The best result for rural communities is to have locally-owned and operated broadband networks. The telephone and cable duopoly has a different vision of the future.
The Federal Communications Commission moved ahead yesterday on developing its "third way" approach to governing broadband. The Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to "move toward giving itself the authority to regulate the transmission component of broadband Internet service, a power the commission’s majority believes is central to expanding the availability of broadband," according to the New York Times.
The Commission's intentions are exempt broadband from most regulation, but maintaining those powers necessary "to implement fundamental universal service, competition and market entry, and consumer protection policies.” The FCC is soliciting public comments on this proposal.
This regulatory mumbo-jumbo does have some impact on rural areas. According to CNET.com, the FCC "believes it will give the agency the necessary authority to move forward with proposals laid out in the National Broadband Plan, such as reforming the Universal Service Fund to expand its use for subsidizing broadband services in rural and low-income areas."
The major providers (Verizon and AT&T) object to the FCC's direction. They say the FCC's intervention will slow rollout of broadband to under-served areas.
Texas released its map of broadband availability yesterday. We should say maps, since the $3 million project has produced a score of ways of looking at broadband in the state.
Overall, according to Connected Nation, the telecomm supported group that did the project, 96.5 percent of Texas households have access to broadband Internet. Texas is a big state and a highly urbanized one. But that still means that more than 250,000 households don't broadband at home. When you look at a map of the unserved areas of the state, there is a lot of territory without broadband.
The Austin American-Statesman reported that only 62% of Texas household use their broadband connections. "Cost, the lack of a computer or ignorance about how to use one are just some of the hurdles to broadband adoption in areas where broadband is available," the paper reported.
The state now has an interactive map. You can look at the distribution of people who own computers or are without any Internet access. The map is a bit slow, those without broadband might want to think twice about using it. Here's the interactive map.
“The unregulated, market-driven approach to providing broadband has not
worked for us.” So writes filmmaker Mimi Pickering of Whitesburg,
Kentucky.
Pickering’s op-ed in the Lexington Herald-Leader
advocates support for the FCC’s plan to reclassify broadband services:
to bring high-speed Internet “under the same common carrier provisions
that have enabled over 95 percent of American households to receive and
afford phone service.”
As the laws now stand, telecommunications companies are not required to
extend broadband service into less profitable localities. This system,
Pickering writes, has left low-income urban areas and many rural
communities with Internet connections too slow to meet their business
and education needs.
Bringing broadband service into line with telephone regulations is part of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan.
The Federal Communications Commission has approved the transfer of 4.8 million telephone land lines from Verizon Communications to Frontier Communications. Most of these lines are in rural areas and small cities in 14 states.
As part of the agreement, Frontier has agreed to "significant deployment commitments from Frontier" to brining broadband to millions of customers, according to Fiber Opitcs Online. The FCC order contains voluntary commitments from Verizon and Frontier. Fronteir has agreed to deploy broadband with speeds of at least 3 Mbps downstream to at least 85 percent of the transferred line by the end of 2013, increasing to 4 Mbps to 85 percent of the lines by 2015.
Frontier will also "launch an anchor institution initiative to deploy fiber to libraries, hospitals and government buildings, particularly in unserved communities," according to Fiber Optics.
The Illinois Commerce Commission approved the deal. ICC commissioner Erin O'Connell-Diaz said, "This grant of authority to Frontier will help to close the gap that still exists for many Illinoisans by giving them access to essential 21st-century technologies. In the end, it's up to Frontier that it keeps its promises. Illinois is watching."
For those of you who are interested in broadband, we know where you'll want to be Monday afternoon between 2 and 3 pm EDT.
The National Rural Assembly is holding a webinar entitled: "Broadband Regulation: What Title II Reclassification Means to Rural America." This is in reference to the maneuvering now underway in response to a recent federal court decision that has restricted the Federal Communications Commission's control over the Internet. The FCC is now trying to reassert its control over broadband. Placing broadband under Title II of the Communications Act would "give the Commission direct authority over entitites providing 'telecommunication services,'" according to FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.
The webinar will tell you what all this means for rural communities. The session will be led by Matt Wood, associate director of the Media Access Project; Amalia Deloney, coordinator for Media Action Grassroots Network; and Wally Bowen, executive director of Mountain Area Information Network (and former Yonder contributor).
Some 25 schools, many of them rural, now have equipped buses with wireless Internet routers. NPR featured the Vail School District’s rolling study hall, traveling two and half hours daily through southern Arizona.
The routers, sold by Autonet, cost about $1000 per bus. “The same system
has been offered as a dealer installed option by Chrysler for the last
two years and General Motors recently announced that it would begin
offering the units in some of its vehicles as well. The cost is
relatively modest, with Chrysler charging about $500 for the unit and
$30 per month for the wireless service.”
Billy and Julie Hudson,
in association with Vanderbilt University, initiated a program to
install wireless Internet in three buses operating in rural Arkansas
school districts. Mr. Hudson is a native Arkansan. Their 3-year-old
program, called Aspirnaut,
also gives students laptop computers. Julie Hudson says it’s the cost
of laptops that’s kept such rural wifi programs from proliferating.
A company specializing in measuring Internet use has found that "broadband penetration in rural markets has experienced double-digit growth in the past year, driven largely by regional providers continuing to capture an increasing share of the market in these areas."
ComScore, Inc., a publicly traded company that measures digital media, reports that rural areas still lag metropolitan communities in the percentage of residents with broadband. But that difference is narrowing.
"Fueled by greater price competition, increased consumer demand, and growth in bandwidth-intense activities like video streaming and peer-to-peer sharing, broadband penetration continues to make gains across rural markets," ComScore reported. "Broadband penetration in rural markets reached 81 percent in Q4 2009, representing a sizeable increase of 13 percentage points in the past year alone."
In the three most rural markets, broadband penetration reached 61% in Alaska, 56% in Wyoming and 52% in Montana.
StimulatingBroadband.com is reporting that the Rural Utilities Service of the federal Ag Department has asked for proposals for broadband satellite services. The RUS has $100 million in subsidies available. The notice was published Friday.
Satellite service providers have until June 7 to respond. The RUS is looking to satellites to provide broadband service in the lowest density areas of the country.
"According to one telecom consultant familiar with the broadband stimulus program, and who has studied the RFP already, one of the key requirements of applicants to fulfill by the June 7 deadline will be the identification of those unserved areas not otherwise in receipt of federal funds," reports StimulatingBroadband.