10 Mbps Broadband Necessary for State Economic Development, Says NARUC Official

State and local governments said during a Federal Communications Commission workshop on Tuesday that extending broadband is important for economic development purposes. Among the programs discussed at the workshop were those with the past goal of expanding broadband services into areas which were once inaccessible to any form of Internet service, and providing education for these services. "Areas of the country that don't have access to broadband services of at least 10 Megabits [per second (Mbps)] in the next five years will be as economically disadvantaged as those areas in the first half of the 20th century that did not have paved roads or electricity," said Ray Baum, commissioner of the Oregon Public Utilities Commission and head of the National Association of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners committee on telecommunications. He said that 10 Mbps was the minimum necessary as the base of broadband for services, including health care and education. However, before the expansion of accessible broadband reaches rural areas, digital literacy, or education in the use of computers and broadband services is a necessity, said Jane Smith Patterson, executive director of e-NC Authority in North Carolina.