February 2010

An International Look at High-Speed Broadband

Similar to highways, bridges, and dams, broadband and wireless represent infrastructures that make it possible for businesses to stay connected, innovate, and create jobs. Just as we need a strong interstate highway system and viable mass transit, we require accessible and affordable broadband so that businesses and consumers can reap the benefits of broadband and wireless technology.

In this report, West looks at what other countries are doing in terms of broadband applications. Specifically, he examines four policy questions: 1) what broadband speeds are countries aiming for in their national plans? 2) how are various nations paying for necessary broadband investments? 3) what new applications become available at various broadband speeds? and 4) how valuable do other locales see broadband for the economy, social connections, civic engagement, and public sector service delivery?

Department of Agriculture Announces 11 BIP Awards

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the selection of eleven broadband infrastructure projects to enable rural residents in nine states to have access to improved economic and educational opportunities. In all, over $277 million will be invested in the 11 projects through funding made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. An additional $1.6 million in private investment will be provided in matching funds.

Indiana
• Smithville Telephone Company, Inc.: $37,729,143 loan. The funding will provide 3,815 households, 209 businesses, and 12 community anchor institutions with access to broadband service.

Iowa
• Southeast Iowa Rural Wireless Broadband: $3,836,926 loan. The funding will provide Internet services to 80 rural communities using proven wireless technology.

Kentucky
• Mountain Rural Telephone Cooperative Corporation (MRTCC) ILEC Broadband: $39,843,535 loan and $38,281,044 grant. The funding will provide fiber to Morgan, Menifee, Wolfe, and Elliott counties that will result in 20 Mbps bandwidth to end users.

Louisiana
• Allen's Cable - Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) Broadband Network Extension: $3,584,680 loan and $3,513,697 grant. The funding will extend fiber into rural areas of three South Louisiana Parishes.
• LBH, LLC, - Rural Broadband Powered by Fiber: $16,693,439 loan and $16,691,939 grant. The funding will expand existing broadband into rural areas around Moss Bluff, Oakdale, and Vinton.

Minnesota
• Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group (SWMBG): $6,350,000 loan and $6,350,250 grant. The funding will provide service to eight rural communities throughout Southwest Minnesota.

Missouri
• Unionville, Missouri FTTP Project: $5,140,458 loan and $5,140,458 grant. The funding will provide broadband services to households, businesses, and key community organizations that are currently underserved in the Unionville area.

New Mexico
• Western New Mexico Telephone Company, Broadband Infrastructure Project: $11,516,679 grant. The funding will provide last mile broadband services to remote and unserved locations and critical community facilities throughout Western New Mexico.
• Baca Valley Telephone Company, Inc.: $1,651,000 loan and $1,586,000 grant. The funding will expand fiber optics to Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) nodes in rural Northeastern New Mexico, replacing outdated deteriorating copper wire and low bandwidth microwave transport systems in some areas, while providing new connectivity in others, and enabling advanced, high-speed DSL service throughout the area.

Oregon
• Sandy Broadband Infrastructure Project: $374,548 loan and $374,537 grant. The funding will provide broadband service to the underserved rural area of Sandy by improving and expanding wireless Internet service.

Texas
• Southern Texas Broadband Infrastructure Development and Adoption Project: $40,093,153 loan and $38,520,868 grant. The funding will develop a broadband infrastructure in eleven unserved and underserved rural communities of the South Texas Plains.

Stimulus Seekers and the Ides of March

[Commentary] If you're following developments with the broadband-stimulus program, you may have caught the latest bone of contention with the process that many of us have, particularly those working in the trenches actually trying to get proposals out the door: It's time.

There's not nearly enough time between Feb. 16, when applications started to be accepted, and the March 15 final deadline for these applications. There are several reasons why this is causing major heartburn. One of the biggest is that you can't win a grant in this second round of funding if you propose to deliver service in an area that someone received money in Round 1 to build out. Logical, practical and fair. The problem, though, is that we won't see the last of Round 1 money going out until Feb. 28, giving people just two weeks to adjust to areas of conflict or jump into the game if they've waited for final results.

The Charge of the Broadband Stimulus Brigade

[Commentary] If we were to distill to a simple phrase the source of many of the challenges (translation: pain, grief and aggravation) endured by those going through the first round of broadband stimulus, it would be "What if we threw a party and everybody came?" Today, as we observe the pain, grief and aggravation of project teams attempting to pursue broadband funding in Round 2 of the stimulus program, the source of much of their misery calls up a different phrase, the poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade."

Broadband Stimulus Sets Aside $100 Million To Subsidize Satellite Services

A federal program set to begin this spring will set aside at least $100 million to bring satellite-based services to remote communities.

"This is especially meaningful because the government is acknowledging that satellites are a key part of the solution to bringing broadband to everyone," said Dean Manson, senior vice president and general counsel for Hughes Network Systems.

As part of the second phase of the broadband initiative, RUS announced plans Jan. 22 in the Federal Register for a program specifically targeted to satellites, a $100 million initiative to bring broadband to customers who lack access to any terrestrial broadband services. Applicants for that funding will be able to offer customers discounts of $750 on the satellite dishes and electronic components needed to receive satellite-based broadband in homes or small businesses. That $100 million budget also could be augmented with funding left over from other RUS broadband programs, the announcement said. RUS plans to issue a request for proposals with additional details on satellite broadband projects in April, May or June, said RUS spokesman Bart Kendrick.

Is the Broadband Stimulus Failing?

A Q&A with William Wallace of DigitalBridge, Mike Rhoda of Windstream, Tad Deriso of MBC and Steve Davis of Qwest.

Questions include: How is the broadband stimulus doing at creating jobs? How will America fuse the disparate broadband stimulus projects into a cohesive national strategy that keeps up with enterprise and consumer demand, and service innovation? Will the focus on middle mile slow the benefits to consumers too long? Does the broadband stimulus hasten loop replacement or help get the most out of the copper already in the ground?

New America Foundation's Broadband Stimulus Resource Library

The New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative (OTI) has expanded their publicly available broadband stimulus resource library, adding four application guides to assist those interested in applying for funding from the Rural Utilities Service's (RUS) Broadband Initiative Program (BIP) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP).

The guides provide a roadmap to understanding the application and requirements for each of the different funding opportunities under BIP and BTOP. The guides attempt to simplify the application process, outlining eligibility requirements, important definitions, and a document checklist for preparing the application. Additionally, each guide suggests what skills sets a team will require to complete different components of the application and a sample timeline on how long the process will take.

Kerry Frustrated By Pace Of Smart Grid

Senate Commerce Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry (D-MA) expressed "frustration" Tuesday that the Obama administration has not moved fast enough to build out the country's electricity infrastructure.

"I don't often express frustrations publicly about things on the administration, but this is one ... I don't get it. I don't understand ... why this wasn't issue almost number one," Chairman Kerry said during a subcommittee hearing. "[If] you want to get the economy moving, you've got to build out America's grid."

Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra responded by saying the administration is committed to working with Congress on policies for connecting the country's regional electricity grids but acknowledged that the White House has not unveiled its own proposal on the issue. According to Chairman Kerry, efforts to unite these systems might be essential before the country can begin saving energy through widespread use of smart grid technology.

How smartphones are bogging down some wireless carriers

The fact that the US lags behind many other countries in both broadband capacity in general and wireless networks specifically is nothing new. But the fact that almost all of the complaints from iPhone users come from the US suggests that AT&T's network is at least partially to blame. In fact, users in other countries have told Ars that they don't experience the kinds of problems that US users often report. Well, other countries except one.

Several users in the UK, almost all in London, reported issues that were very similar to what we've heard from users in the US (and experienced ourselves): frequent dropped calls, lack of voice mail notifications, inability to make or receive calls even when the signal looks strong, and inability to make data connections. These problems were happening on the O2 network, which for several years was the UK's only iPhone carrier. The carrier apologized to its customers late last year for the spotty service as it trumpeted network improvements meant to address the issues. An O2 employee contacted Ars to explain what caused the problem, and explained how newer smartphones are changing the assumptions that carriers use when configuring their network.

How Google's Algorithm Rules the Web

Want to know how Google is about to change your life? This year, Google will introduce 550 or so improvements to its fabled algorithm, and each will be determined at a gathering just like this one. The decisions made at the weekly Search Quality Launch Meeting will wind up affecting the results you get when you use Google's search engine to look for anything.

Benton

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