Today the Office of Broadband Development presented to MN House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee. You can download the slides so I didn’t take a lot of notes on the presentation. (Also, it gets tough to video with one hand and type with the other.) But I did take notes on the questions. It’s always interesting to learn what the legislators are thinking and where there might be opportunities for learning more about broadband.

Questions –

Are we required to adhere to fair wage regulations?
no

Are installers qualified and unionized?
OBD does not regulate but we do pay attention.

Can we get more on line extension? How close
It varies. It might be new build. Former owner may have turned down earlier opportunities.

What is impact of inflation?
we are looking into that because there is concern that there won’t be enough money to meet our goals.

What is licensed fixed wireless?
We are agnostic for technologies. Feds consider fixed wireless to be broadband. We may need to resort to satellite if there are no providers interested in serving the area. We are looking to long time solutions.

Do you keep track of outages?
no. We don’t regulate or track.

Who oversees false claims of broadband speeds?
We do not but we do offer speed tests. We are asking the feds to put onus for testing on providers. Department of Commerce would oversee such issues.

Who applies for grants?
A variety of providers. Minnesota is lucky in the number of options.

Is there an interactive map?
yes