In Pennsylvania, the state government controls alcoholic beverage sales via a state run monopoly. Apparently the telco/cable duopoly wants similar protection in the form of proposed legislation that would bar local governments from being involved with or helping finance the construction of local broadband telecommunications infrastructure, MuniWireless reports.
Talk about a state with mixed up crackpot regulatory policies. It treats one industry that's a naturally competitive private market (alcoholic beverage distribution) while proposing telecommunications infrastructure -- a natural monopoly -- be treated as a competitive private market and protected from government "competition."
Monday, March 09, 2009
Congressman seeks broadband infrastructure deployment to alleviate "economic disaster" in California's Central Valley
The Bakersfield Californian reports Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno sent a letter to President Barack Obama late last week requesting Obama create a federal economic disaster designation and declare the San Joaquin Valley its first designee.
The letter to the president requests rural broadband deployment as well as higher unemployment benefits, other infrastructure improvements to put people work, and expansion and modernization of federally qualified health centers.
The letter to the president requests rural broadband deployment as well as higher unemployment benefits, other infrastructure improvements to put people work, and expansion and modernization of federally qualified health centers.
U.S. "headed into an extraordinary period where the government is directly investing in broadband infrastructure"
The nation is headed into an "extraordinary period where the government is directly investing in broadband infrastructure," said Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press, a media reform group. "This process of handing out $7 billion, although there's a great deal of urgency to get the money out the door, must fundamentally be data driven. We need to make sure the money is spent wisely, on projects that deliver the biggest bang for the buck for the American taxpayer."
Scott also called on the government to fund high-speed networks, not just basic broadband. "We're concerned that stimulus dollars not be used to build obsolete networks," he said. "If we want to make sure that ... we're not simply re-creating a digital divide by building a substandard network that then has to take another leap to catch up."
Scott's got it right on the money here. The greatest hazard with government subsidization of broadband telecommunications infrastructure is subsidizing yesterday's obsolete technology (such as DSL over copper) instead of tomorrow's (read fiber to the premises).
Anyone who's ever bought more than their first personal computer understands this principle. The best value isn't the lowest priced bargain. It's the machine that's got more processing power, memory and storage than what's presently needed but allows the user to expand and add new applications and programs in later years.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Vermonters declare independence from telco/cable duopoly
The Wall Street Journal today features an initiative by 22 central Vermont towns to take their telecommunications destiny into their own hands instead of relying on a telco/cable duopoly that cannot meet their needs.
They're doing so with a public/private partnership to deploy 1,400 miles of aerial fiber-optic lines to provide high-speed Internet access, phone and video. The project is to be financed through a capital lease, with the towns raising money from investors to build the network, then leasing it back from the investors over 23 years.
Tim Nulty, the project's consultant to the towns, told the WSJ he originally wanted loan guarantees as part of the recently enacted federal economic stimulus package but is now looking into grant funding under the legislation, which allocated $7.2 for broadband built out.
While this project involves a sparsely populated rural area, I expect other more densely populated areas will also form municipal and cooperative fiber ventures as it becomes more apparent that locals must take responsibility for getting fiber over the last mile and cannot continue as they have for years in vain to expect telcos and cable companies to provide it -- particularly when it's not in their business plans.
The article also contains a desperate comment by a telco flak to keep the telco's outmoded copper-delivered DSL relevant -- which due to DSL's notorious technical limitations can't easily serve areas like rural New England -- amid the growing realization that its future prospects are severely limited in the era of fiber.
They're doing so with a public/private partnership to deploy 1,400 miles of aerial fiber-optic lines to provide high-speed Internet access, phone and video. The project is to be financed through a capital lease, with the towns raising money from investors to build the network, then leasing it back from the investors over 23 years.
Tim Nulty, the project's consultant to the towns, told the WSJ he originally wanted loan guarantees as part of the recently enacted federal economic stimulus package but is now looking into grant funding under the legislation, which allocated $7.2 for broadband built out.
While this project involves a sparsely populated rural area, I expect other more densely populated areas will also form municipal and cooperative fiber ventures as it becomes more apparent that locals must take responsibility for getting fiber over the last mile and cannot continue as they have for years in vain to expect telcos and cable companies to provide it -- particularly when it's not in their business plans.
The article also contains a desperate comment by a telco flak to keep the telco's outmoded copper-delivered DSL relevant -- which due to DSL's notorious technical limitations can't easily serve areas like rural New England -- amid the growing realization that its future prospects are severely limited in the era of fiber.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
California legislation would form broadband task force with eye on federal economic stimulus funds
Legislation has been introduced in California to speed up deployment of broadband in areas of the Golden State that lack access.
The urgency legislation, which would take effect as soon as it's signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would update the status of several recommendations issued by Schwarzenegger's Broadband Task Force last year to expand the availability of broadband access.
Its main objective is to develop a strategy to expedite access to $7.2 billion in grants and loan guarantees contained in the recently enacted federal economic stimulus legislation, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The proposed California Broadband Task Force would also be tasked with identifying public and private community development partners, necessary statutory or regulatory changes, and needed resources to qualify for the stimulus funding.
The full text of the measure is available here.
The urgency legislation, which would take effect as soon as it's signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would update the status of several recommendations issued by Schwarzenegger's Broadband Task Force last year to expand the availability of broadband access.
Its main objective is to develop a strategy to expedite access to $7.2 billion in grants and loan guarantees contained in the recently enacted federal economic stimulus legislation, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The proposed California Broadband Task Force would also be tasked with identifying public and private community development partners, necessary statutory or regulatory changes, and needed resources to qualify for the stimulus funding.
The full text of the measure is available here.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Survey: Aussies don't see wireless broadband as viable fixed premises solution
While wireless broadband can provide an interim solution for fixed premises broadband, a survey of Australians shows folks down under lack confidence in its ability to deliver broadband to their homes in one of the developed world's most broadband deprived nations.
According to iTnews, the survey of 20,000 respondents, conducted between Dec. 31, 2008 and Feb. 1, 2009, found that fewer consider wireless broadband a viable alternative to wireline for fixed premises broadband than they did a year ago. Last year, 43.3 percent of respondents said they would consider wireless broadband to be a "serious option" for home Internet access. This year the number drops to 36.8 percent.
"Consumers are now more educated about the limitations of wireless broadband, whereas a few years ago they might not have actually tried it," says Whirlpool founder Simon Wright. "Also, historically wireless broadband has meant [nomadic] services like Unwired; now it means little USB dongles they buy from the likes of Telstra and Vodafone. These are marketed as a different type of product; and the limitations of 3G are generally better known."
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