Category Archives: Wireless

LTD Broadband expand wireless service to Kandiyohi County

Posted on by
Reply

The West Central Tribune reports…

LTD Broadband recently expanded wireless service to the lakes area of Kandiyohi County with the installation of LTE equipment on water towers in Spicer, on Green Lake, in New London and a tower site by Long Lake.

The company now has 120 towers in Kandiyohi County bringing wireless internet service to rural areas that lack broadband or are underserved.

The newly installed equipment will allow internet download speeds up to 25 mbps with no data caps.

LTD Broadband uses a hybrid fiber and fixed wireless network that provides fast speeds while keeping prices low, especially for customers in remote or sparsely populated rural neighborhoods that are often difficult to serve in a cost-effective way.

“We believe that leveraging existing fiber to deliver high-speed fixed wireless is the best way to continue to expand broadband availability in rural areas,” said Corey Hauer, CEO.

Looks like it happened with the help of Representative Baker…

“This was definitely an area with a need for a better broadband option — and we didn’t have a solution until Rep. Dave Baker linked us up with Kandi Power. Quite simply, we could not have brought service to this area without their help,” Hauer said.

Letter to the Editor – AT&T is investing in northwestern Minnesota

Posted on by
Reply

The Crookston Times posts a letter to the editor from Paul Weirtz, state president of AT&T Minnesota…

Mobile internet coverage is always a hot topic these days, especially in northwestern Minnesota. That’s why I wanted to take an opportunity to highlight some good news AT&T has to offer residents here.

Over the last five years, AT&T has made 115 upgrades to expand our network and boost coverage and reliability in Polk County and the surrounding counties of Kittson, Marshall, Pennington, Red Lake and Rosseau. This includes 36 network upgrades in Crookston, East Grand Forks, and Thief River Falls.

Just last month, we expanded our 4G LTE wireless network in the area with upgrades to an AT&T cell site on Highway 64 west of Thief River Falls. With these enhancements, AT&T customers will experience faster, more reliable wireless service.

We know residents and businesses are doing more with their wireless devices than ever before, and our goal is to give them an effortless network experience, not only in northwestern Minnesota but throughout the state.

That’s why AT&T is committed to investing in our wireless networks across Minnesota. We invested nearly $350 million in our Minnesota networks from 2014 to 2016. In 2017, we made 976 network enhancements across 299 communities in the state, including new cell sites, network upgrades, and capacity expansions. And we are continuing to invest in our networks this year. In fact, expanding our network in Minnesota has given AT&T the most wireless coverage in the state.

Not only do these investments boost reliability, coverage and speed, they also improve critical services that support public safety and first responders.

This is important because last year, Minnesota opted in to FirstNet, accepting a plan from the FirstNet Authority and AT&T to deliver a wireless broadband platform to the state’s public safety community. We are very proud that AT&T, in a public-private partnership with the FirstNet Authority, will build, operate and maintain a highly secure wireless broadband communications platform for Minnesota’s public safety community for the next 25 years at no cost to the state. The FirstNet experience will deliver innovation and create an entire system of modernized devices, apps and tools for first responder subscribers of the service.

As a member of the Governor’s Broadband Task Force, I know full well the benefits of broadband deployment.

I’m very proud of AT&T’s commitment to investing in our networks in Minnesota, and I’m excited for what the future holds.

Paul Weirtz, state president
AT&T Minnesota

 

Broadband service spreading in rural Murray, Pipestone counties

Posted on by
Reply

The Globe reports on a process that Nobles, Murray and Pipestone Counties have used to move to better broadband in their areas…

The widespread utility of broadband has led several southwest Minnesota counties to invest their time and money into researching the topic, and make serious progress in the process.

In 2016, Nobles County conducted a broadband feasibility study with CCG and Slayton-based Finley Engineering. Shortly after, the state’s Border-to-Border grant program awarded Lismore Cooperative Telephone nearly $3 million to create a hybrid fiber and wireless network that will provide baseline broadband speeds to most of the county and ultra-fast fiber to hundreds of homes. The project is expected to be completed by mid-2018.

Last year, Murray County and Pipestone County partnered with four other southwest Minnesota counties and the Blandin Foundation to conduct feasibility studies — also done by Finley and CCG — in hopes of getting a similar outcome.

Pipestone County’s study was completed in February 2017, and later that year, Ruthton-based Woodstock Telephone received a $363,851 grant from the Minnesota Border-to-Border Broadband to provide fixed wireless broadband to rural Pipestone County.

Murray County is still working on access…

“The county does not plan to build a broadband network but is open to talking with providers who are interested in extending service to our citizens and may need financial assistance to do so,” Rucker said. “Murray County had the feasibility study completed so that any provider who wants to extend broadband service to our unserved and underserved areas could use the study as background to apply for state or federal grants to do so.”

The county has seen significant broadband investment from Woodstock since 2015, when it installed two wireless broadband towers around Lake Shetek. It continued over the last two years, installing eight internet coverage sites in the area, including towers in Lake Wilson, Slayton and Edgerton. The company plans to add another tower south of Chandler this year.

The towers, which are fed with fiber, provide 50Mbps download speeds at a range of six miles, according to Terry Nelson, Woodstock general manager. The speeds and service can vary, however, as wireless internet can be disrupted by geographical features such as hills, trees and windmills.

“We’ve done wireless in a lot of these areas, but there’s still little pockets that we can’t hit with some of our wireless,” Nelson said. “I would definitely never say the county is 100 percent covered, because it’s not.”

An October 2017 report from the state found 99.8 percent of Murray County households have access to 25/3 broadband — up from 50.47 percent in July 2016 — and more than 52.9 percent can access 100/20 — up from 41.56 percent. The numbers in Pipestone County are 97.87 and 79.73 percent — up from 79.36 and 44.54 percent, respectively — but Dawson said the numbers shouldn’t be relied on.

Counties recognize wireless as a means to meeting 2022 state goals, but at looking for fiber to reach 2026 goals…

Minnesota wants 25/3 speeds mandated statewide by 2022. By 2026, the required numbers will be raised to 100/20. Reaching those speeds consistently is nearly impossible with wireless internet, Dawson said.

“The wireless that we’re talking about is capable of that within a mile or so, but you would have to put a cell site at every farm — that’s not going to happen,” he said.

Instead, broadband experts agree the ultimate solution is delivering fiber-to-the-home, reliably delivering 1-gigabit (1000Mbps) speeds.

Lismore Telephone is installing fiber to every household in Leota and Wilmont and hundreds of homes along its 135-mile fiber ring, but it is expensive. In addition to $6 million between the state and Nobles County, the county had to throw in an addition $1 million in cash and $2.57 million in taxable general obligation tax abatement bonds to make it work.

That’s with fiber costing around $20,000 per mile, and the price won’t be coming down any time soon, Dawson said.

“You are already in a state where fiber is as cheap as it will possibly be,” Dawson said. “With 50-foot deep soil, they can get it in real easy. Minnesota can bury fiber for $20,000 a mile, where in a lot of parts of the country, that’s $50,000 a mile.”

For Woodstock, a successful fiber formula has been delivering directly to large businesses, where the return on investment makes it doable.

Details on new wifi connection in and around Rochester MN

Posted on by
Reply

Here are details on a new network around Rochester, Minnesota from a press release from Calix, a vendor serving equipment used in the network…

Calix, Inc. (NYSE:CALX) today announced Minnesota WiFi, a wireless Internet service provider (WISP) based in southern Minnesota, is leveraging Calix Cloud and Mesh-Enhanced Carrier Class Wi-Fisolutions to bring its managed Wi-Fi service to residential and business subscribers across six counties. Through the superior performance of the Calix GigaCenters, Minnesota WiFi has dramatically improved the broadband speeds and cloud-based services for its subscribers, allowing local businesses to thrive and residents to maintain their rural, teleworking lifestyle. With Calix Cloud in place, Minnesota WiFi has also been able to improve its support for these subscribers as the remote troubleshooting capabilities have resulted in faster call time resolution and fewer costly truck rolls.

“In the 13 communities Minnesota WiFi serves in and around Rochester, our broadband service enables our subscribers to enjoy the comforts of rural living while being able to take advantage of the same level of service they would find in a big city,” said Darin Steffl, owner of Minnesota WiFi. “Many of our subscribers rely on Wi-Fi for high-bandwidth applications like VPN connections to the Mayo Clinic to work remotely or for transferring huge satellite images of farmland for agricultural tile drainage. We found phenomenal performance and coverage from the Calix GigaCenters, especially in the 5Ghz band. The GigaCenters blew away all other dual-band Wi-Fi routers, which helps our business subscribers succeed and supports our residential subscribers who are streaming media and gaming more than ever before. We are thrilled that through our investment of these next generation technologies from Calix we can meet our goals of both enabling our communities to succeed while finding new ways to streamline our operations.”

Regulators Urged To Examine T-Mobile-Sprint’s Impact On Broadband

Posted on by
Reply

Digital News Daily reports…

Senate Democrats are urging regulators to scrutinize whether T-Mobile’s proposed $26 billion acquisition of Sprint will harm consumers, including ones who primarily connect to the internet through their phones.

“We urge you to closely review this transaction to ensure that it does not threaten to harm consumers or competition in the wireless market,” Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and others write in a letter to the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission.

The lawmakers’ letter comes one week after T-Mobile and Sprint said they had agreed to merge, leaving the country with three major wireless carriers. Klobuchar and the other lawmakers — Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) — say the deal raises concerns.

Arvig is bringing fiber to the tower across Minnesota

Posted on by
Reply

Global Newswire reports…

Arvig, a Minnesota-based broadband service provider, revealed today that it has surpassed bringing service to more than 500 cellular towers across 13 states.

Arvig made the decision in 2015 to start working directly with the major wireless carriers as a backhaul aggregator. Utilizing providers such as Arvig helps the wireless carriers accommodate increasing traffic and improve the overall customer experience for now (LTE and 4G) and in the future (5G). The company deploys dark fiber infrastructure and lit service to macro towers as well as small cells.

In 2017, Arvig installed approximately 415 route miles of fiber throughout the state of Minnesota and beyond.

Dave Schornack, Director of Business Development and Sales at Arvig, said, “As the demand for bandwidth continues to grow, we are well-positioned to provide solutions for carriers because of our broad footprint across Minnesota and connections to other providers across the region.”

Sen Klobuchar Urges Dep of Justice and FCC to Review T-Mobile’s Acquisition of Sprint

Posted on by
Reply

From Senator Klobuchar’s press release…

Klobuchar, Senators Urge Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission to Review Whether T-Mobile’s Acquisition of Sprint will Hurt Competition and Harm Consumers

Merging T-Mobile, the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, with Sprint, the fourth-largest wireless carrier, would reduce the number of national wireless carriers to just three

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) led a group of senators in a letter to the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) expressing serious concerns regarding T-Mobile US, Inc.’s (T-Mobile) proposed acquisition of Sprint Corporation (Sprint). This transaction would combine T-Mobile, the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States with over 72 million customers, with Sprint, the fourth-largest wireless carrier with over 54 million customers, reducing the number of wireless carriers from four national competitors to three. The letter asked that the DOJ and FCC carefully consider: (1) the impact of reducing the number of national wireless carriers from four to three; (2) how the proposed merger would affect lower-cost options for wireless service; (3) whether specific regions, particularly rural areas, would be disproportionately affected by the proposed transaction; and (4) the proposed transaction’s likely effect on innovation of wireless networks and other technologies.

Joining Klobuchar on the letter were Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Tom Udall (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

“As more than three-quarters of American adults now own smartphones, including many who depend on these devices for their primary connection to the internet, an anticompetitive acquisition in the wireless market could result in higher prices for American consumers or force some people to forego their internet connection altogether,” the senators wrote. “Senior leaders at DOJ and the FCC have also previously raised concerns about this proposed merger and expressed skepticism for the very reason that reducing the number of wireless carriers from four to three would adversely affect competition in the wireless market… The Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission must carefully consider whether the proposed transaction may lessen competition or harm consumers.”

The full text of the letter can be found below:

Dear Assistant Attorney General Delrahim and Chairman Pai:

We write to raise serious concerns regarding T-Mobile US, Inc.’s (T-Mobile) proposed acquisition of Sprint Corporation (Sprint). As more than three-quarters of American adults now own smartphones, including many who depend on these devices for their primary connection to the internet, an anticompetitive acquisition in the wireless market could result in higher prices for American consumers or force some people to forego their internet connection altogether.

It is for these reasons that we urge you to closely review this transaction to ensure that it does not threaten to harm consumers or competition in the wireless market. Specifically, we ask that you carefully consider: (1) the impact of reducing the number of national wireless carriers from four to three; (2) how the proposed merger would affect lower-cost options for wireless service; (3) whether specific regions, particularly rural areas, would be disproportionately affected by the proposed transaction; and (4) the proposed transaction’s likely effect on innovation of wireless networks and other technologies.

This transaction would combine T-Mobile, the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States with over 72 million customers, with Sprint, the fourth-largest wireless carrier with over 54 million customers, reducing the number of wireless carriers from four national competitors to three. The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have previously raised concerns regarding consolidation in the wireless market. Both agencies opposed AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile in 2011. Senior leaders at DOJ and the FCC have also previously raised concerns about this proposed merger and expressed skepticism for the very reason that reducing the number of wireless carriers from four to three would adversely affect competition in the wireless market. Former Assistant Attorney General William Baer stated that “[I]t’s going to be hard for someone to make a persuasive case that reducing four firms to three is actually going to improve competition for the benefit of American consumers.” And former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said “[f]our national wireless providers are good for American consumers.” Now that T-Mobile and Sprint have formally signed an agreement to merge, we urge you to closely evaluate the parties’ arguments concerning the potential benefits of this merger, especially in light of your agency’s previous emphasis on the importance of maintaining four national competitors in the wireless market.

We also ask that both of your agencies carefully consider T-Mobile and Sprint’s direct competition against each other as the two lower-cost alternatives to AT&T and Verizon. T-Mobile and Sprint have led the way in offering wireless products and service options that are more appealing to lower-income consumers, including no contract plans, prepaid and no credit check plans, and unlimited text, voice, and data plans. These lower-cost options are especially important for Americans who rely on mobile broadband as their primary or only internet connection. Further concentration in the wireless market could also result in increased pricing network access for Mobile Virtual Network Operators, wireless providers who purchase wholesale wireless network access and offer low-cost wireless alternatives.

In addition to reviewing the nationwide impact of consolidation in the wireless industry, we urge your agencies to examine whether any regions will face disproportionate harm as a result of the proposed merger. In rural areas of the United States, access to reliable cell coverage has a significant impact on local economies and public safety. A review of the proposed merger should evaluate potential effects on competition and service access in rural areas, particularly those covered only by Sprint and T-Mobile. As the parties are reported to have already executed a roaming agreement that would expand coverage to their customers in the absence of the merger, it will be important to focus on the benefits that can only be achieved as a direct result of the merger.

Finally, the potential effects on wireless network innovation are an important aspect of this transaction. T-Mobile and Sprint claim that the proposed merger will allow them to more quickly build a nationwide 5G network. However, T-Mobile has shown that it is already capable of rapidly creating and expanding a nationwide network independently when it deployed nationwide LTE faster than Verizon and AT&T. The transaction would also eliminate Sprint as an independent force for innovation. In addition, we are concerned that the execution of this merger agreement may discourage near-term incentives to invest in research and development at T-Mobile and Sprint as the two companies focus on navigating the merger review process.

The Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission must carefully consider whether the proposed transaction may lessen competition or harm consumers. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Pipestone County Broadband Feasibility Study: building broadband will require grants

Posted on by
Reply

With funding from the Blandin Foundation, Pipestone County worked with Finley Engineering and CCG Consulting on a study that would look at if and how the county might take on bringing better broadband to all corners of the county.

Here’s the executive summary of the Pipestone County Broadband Feasibility Study – check out the full study for greater details and next steps…

Finley Engineering and CCG Consulting submit this report of our findings and recommendations for the feasibility of finding a broadband solution for those parts of the county without broadband today. The county is typical of many rural counties where a substantial part of the county has or will soon have good broadband, including fiber, while other parts of the county have little or no broadband. The county is a textbook example of broadband haves and have-nots—with those without broadband living close to others that have it. This disparity will eventually harm those portions of the county without broadband and you can expect those areas to suffer lower housing prices and become places where families and business don’t want to be located.

Our study area looked at the feasibility of bringing broadband to the parts of the county that are not expected to have fiber construction over the next few years. We looked at three different business plan scenarios for getting broadband to everyone: 1) building fiber everywhere, 2) a hybrid plan that has a mix of fiber and fixed-wireless broadband and that covers the whole study area, and 3) a plan that just brings wireless broadband to the rural areas. Finley Engineering developed estimates of the cost of deploying each network option and CCG used these costs in the financial business plans to see if there is an economically viable model for providing broadband in the rural areas.

For each scenario we looked at a number of different options. For example, we looked at the difference of funding the project with municipal bonds or with commercial loans. We looked at different levels of customer penetration, including calculating the breakeven scenario, which determined the number of customers needed for the business to always be able to cover costs and remain cash positive. We also looked at the impact of the most import variables in the forecasts including customer pricing, interest rates on debt, and having the projects partially funded by grants.

Our analysis shows that it is not feasible to build broadband in the study area without some support from grants. That is not a surprising finding since the cost of building broadband to rural areas is high. This is particularly pronounced in Pipestone County since the areas we studied are entirely rural and don’t include small towns that might reduce the cost of building broadband. The analysis also shows that it will require more than the 50% grant offered currently by DEED if somebody wants to build fiber to the rural areas. We’ve seen this same result in other rural counties since the cost of building fiber to farms is so high.

It looks more feasible to provide wireless broadband to the study area. We know that is not the result the county was hoping for, but the Finley analysis provides for a fiber-fed wireless network that can provide speeds of at least 25 Mbps download to rural homes in the county. That would solve the immediate crisis for homes with no broadband. However, once built, the county will have to continue to push in the future to eventually get the network converted over to fiber.

The county has already taken the first steps of presenting these study results to potential service providers. Hopefully one or more of them will be able to seek grant funding from Minnesota DEED in the upcoming grant cycle this fall. But if that doesn’t happen then there are steps the county can take to be prepared to support a grant filing for next year.

Lincoln County Broadband Feasibility Study: wireless is more affordable but not permanent fix

Posted on by
Reply

With funding from the Blandin Foundation, Lincoln County worked with Finley Engineering and CCG Consulting on a study that would look at if and how the county might take on bringing better broadband to all corners of the county.

Here’s the executive summary of the Lincoln County Broadband Feasibility Study – check out the full study for greater details and next steps…

Finley Engineering and CCG Consulting submit this report of our findings and recommendations for the feasibility of finding a broadband solution for those parts of the county without broadband today. The county is typical of many rural counties where a substantial part of the county has or will soon have good broadband, including fiber, while other parts of the county have little or no broadband. This disparity in broadband coverage will eventually harm those portions of the county without broadband and you can expect those areas to suffer lower housing prices and become places where families and business don’t want to be located.

Our study area looked at the feasibility of bringing broadband to the parts of the county that are not expected to have fiber construction over the next few years. In Lincoln County that means the rural areas served Frontier Communications and CenturyLink. The western part of the county is served today by Interstate Telephone Cooperative, and those areas are expected to get fiber. The study area also excludes all of the towns in the county except Arco since the other towns are served by Mediacom.

We then looked at two different business plan scenarios for getting broadband to everyone: building fiber everywhere and building a hybrid network that is a mix of fiber and fixed wireless. Finley Engineering developed estimates of the cost of deploying each network option and CCG used these costs in the financial business plans to see if there is an economically viable model for providing broadband in the rural areas.

The primary purpose of the study was to determine the breakeven penetration level for the rural study area. This represents the number of customers necessary for the scenario to always remain cash positive throughout the life of the financing. This analysis told us the following:

  • It does not look to be economically feasible to build fiber to the study area without significant grant funding. This is not a surprising finding and is directly the result of the high cost of building fiber to farms.
  • The scenarios that mix fiber and wireless technology look feasible. The scenarios can work even without grant funding, but some level of grant funding make the scenarios safer for an investor.

The wireless network designed by Finley is intended to supply at least 25 Mbps download to rural homes in the county, which is a significant improvement for those homes with no broadband today. Some customers will be able to get speeds faster than that on the wireless network.

However, implementing a wireless network would not be a permanent solution. All of the broadband trends in the country show that the amount of bandwidth needed by a typical home will keep growing, and at some point in the future the wireless network will become obsolete in the same manner that happened in the past with dial-up and DSL broadband.

The report discusses the next steps the county needs to take after digesting the results of this study. These include such things as looking for a partner to bring broadband to those areas without it today. The goal would be to have a partner by next year to hopefully be ready for future state grant funding.

Yellow Medicine County Broadband Feasibility Study: wireless is a temporary solution, grants needed for fiber builds

Posted on by
Reply

With funding from the Blandin Foundation, Yellow Medicine County worked with Finley Engineering and CCG Consulting on a study that would look at if and how the county might take on bringing better broadband to all corners of the county.

Here’s the executive summary of the Yellow Medicine County Broadband Feasibility Study – check out the full study for greater details and next steps…

Finley Engineering and CCG Consulting submit this report of our findings and recommendations for the feasibility of finding a broadband solution for those parts of the county without broadband today. The county is typical of many rural counties where a substantial part of the county has or will soon have good broadband, including fiber, while other parts of the county have little or no broadband. This disparity in broadband coverage will eventually harm those portions of the county without broadband and you can expect those areas to suffer lower housing prices and become places where families and business don’t want to be located.

Our study area looked at the feasibility of bringing broadband to the parts of the county that are not expected to have fiber construction over the next few years. We considered three different study areas looking at different parts of the county. We then looked at two different business plan scenarios for getting broadband to everyone: building fiber everywhere and building a hybrid network that is a mix of fiber and fixed wireless. Finley Engineering developed estimates of the cost of deploying each network option and CCG used these costs in the financial business plans to see if there is an economically viable model for providing broadband in the rural areas.

The primary purpose of the study was to determine the breakeven penetration level for each scenario. This represents the number of customers necessary for the scenario to always remain cash positive throughout the life of the financing. This analysis told us the following:

  • It does not look to be economically feasible to immediately build fiber everywhere without significant grant funding. This is not a surprising finding and is directly the result of the high cost of building fiber to farms.
  • The scenarios that mix fiber and wireless technology look feasible. The scenarios can work even without grant funding, but some level of grant funding make the scenarios safer for an investor.

The wireless network designed by Finley is intended to supply at least 25 Mbps download to rural homes in the county, which is a significant improvement for those homes with no broadband. Some customers will be able to get speeds faster than that on the wireless network.

However, implementing a wireless network would not be a permanent solution. All of the broadband trends in the country show that the amount of bandwidth needed by a typical home will keep growing, and at some point in the future the wireless network will become obsolete in the same manner that happened in the past with dial-up and DSL broadband.

The report discusses the next steps the county needs to take after digesting the results of this study. These include such things as looking for a partner to bring broadband to those areas without it today. The goal would be to have a partner by next year to hopefully be ready for future state grant funds.

We note that as this report was being written that the county announced a tentative agreement with Farmers Mutual Cooperative to bring fiber to a significant portion of the county. The county has agreed to provide $4 million in funding subject to the Cooperative being able to find grants and other funding needed to build the project. If completed this project would cover a little less than half of the parts of the county that don’t have broadband today.

Broadband video clips from House Omnibus Meeting (HF4289) from April 18

Posted on by
Reply

I wrote earlier today about the results of the Omnibus discussion from yesterday. (There are plans to discuss the bill tonight.) I have just pulled out the clips related to broadband.

Clips are grouped by topics – then included chronologically.

First is testimony from the Commissioner of DEED (MN Department of Employment and Economic Development) on the funding for proposed broadband grants. In response there’s Representative Baker and Representative Layman in their support for broadband funding.

Next is testimony from T-Mobile on the proposed $3000 cap for wireless applications fees to local government. (Wireless companies request permission to collocate equipment from local government; usually local governments need to hire third parties to help assess the applications. The proposed bill would cap that fee.) The next testimony comes from the League of MN Cities; they oppose the $3000 cap.

FirstNet Brings Additional Coverage and Capacity to Minnesota to Support Public Safety Communications

Posted on by
Reply

Big news on the FirstNet front from AT&T in MInnesota…

FirstNet Band 14 Deployment Underway to Further Enhance Emergency Response Across the State

ST. CLOUD, Minn., April 17, 2018 – Additional coverage and capacity is coming to Minnesota’s first responders with the deployment of FirstNet’s public safety spectrum, called Band 14. This will help first responders across the state stay connected to the information they need when responding to emergencies, supporting large events or handling day-to-day operations.

FirstNet is the country’s first nationwide public safety communications platform dedicated to first responders when they need it. Built with AT&T*, in public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority, it gives first responders’ communications capabilities a much-needed technology upgrade.

Recognizing its value, Governor Mark Dayton opted in to the FirstNet state plan in October 2017 to bring Minnesota’s first responders a reliable, highly secure and “always-on” connection.

“FirstNet is dramatically enhancing police work across Minnesota by giving law enforcement access to the most advanced communications capabilities available today,” said First Responder Network Authority Board Member Richard Stanek, who has served as the Sheriff of Hennepin County since 2007. “It will also modernize communications used by fire, EMS and other public safety personnel. This will help all first responders maintain the safety of our neighborhoods and communities, so it’s exciting to see FirstNet’s progress continue with the deployment of Band 14.”

AT&T and the First Responder Network Authority recently announced the launch of the nationwide buildout of FirstNet using Band 14.

Band 14 is high-quality wireless spectrum set aside by the government specifically for FirstNet. It provides good propagation in urban and rural areas, penetrating buildings and walls easily and covering larger geographic areas with less infrastructure. Band 14 also enables high-power user equipment with the ability to radiate at levels 6 times that typically allowed on an LTE system. This means that, as Band 14 is deployed, we can extend the range of LTE coverage much further than it reaches today.

“FirstNet is bringing Minnesota’s public safety community the tools they need to help them respond to any emergency, anywhere,” said Paul Weirtz, president of AT&T Minnesota. “And the deployment of public safety’s spectrum is a big next step in the ongoing build of FirstNet, helping to connect our first responders across agencies, jurisdictions and even state lines, so they can stay safe and save lives.”

After Band 14 is deployed, when FirstNet subscribers are not using that spectrum to support their public safety needs, it can be used to improve service for all AT&T wireless customers across Minnesota. This means they’ll have access to even more coverage and capacity – when not in use by first responders – as Band 14 is built out across the state.

In addition to the FirstNet build, AT&T invested nearly $350 million in its Minnesota wireless and wired networks from 2014-2016. These investments boosted reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for public safety as well as for Minnesotans and their businesses.

AT&T continued its investment in Minnesota in 2017. Expanding its network in the area has given AT&T the most wireless coverage in Minnesota, and AT&T plans to keep upgrading its network throughout 2018.

Since FirstNet service is an all-band solution – which means it can utilize AT&T’s LTE bands in addition to Band 14 – we’re well positioned to bring Minnesota’s public safety community the best network possible with the coverage and capacity they need to achieve their life-saving missions.

Wireless facility application fees limit bill in MN Senate not being moved to Omnibus (SF3166)

Posted on by
Reply

The discussion on wireless facility application fee immediately followed a more direct broadband bill discussion in the House. So I’ve done what I can to capture it in video. Key here is that it is NOT being moved to Omnibus!

Details on meeting:
Committee on Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy
 Chair: Sen. David J. Osmek
1 p.m. April 12, 2018
Room 1150 Minnesota Senate Bldg.

Bill related to limiting fees for certain wireless facility applications (SF 3166) to be discussed April 12

Posted on by
Reply

I wrote about this bill introduction earlier…

S.F. No. 3166: A bill for an act relating to telecommunications; limiting application fees for certain wireless facility applications; amending Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 462.353, by adding a subdivision; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 394.

It is on the legislative agenda for April 12…

Thursday, April 12, 2018 – 1:00 PM

Committee on Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy
Chair: Sen. David J. Osmek
1 p.m.
Room 1150 Minnesota Senate Bldg.

Hearing on SF 3166 will be informational only; no action taken

Agenda:
S.F. 3166-Hall: Wireless facility application fees limit.

S.F. 2713-Dibble: Energy storage systems advance determination of prudence authorization.

National discussion of small cell collocation continues although Minnesota’s decisions were made last year

Posted on by
Reply

Small cell equipment collocation policy decisions were made in Minnesota last year. The timing worked so that the wireless providers could prepare for the Super Bowl. (Just last month House Job Growth and Energy Affordability Policy and Finance Committee heard about the results of the policy – especially how it streamlined the Super Bowl preparation.) At that meeting I heard AT&T mention testing in rural areas. I am very interested in learn more about that! I remember last year that the negotiation for the bill was hard fought – because both side had good points. People want wireless. People want local control of public rights of way. People want to know who is going to pay for or be responsible for what.

The discussion of small cell collocation continues outside of Minnesota. I’m including it here because it’s an interesting reminder of the different cards that public and private entities hold and how that has an impact on the game of getting better broadband to everyone. I think the answer in Minnesota worked for the Twin Cities and worked for the Super Bowl; again I’m interested in learning more about the impact in rural areas…

Thirty-Six Mayors and Elected Leaders Send Letter to FCC in Defense of Local Decision-Making Around 5G Investments

Letter Accompanied by New Market Research Revealing 5G, Smart City Deployment Trends Surveying 175+ Communities

Washington, DC (March 15, 2018) — Thirty-six mayors and elected local leaders from the bipartisan membership organization Next Century Cities sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today in defense of local decision-making around 5G investments, small cell deployment, and the use of public rights-of-way. Next Century Cities also released new research the organization commissioned that surveyed 176 community officials on 5G and small cell deployments and smart city applications.

 

Three mayors who signed the letter and the key researcher for the new survey will be on a media call TODAY at 1pm ET to answer questions (dial-in: (872) 240-3412; Access Code: 310-203-829).

 

The mayoral letter to the FCC pushes back on the narrative that local leaders are a barrier to small cell deployment, instead calling for collaboration between industry and municipalities. The 36 signatories, who together represent nearly 8 million Americans, include Austin Mayor Steve Adler, Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan, and San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who recently resigned from the FCC’s Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) because of similar concerns.

 

“As mayors, we feel that some commissioners have wrongly cast local governments as a main barrier to next generation wireless deployments, using us as a scapegoat for larger issues: “We are concerned that the Commission will take actions that harm the public by decreasing our local authority without actually resolving the key problems that are limiting increased investment in better networks,” the letter states. Read the full letter here.

 

Next Century Cities also released new research, conducted by independent researcher RVA LLC, that includes survey results from 176 local government employees about the primary objectives and concerns of local leaders around smart city technology and small cell deployment.

 

“We are pleased to release this independently conducted research on how and where 5G is being considered and deployed, as well as the status of smart cities applications currently in use. Contrary to the narrative that locally elected officials are a barrier to implementation, they are in fact eager to collaborate with providers to expedite the deployment of the necessary infrastructure to bring innovation and opportunity to their communities,” said Deb Socia, Executive Director of Next Century Cities.

 

According to the research, small cell deployment is well underway. Nearly half of respondents (44%) have deployed small cells in their communities, while an additional 26% are considering deployment. As deployment spreads, local leaders indicated widespread concern around federal and state preemption: 84% of survey respondents believed that state laws under consideration related to pole use for small cells were negative to their community, while only 3% believed they were positive. See the full research here and a Fact Sheet with more details here.

The new 5G/smart city survey also found that small cell deployment is mostly happening in larger communities that have fiber. For instance, 93% of communities with populations larger than 500,000 responded that they were pursuing smart city applications.