1. Monthly archive
  2. December 2009

December 2009

Recovery Act Investments in Broadband

By leveraging federal dollars, the Administration's Recovery Act investments will expand broadband access throughout the nation and provide more Americans—in both urban and rural areas—with the opportunity to succeed in the digital age. Among the awards are investments in "middle-mile" networks, which connect unserved or underserved communities to the Internet backbone. These investments will maximize the impact of federal dollars by encouraging private service providers to build connections to homes and businesses using the publicly funded infrastructure. In rural areas and areas with low population density that are difficult to reach, Recovery Act awards will fund investments in the "last mile" of service, which will help provide connections to homes and businesses that would otherwise go without highspeed Internet access. Recovery Act investments will also leverage federal dollars by targeting community institutions that provide critical services in urban and rural areas, including schools, libraries, and hospitals. Middle-mile projects will connect these institutions directly to broadband services, helping to improve the quality of their services and exposing new users to broadband opportunities at work, school, and other venues. Funding for public computer centers, including those in urban and suburban areas, will promote digital literacy among the new generation of workers through one-time investments in equipment, hardware and software, and basic training. These critical broadband investments will create tens of thousands of jobs and stimulate the economy in the near term. By providing broadband-enabled opportunities to previously underserved communities, these investments will also lay the foundation for long-term regional economic development and foster a digitally literate workforce that can compete in the new knowledge-based economy.

Boucher Sets House Telecom Agenda for 2010

[Commentary] In 2010, the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will focus on:

1) Reforming the Universal Service Fund through a measure Chairman Boucher co-authored with Rep Lee Terry (R-NE).

2) Ensuring ubiquitous availability of broadband through oversight of the Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan.

3) Protecting consumer privacy.

4) Freeing up spectrum for commercial wireless services.

Boucher Says 50mb/20mb Should Be Baseline of National Broadband Plan

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) shares what he believes should be in the National Broadband Plan: universal availability and higher speeds. "The Commission should explicitly endorse a goal for minimum broadband speeds, of at least 50 megabits downstream and 20 megabits upstream for 80 percent of the population by 2015," he said. "Without committing to such ambitious, but achievable, levels of speed and service, the promises of telemedicine, distance learning and telecommuting may remain a far-off dream rather than a near-term reality. If we fail to achieve such a goal, our nation will likely remain well behind other industrialized countries that are racing ahead and gaining a competitive advantage by doing so."

Broadband mapping group questioned

Connected Nation, which has received upward of $25 million in stimulus grant money to create state broadband maps, is subcontracting some of the work to other groups, raising questions about the efficient use of the money. The questions about Connected Nation come as prominent Republicans criticize stimulus spending as wasteful and ineffective. Internet advocates in Washington have already balked at the organization's eligibility for stimulus money because it is funded by large broadband providers such as AT&T, Verizon and Comcast--all of whom could benefit from how the Obama administration divvies up the dollars. "This is a non-profit controlled by telcos making the very maps that will decide how $7 billion will be spent," said Art Brodsky, communications director at Public Knowledge, who has been a vocal opponent of Connected Nation's involvement in the mapping process. "Why did they get the grants if they clearly can't do the work themselves and have to outsource?" The mapping grants are being allocated by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency within the Commerce Department. So far it has given out 21 grants totaling $39 million. The remaining grants will be announced this month. Connected Nation communications director Jessica Ditto said it is hiring a third-party to help turn the millions of raw data points it receives into readable maps. Ditto added that the contractors will not know which telecom provider's data they are processing in order to prevent any bias in the maps. On the concerns over industry ties, she said the majority of Connected Nation's funding comes from public foundations and that only a "small percentage" comes from telecom firms.

Commissioners Named to Serve on Three Key FCC Federal-State Advisory Panels

The Federal Communications Commission has appointed Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker to serve on the Federal-State Board on Universal Service and the Federal-State Board on Jurisdictional Separations. Commissioner Clyburn will serve as federal chair of both panels. Commissioner Michael Copps will continue to serve on both boards.

In addition, Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioners Clyburn and Baker will be members of the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services, joining Commissioners Copps and Robert McDowell on the panel. Commissioner Clyburn will also serve as federal chair of the Joint Conference.

The Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service was established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to implement the universal service provisions under the Act and to make recommendations on other universal service matters. It is comprised of three FCC commissioners, four state commissioners, and one state consumer advocate. One state commissioner, currently Oregon Public Utility Commissioner Ray Baum, serves as a co-chairman.

The Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations advises the FCC on matters concerning the apportionment of regulated costs between interstate and intrastate jurisdictions. The separations board is comprised of three FCC commissioners and four state commissioners. One state commissioner, currently South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner Steven Kolbeck, serves as co-chairman.

The Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services provides a forum for ongoing discussion on the development of broadband resources between the FCC, states, and local and regional entities. The joint conference is comprised of all five FCC commissioners and up to seven state commissioners.

Time capsule: The Rough Guide to the Internet... from 1999

1999 was in some ways a simpler time, a bygone era in which a leading Internet guidebook's first page could open with the question: "Okay, what's this Internet good for?" The book then follows this question up with a host of others. "Is there a lot of really weird stuff on the Net?" "But isn't it yet another male-dominated bastion?" "What's electronic mail, again?" "So, is this the Information Superhighway?" Well, yes, it is the "Information Superhighway," a term which itself sounds straight out of a previous century, but it's not the superhighway that we're driving on today. When Ars Science Editor John Timmer unearthed a copy of 1999's Rough Guide to the Internet, we decided to take a look back at just what has changed in the last decade—and what has remained depressingly the same.

Cable industry: at a Cross-Roads

[Commentary] The cable industry can, if strategically focused, take advantage of changes in the market by embracing change, letting go of the past, and moving forward to the future. Its message should be one of new innovations, a willingness to compete under a new market structure, and a helping hand in achieving broadband proliferation. These are the cross-roads the industry must face. The industry has its up-side, with a commercial business market largely untapped and held by incumbent phone companies for decades; a new venue of Internet Broadband viewing by an increasingly impatient consumer for change in the status-quo, therefore TV Everywhere; a Set-Top-Box market that begs for universal service across many mediums; and a mandate by regulators to increase broadband penetrations.

Benton Editorial

Why We Must Measure the Results of the $7.2 Billion in ARRA Broadband Funding

By Charles Benton and Kate Williams Ph.D.

On December 17, Vice President Joe Biden began rolling out $2 billion in broadband stimulus grants. Grants to extend broadband's reach across the country will be announced over the next 75 days.

Why is broadband data and research so critical? ARRA-funded projects represent an unprecedented opportunity to fill the enormous knowledge gap we have with respect to what works and what does not work in broadband deployment and broadband adoption.

© 1994-2024 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.