Broadband 2.0 Manifesto

Thanks to Jim Baller (in his email newsletter) for pointing out the Broadband 2.0 Manifesto. In it from Heavy Reading, a research institute, outlines their manifesto for the next generation of broadband:

1. Abundant bandwidth (100 Mbit/s early on 1 Gbit/s later)
2. A two-way highway
3. Always available (aka always on)
4. Wireless and wireline
5. Open access
6. The channel for video
7. A new communications medium (greater convergence in service)
8. Safe and secure
9. Plug and play
10. Policy-enabled

I wanted to do a quick comparison to this list and the Blandin Foundation principles outlined in the Live at the Speed of Light reports published last year.

1. Ubiquity
2. Symmetry
3. Affordable
4. Competition
5. World Class
6. Collaboration
7. Neutrality
8. Interoperability

It’s not necessarily an apples to apples list. I think World Class could mean Abundant Bandwidth. Open Access could translate into competition. I like Heavy Reading’s addition of Safe and Secure. I like that Blandin has included is affordability.

Service that isn’t affordable really isn’t accessible. Heavy Reading is having a couple of conferences on the Future of the Internet – one was held in NY this week but I don’t see any mention of cost on the agenda.

New Report: Explaining International Broadband Leadership

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation recently published a new study on why the US is falling behind international counterparts, as indicated by the OECD ranking report, where the US ranks 15th for broadband penetration.

Here’s their list of recommendations – as noted in their executive summary:
To encourage the development of broadband infrastructure (supply) in the United States, we recommend that U.S. policymakers take the following steps:

1.  
   1. Enact more favorable tax policies to encourage investment in broadband networks, such as accelerated depreciation and exempting broadband services from federal, state, and local taxation.
   2. Continue to make more spectrum, including “white spaces,” available for next-generation wireless data networks.
   3. Expand the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service Broadband Program and target the program to places that currently do not have non-satellite broadband available.
   4. Reform the federal Universal Service Fund program to extend support for rural broadband to all carriers, and consider providing the funding through a reverse auction mechanism.
   5. Fund a national program to co-fund state-level broadband support programs, such as Connect Kentucky or North Carolina e-NC Authority.
   6. Promote the widespread use of a national, user-generated, Internet-based broadband mapping system that would track location, speed, and price of broadband.
   7. State and local governments should take action to make it easier for providers to deploy broadband services, including making it easier to access rights-of-way.

To encourage the growth of consumer demand for broadband, we recommend that U.S. policymakers take these steps:

1.  
   1. Support initiatives around the nation to encourage broadband usage and digital literacy.
   2. Fund a revitalized Technology Opportunities Program, with a particular focus on the development of nationally scalable Web-based projects that address particular social needs, including law enforcement, health care, education, and access for persons with disabilities.
   3. Exempt broadband Internet access from federal, state, and local taxes.
   4. Support new applications, including putting more public content online, improving e-government, and supporting telework, telemedicine, and online learning programs.
      By adopting these recommendations, U.S. policymakers would give broadband providers the economic incentives to invest in broadband infrastructure both in rural and urban areas of the country and give consumers the incentives to subscribe to broadband, particularly higher speed broadband.

I have to say that I *love* the second part of the list. I just think the best way to increase broadband penetration is to increase demand. Yes we still would certainly need the incentives to build out to more remote areas – but with customers on the other end that incentive might only be necessary for the build-out, not the operation and maintenance.

That’s not to say that I don’t think policy is valuable too. The report indicates that nations that make broadband a priority and put resources into broadband fare better than those who don’t. It seems obvious but a report never hurts to punctuate the point.

The reports also goes on to suggest that it makes sense to see what other countries of done, consider options that have worked in statewide programs (naming Kentucky and North Carolina) but to realize that one size does not fit all.

ISPs Say the Broadband Glass if Half Full

The US Internet Industry Association (UIIA) recently published a study (by David McClure) that paints a pretty rosy picture of broadband in the US.

Here’s a quick view of the report from the UIIA themselves in a letter to Congresswomen Pelosi:

It is a status report on how well we cover the nation’s rural areas with broadband Internet services, and I believe it will surprise you, for three reasons:

1. Most of what we think we know about broadband deployment is based on old data, bad data or deliberate distortions of the data.
2. We now have broadband available in at least one form for virtually every household and business in America – and we have achieved this in the shortest deployment time of any new technology in human history.

It’s not the regulation of broadband networks that needs to be a national priority, but rather solving issues that keep people from subscribing to the services that are available to them.The big point they are making is that deployment isn’t the problem – adoption is the problem. I think I remember hearing this in the 1990’s when I worked for an ISP. The problem was always take rate.

Here is their quick take on public policy:

Potential Broadband Economic in Minnesota Estimated at $2.7 Billion

So at the end of last week I liked an article that was a pure business plan for broadband from a vendor perspective. This week starts with a business case or research report anyways on why the nation needs broadband (from Connected Nation).

“The Economic Impact of Stimulating Broadband Nationally” details the potential state-by-state impact of legislation to accelerate broadband access and use. The report’s findings suggest that the U.S. could realize an economic impact of $134 billion annually by accelerating broadband availability and use across all states. The map above shows the potential for broadband that exists in every U.S. state. Please take the time to review the report and the potential for broadband in the U.S.

Apparently the potential annual economic impact in Minnesota is $2,791,481,531.83.

I have to state first that I’m always a little wary of a report that comes up with such a precise number – but maybe that’s a reflection of my own inability to be both precise and accurate.

Here’s the breakdown they gave for Minnesota:

Additional jobs 4 8,691
Direct Impact Growth $2,021,172,957
Average Annual Healthcare Costs Served $11,446,205
Average Annual Mileage Costs Saved $111,405,012
Average Annual Hours Saved 64,845,051
Value of Hours Saved $647,153,606
Average Annual lbs of CO2 Emissions Cut 56,429,893
Value of Carbon Offsets $304,751
Total annual impact: $2,791,482,532

NTIA Reports All’s Well with Broadband

About a week ago, U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released a new broadband report, Networked Nation: Broadband in America, 2007. According to U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, “Today’s report shows the nation’s broadband success story. The President’s policies have made a significant impact on the availability and affordability of broadband in the United State.”

Woo hoo! I didn’t know it could be so easy.

Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options

Thanks to Christopher Mitchell (from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance) for sending me a heads up on his most recent publication: Municipal Broadband: Demystifying Wireless and Fiber-Optic Options.

I think this should be required reading for anyone who suddenly finds himself in a position to make broadband choices for a community. It outlines the options available to a city:
Wireless versus Fiber
City-owned versus City-as-anchor-tenant

It starts with the assertion that most providers will not come into a community based on revenue from subscribers alone. I think this is particularly true in rural areas. It also makes the point that wireless and fiber are not an either/or option. Each serves a purpose.

Video is Looking like a Killer App

Just a couple of days ago I was writing about the exaflood and how I thought that video was going to push us over the broadband edge. On Wednesday I got an email from Ann Higgins and the Pew Internet Life people about Pew’s most recent survey that indicates that 48 percent of internet users have been to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and the daily traffic to such sites on a typical day has doubled in the past year.

Wow – traffic has doubled. I think we can hear that exaflood rushing like water into the Titanic. (I was in Belfast last week, where the Titanic was built, and had to fit that in.)

Pew pointed out in their report that “Growth in traffic is linked to the spread of broadband connections. In our December survey, 45% pf all American adults said they had broadband at home and in this most recent survey, 54% of all adults have high-speed connections at home.”

I have to wonder too – what the results would be if Pew surveyed kids. I’m not even going to admit how much online video my kids watch a day – but it rivals how much TV they watch. After Club Penguin, watching videos is there favorite online pastime.

National Broadband Goals Met?

The Benton Foundation recently called to task the Bush Administration and Acting NTIA Administrator Meredith Baker for claiming that we’re there as far as universal broadband goes.

Just like my 3 year old who is not faster her older sisters – the administration seems to think that if you shout “I won” as loud as you can that’s what counts.

As the folks at Benton point out – in 2004 President Bush set out a goal to have universal, affordable access to broadband by 2007. According to a September 2007 report by Pew Internet & American Life – about half of all Americans half broadband at home, which might indicate that broadband is neither universal nor affordable.

For more information – Benton’s report, Broadband for All is definitely worth the read. The stats and stories are not necessarily new – but they have put an interesting historical spin on our situation in the US and the need to act soon or be left behind. (I love the analogy of French using water power to build fountains for the rich and the UK used it to create jobs for everyone.)

Digital Divide in Minnesota on MPR

Minnesota Public Radio has a nice story running today about the digital divide in Minnesota. The story quotes a recent report by Pew Internet & American Life that indicates that 70 percent of US adults are online. However the more telling statistic is that 90 percent of adults with an income of more than $75,000 a year are online while only 55 percent of those making less than $30,000.

The story demonstrates that computer skills and access to the Internet are roadblocks for individuals looking for jobs. (We talked about lack of broadband and the impact on economic development in rural areas in an earlier blog.)

The story gets even better (from the broadband perspective) when MPR interviews Mike Wassenaar, Executive Director of the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network. He points out that “closing the divide is about more than just basic computer skills, it’s about providing affordable broadband Internet access.”

Networks may be global, but measurement must be local

Pew Internet Life just published a paper on measuring broadband access in the US. Apparently in June 2006, Pew, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gathered academics, state and federal officials from data-collection agencies, and staff from Capitol Hill to consider how to improve data collection for broadband.

Pew just released the proceeding from that meeting – the main theme was “networks may be global, but measurement must be local.”

Their findings match well with Senator Daniel Inouye’s Broadband Data Improvement Act: broadband must be defined as faster than 200 Kilobits per second and they should start tracking access by 9 digit zip code areas – which would help better pinpoint access.