Development
Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development
First National Bank Building
332 Minnesota Street, Suite E200
St. Paul, MN 55101
December 15, 2020
Dear Office of Broadband Development,
In 2020, we have made huge strides in broadband deployment in Le Sueur County for two reasons. First, because of the successful 2019 BEVCOMM (Eckles Telephone Company) Le Sueur County award and completed project and because we were able to spend about $547,000 of our CARES Act budget on broadband infrastructure fiber built around prior and current border to border applications completed by December 1, 2020.
However, there are still many miles to complete fiber installation in the county. That is one reason why we met with and helped plan for two applications in the 2020 Border to Border grant round for BEVCOMM and Metronet. Completion of these two projects would get additional reliable service to more of the county. It is critical for our work. We are looking ahead to 2021 planning to continue our partnerships.
That is why we are asking you today to please not penalize these two applications because of the preliminary results of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction awards announced Dec. 7, 2020.
Because of the auction, LTD Broadband was awarded significant territory in our county and those locations are partially covered by the 2020 applications to the Border to Border program. Eliminating those partial areas would invalidate our planning process and carefully configured budgets. The projects would no longer be viable.
We feel that for the future of our county and its citizens, fair evaluation of these grant applications by the state must be preserved. It is our concern that LTD Broadband may not be able to fulfill the FCC’s phase 2 verification and with a denial from the state, we would then be put even further behind in the process.
It cannot be overstated how important broadband service had become prior to the pandemic but since, our county government, businesses, schools and students would not have been able to function. Please help us continue our work and the work of the volunteers serving the county to bring broadband door-to-door.
We appreciate your work and the Border to Border Grant program. Thank you for supporting rural Minnesota,
Thomas Friedman has some advice for the Biden Administration to maximize Harris’ skills to the benefit of rural American but focusing on better broadband…
Harris is too smart and energetic to be just the vice president, a position with few official responsibilities. I’d love to see President-elect Joe Biden give her a more important job: his de facto secretary of rural development, in charge of closing the opportunity gap, the connectivity gap, the learning gap, the start-up gap — and the anger and alienation gap — between rural America and the rest of the country.
It could lift of rural areas and build relationships with rural areas…
“I fear the word ‘rural’ connotes a geography that is not my problem,” Beth Ford, president of Land O’Lakes, the influential farmer-owned cooperative headquartered in Minnesota, said to me. But, in fact, spreading connectivity and technology to rural America “is an American issue, an American competitiveness issue and an American national security issue,” she argued.
Persistent “underinvestment in rural America will leave us less secure and less prosperous as a nation” — and less competitive with China, which is rapidly connecting its rural heartland, Ford said. “Some 35 percent of farmers lack enough bandwidth to run the equipment on their farms, ensure their kids get a good education and that Grandma has access to telemedicine.”
What should a Biden-Harris rural strategy look like? It would start with showing up regularly. “Showing up” and “just listening to people” with respect goes a long way in rural America, Duluth’s mayor, Emily Larson, remarked to me. Actually, nothing earns more respect than listening to people respectfully.
He has a plan that includes cooperatives…
On policy specifics, the Biden-Harris team should commit that in four years every rural community in America will have access to broadband — the basic infrastructure needed for an inclusive modern economy.
Dunne suggests a new federal loan program that would offer 50-year, no-interest loans to communities and co-ops (and ease regulations) so rural public-private coalitions can build broadband networks with a minimum 100 megabits per second of speed for downloading and uploading all kinds of remote learning tools, work tools and telehealth tools. Representative James Clyburn has already won passage of a bill in the House with a similar approach.
And a visit to Red Wing MN last year reminded Friedman that technology is more that infrastructure, it’s about the skills to use it too…
Traveling with Dunne last year to Red Wing, Minn., to see how gigabit networks can support high-tech start-ups and traditional farmers, I wrote about a couple of inventors we met who had created a robotic rooster that patrols the poultry house for dead birds and tills the bedding, but with an unexpected byproduct: The birds exercise more and gain weight faster, because they are constantly running away from or pecking at the robot.
While these “Poultry Patrol” robots work autonomously 80 percent of the time, said Dunne, “there are significant periods when they need to be remotely operated and receive coding updates from afar, which is only possible with very fast broadband.”
But while better connectivity is necessary, it’s not sufficient. “We also need to ensure investment in digital skills training in rural communities and incentives for tech companies to hire remote workers in small towns,” added Dunne. “Today rural America represents 15 percent of the nation’s work force, but only 5 percent of digital economy jobs of the future. But the pandemic has opened people’s eyes to the idea that digital economy jobs can be created anywhere.”
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His time in Willmar shows too…
In Minnesota, small towns like Willmar that can manage inclusion and diversity are the ones now thriving, because they can attract new labor and home buyers when so many of the young white adults have left for the big cities.
Harris will soon be the first woman, the first Black and the first Indian-American vice president, which certainly resonates with a lot of urban voters. However, if she could make herself the person in the Biden cabinet who always shows up FIRST to listen in rural America and the FIRST to appreciate its concerns and the FIRST to make sure its concerns are addressed, she and the Democrats could make themselves competitive in a lot more rural counties.
Tech on the Rocks: Live! with Mignon Clyburn & Jonathan Sallet
Thursday 17 December
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
Hosted by the Institute for Technology Law & Policy
The COVID-19 pandemic and the fight for racial and social justice has the public asking why tens of millions of Americans, and particularly people of color, lack access to broadband Internet and what can be done to close this digital divide. The Benton Institute for Broadband and Society’s new report, Broadband for America Now, explores how we got here; and more importantly, what policies and practices are necessary to get every American connected. The institute is proud to host Jonathan Sallet, former FCC General Counsel and author of the report, and former FCC Commissioner and Benton Institute Board Member Mignon Clyburn. Gigi Sohn, Distinguished Fellow at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law & Policy and a Benton Fellow and Public Advocate will lead a special Tech on the Rocks Live Podcast to discuss the report’s recommendations and their prospects in a new Administration and Congress.
$6.25 billion for State Broadband Deployment and Broadband Connectivity grants to bridge the digital divide and ensure affordable access to broadband during the COVID 19 pandemic
$3 billion for an Emergency Educational Connectivity Fund to provide E-Rate support to educational and distance learning providers to provide hotspots, devices, and other connected devices, and advance digital equity/inclusion.
$200 million to Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to purchase and distribute Internet-connected devices to libraries in low-income and rural areas
$475 million to FCC COVID-19 Telehealth Program to support efforts of healthcare providers to address coronavirus, including a 20% set aside for small, rural health providers
$100 million to Department of Veterans Affairs for Telehealth and Connected Care Program to purchase, maintain, and refresh devices and services to veterans for provision of access to telehealth services
Unveils may be overstating it. Truth is US Internet sent me a link to their updated map for 2020 and 2021. I’m still not seeing anything east of the Mississippi – but at least I know. I appreciate the transparency! I’m pasting an image of the interactive map below.
ConnectedMN opens it’s second round of tech funding today! Here’s the latest from ConnectedMN…
We’re accepting applications for grants to bring tech devices, internet access, and digital learning support to students across the state, especially communities most in need, including students who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color, students from low-income families, and students residing in rural Minnesota.
Here’s a little background on ConnectedMN from their email alert…
Since early May 2020, the Partnership for ConnectedMN has worked as a public-private partnership to bring tech devices, internet access and programmatic support to students across the state. Over the last 7 months, we have raised and distributed $2.15 million in grants to organizations serving the connectivity and computing needs of an estimated 68,000 students and their families in urban and rural communities. With these resources, grantees are providing access to devices, internet connectivity, supportive mentors, coaching and tech support. We have also listened to community needs and connected organizations and providers in pursuit of devices and connectivity.
Today the Minnesota Broadband Coalition met. They spoke about what’s been happening with the Legislature (no broadband funding, but exposure) and what they are working on for next year. Top priorities are to get funding for the grants (in base budget) and funding for the Office of Broadband Development.
There was a big discussion on the impact of RDOF on broadband grant applications in the hopper now. The problem is that the Office of Broadband Development (OBD) is assessing grant applications now and RDOF funding was just awarded in areas that were also included in MN grant applications. A secondary problem, is that many people are skeptical that the big winner in Minnesota (LTD Broadband) will meet the needs of the communities they propose to serve. The OBD was unable to talk about the impact of the RDOF funding but they did say that they invited applicants to remove LTD RDOF areas from their current applications.
As predicted last week by a MN Broadband Task Force member, providers being forced to look at whether they will enter a market, now slated for LTD development.
A Coalition member mentioned a potential loop hole inherent in the RDOF process. Specifically, RDOF grants have been announced but not awarded. Grants are announced based on an applicant’s short form applications; Grants will be awarded based on whether their long forms are accepted.
The Office of Broadband Develop seems to have two choices – act as if they funds have been awarded or move forward as if they haven’t. Large swaths of unserved areas in Minnesota are in LTD proposed coverage areas. (Note blue areas in map at left below – and compare that to the map on the right, which show unserved areas in pink and served areas in green).
Map of proposed LTD areas
2020 broadband map
The RODF grants for LTD span 10 years, which means there’s the potential to put many communities in a waiting room unless/until they get coverage from LTD. But right now there’s an opportunity to help the communities who have potentially winning Minnesota grant applications.
Based on input from members, the Coalition is going to ask the OBD to move forward with grants without regard to RDOF.
Rep. Ecklund and Sen. Westrom Introduce Broadband Funding in Special Session 7
Saint Paul, Minn.—The MN Legislature convened for its seventh special session of 2020 on December 14. This was the first time lawmakers returned to the Capitol after the news that Minnesota was projected to have a $640 million budget surplus for the current year. Rob Ecklund (DFL-Int’l Falls) and Sen. Torrey Westrom (R-Elbow lake) introduced identical bills that would have sent $15 million to the current Border-to-Border grant cycle: SF 12 and HF 13. The Minnesota Rural Broadband Coalition sent a letter to the Governor and legislative leaders asking for their support of this legislation. You can read that letter here: link.
Unfortunately, broadband was not part of the final package passed by the House and Senate. Legislators chose to focus narrowly on relief for those businesses hit hardest by the recent shutdown orders. The $215 million bill included:
$88 million in grants to bars, restaurants, health clubs, bowling alleys, and other businesses
$14 million to movie theaters and convention centers
$115 million to counties for distribution to businesses and nonprofits
Waiving of various fees and permit costs such as 1 a.m. liquor licenses and wastewater fees for breweries and distilleries.
Legislators will convene the regular legislative session on January 5, 2021. The Coalition plans to ask for at least $70 million for broadband in the upcoming biennial budget talks.
This isn’t a grant writing guidebook. Rather, this document helps you design a foundation that enables your community to create something great. It gives you valuable tips and recommendations, plus the benefit other communities’ experiences. These pages also reflect lessons learned through many years of hightech marketing.
The guide emphasizes five areas:
Selling the goal is key
Proper previous planning gives proposals an edge
Grab your partner for the digital dance
Broadband & telehealth is a winning combo
Funding beyond the “Usual Suspects”
If you’re looking at trying to sell your network of project in the next year, this document would be helpful in getting you there – especially if you’re new to network funding.
Ecklund introduced:;:
H. F. No. 13, A bill for an act relating to telecommunications; transferring money for the broadband grant program.
The bill was read for the first time and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
And a quick update from Session Daily on emergency COVID funding…
The House and Senate agreed Monday on a proposal to provide $216.5 million to help businesses that have experienced a sales decline. As part of the year’s seventh special session — necessitated by Gov. Tim Walz extending his emergency powers in response to COVID-19 — members also agreed on a plan to extend unemployment benefits to applicants who have exhausted all available state and federal unemployment benefits.
As promised, there’s more commentary coming on the RDOF results. And as a quick reminder – LTD was awarded nearly $312 million to build Gigabit broadband in Minnesota in the next 10 years. People are skeptical that this will happen, as MinnPost reports…
In an interview, Corey Hauer, LTD Broadband’s CEO, said he was confident his company could grow fast and meet the challenge. But local competitors and broadband experts said they were concerned LTD could not deliver what it promised, especially since the company has focused primarily on wireless internet technology while it now promises fiber-optic connections.
The award came up at the last MN Broadband Task Forde meeting last Friday.
You can hear concern from at least one member about the ability of LTD (the big winner in Minnesota) to deploy the broadband that they have promised. The concern is multifaceted. Their primary concern with the federal funding is that it won’t happen. From the Task Force perspective, the greater concern is that legislators will assume that RDOF will serve the proposed areas and that therefore no further state funding is needed. An unintended consequence is that the promised funding might prevent other providers from going into those areas, companies that would have provided folks with speeds that would meet the MN broadband state goals. They are concerned that unlike what happens with Minnesota’s state program, the FCC will not follow through with oversight on provider performance.
Funny enough, an earlier iteration of the Broadband Task Force heard from LTD in February 2018. He spoke about their fixed wireless service – not fiber, which I think reflects the concerns that people have about LTD being able to fulfill the obligations it undertook through the RDOF application. They have a history of fixed wireless, not fiber. He also notes that speeds of 10/1 can be as welcome to some customers as 25/3. Again, this is from Feb 2018.
As you can hear, CEO Corey Hauser said that 80 percent of traffic comes from streamlining services. He spoke about the services they provided at the time:
3 Mbps
6 Mbps
10 Mbps
25 Mbps
(Presumably he is talking about download, since that was his focus.) He mentioned that Netflix usually required 2.5Mbps. He could only think of one use for Gig access – game updates. Then he outlines a number of applications and required speeds.
He spoke about cable companies and complaints about broadband pricing. And complaints about telecom broadband service in cities.
He spoke about utilities, building the case that a fixed wireless company has several options for broadband services. About minute 18:30 – he speaks about State funding for broadband – making the case that the State shouldn’t spend money “Cadillac” services when a lesser car will do. He’s annoyed that State funding has gone to overbuild areas where he already provides 25/3 services. He was annoyed because the services that he provided was not considered broadband by Minnesota statute. Annoyed at MN maps because they didn’t reflect his services.
He asks and answers: Why is fixed wireless best? Capital costs because he doesn’t have to spend money to reach every house until they want it. So a lower take rate isn’t a problem for LTD.
About minute 28:20, he speaks about TV White Spaces.
About min 29:42, he takes umbrage of the 25/3 speed goal as 10/1 is also a responsible service as compared to no service or satellite service. He also spoke about the CAF tiers – comparing the 25/3 and 10/1 tiers – saying both have their place.
It may be valuable to note that Reps Baker and Layman were in the meeting as well and clearly Rep Baker had been in earlier communication with LTD. It led to s discussion on government investing in technology that meets the needs today and in the future.
It would be great to see Minnesota get the upgrade that’s promised with RDOF funding – the concern is that it won’t happen and with a dibs on certain communities for 10 years, those communities are in danger of falling farther and farther behind.
His third recommendation is my favorite: It’s past time for Minnesota to finally make internet broadband universally available and affordable. Broadband is essential infrastructure for modern life.
“We haven’t made enough of an effort at broadband, and people really see that now,” Bakk said.
To gauge the deployment rates of advanced services by its member companies, for nearly two decades NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association (NTCA) has conducted its Broadband/Internet Availability Survey. NTCA is a national association representing nearly 850 rural rate-of-return regulated telecommunications providers in 45 states.
All NTCA members are small network operators that are “rural telephone companies” as defined in the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. All of NTCA’s
members are full service local exchange carriers and broadband service providers. Respondents to this
year’s survey report an average of 3,978 residential and 456 business fixed broadband connections in service.
It’s a look at how the non-national, local folks are doing. I look at these numbers and think about the Minnesota broadband goals of 25/3 by 2022 and 100/20 by 2026. I also think about the comparative goals – the ones that say Minnesota is aiming to be a broadband leader and I wonder if those speeds goals will still get us there.
And interesting to see the adoption spikes in the last year – likely due to increased need with the pandemic restrictions.
