October 2009

America's 16,592 public library buildings provide communities of all sizes free access to computers and the Internet; formal classes and informal staff assistance using these technology assets; a wide range of Internet services including homework resources, digital reference and e-books; and wireless access to the Internet. Additional key findings include: 1) Libraries serve a unique and important role in providing free access to all types of information and telecommunications services. Just over 71 percent of libraries report that they are the only source of free access to computers and the Internet in their communities. Library staff report an increase in the use of library computers and Internet access for job-seeking and e-government purposes. 2) In a time of widespread economic turmoil, 14.3 percent of public libraries report decreased operating budgets in FY2009. Only 38 percent of libraries report budget increases at or above the rate of inflation. More than half (53 percent) of the state library agencies that provide state funding to public libraries report declining state funding in FY2009, according to questionnaires to the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA). 3) Public libraries are investing in and improving Internet access speeds, but they still find patron demands are growing faster than their ability to increase bandwidth. Nearly 60 percent of libraries report Internet connection speeds are insufficient to meet needs at some point in the day. Achieving sufficiency of public access to computers and the Internet is an elusive goal.

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission is working on what, in essence, is not a National Broadband Plan, but a National Communications Plan. And it isn't just about providing access to the web. It's about creating an infrastructure to link the country in much the same way that copper wires and phones linked the U.S. during the last century. We may look down on that network now, but millions of Americans still use it and it's served as the foundation upon which the web as we know it today has been built. Still, thanks to the fragmented nature of the technologies and types of businesses that deliver broadband, that idea of a unified communications infrastructure (as well as the need for it) is fading. Broadband, from the last mile that connects our homes to the long haul networks that move the traffic around the world, is our voice, our video, our web and our connection to one other. Our shared last mile networks are the party line equivalent of the telephone system for this century, and the FCC needs to help create regulations that take such a reality into account. No, getting broadband to everyone isn't a profitable proposition for the carriers, but the U.S. has a responsibility to make it happen.

The Federal Communications Commission has given the green light for a trans-Pacific fiber-optic cable funded by an international consortium that includes Google. The new cable, expected to be carrying data traffic by early next year, links the West Coast and Asia to meet the demand for more bandwidth to handle explosive global Internet communications. The FCC's go-head this week means the soon-to-be completed cable can now come ashore in Redondo Beach (CA). The Department of Homeland Security signed off on the plans Sept. 23. The 6,200-mile cable, costing about $300 million, is being funded by six companies that, in addition to Google, include telecommunications companies Bharti Airtel in India, SingTel of Singapore and Pacnet, a Hong Kong-based deep-sea fiber-optic cable network operator. The new cable will tap into two-thirds of all networks in Asia. Pacnet, the largest investor in the consortium (dubbed Unity) will control two of the five fiber pairs in the new cable. A fiber is about the size of a single human hair. Each pair of fiber cables is capable of carrying up to 960 gigabytes per second, roughly the amount needed for 15 million simultaneous voice calls. The cable is expected to initially increase transpacific "lit" cable capacity by about 20 percent, and could potentially add up to 7.68 terabytes per second of bandwidth.

It's become an almost Pavlovian response among Wall Street analysts and money managers: holding their noses when an executive proposes bringing content (movies and TV shows) and distribution (cable, satellite, and Internet) under one roof. But the NBCU deal could give a slowing Comcast a significant lift. People with knowledge of Comcast CEO Brian Roberts' thinking single out NBC's sports assets. The Peacock Network controls the rights through 2012 for the Olympics and through 2013 for Sunday night National Football League games. With NBC's high-end sports, Roberts could build Comcast's smallish Versus sports channel into a bigger player. And with the NFL as a partner, Roberts could be in a position to pressure the league to cut him in on an even more robust deal to carry more football games. With NBC, Roberts will "have effectively created a potent competitor to ESPN," says Neal Pilson, a former CBS sports executive who now consults. Pilson figures Comcast will use NBC Sports' national platform to complement its 11 regional sports networks, which include major markets such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Throw in Comcast's Golf Channel and Versus, which has college football and pro hockey games, and the new entity clearly would give agita to executives at ESPN headquarters.