Lack of broadband hurts Tahoe property values

It's only a matter of time before properties in broadband black holes began to fetch less than comparable properties that have high speed Internet access. That downside is likely to be exacerbated in the current soft real estate market:

The lack of high speed internet access frustrated both business owners and residents in the area, and also began to take a toll on real estate values. Local real estate agent and petition organizer Brett Williams of Agate Bay Realty had this to say: “It’s starting to affect the values of the properties of the areas that are not serviced by high-speed,” said Williams. “If you are trying to fill a rental property, two that are similar, one with high-speed and one without, its difficult to lease the second property. You have high-tech people who are looking to lease a property for four to five months for a ski lease, and can’t telecommute.”

"White space broadband" could revolutionize Internet access

As the U.S. and much of the world struggles with wire line infrastructure investment shortcomings and regulatory confusion that keeps broadband inaccessible for many, there's a potential technological advance that could completely revolutionize Internet access if it succeeds.

This "killer app" is called white space broadband and would provide wireless broadband at speeds that would blow away DSL and cable high speed Internet offerings and offer throughput comparable to fiber optic connections. It would utilize unused parts of the television broadcast spectrum called "white space."

Eric Bangeman of ars technica reports:

The White Space Coalition is comprised of Dell, EarthLink, Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft, and Philips Electronics. The FCC should conclude its testing of the white space broadband prototypes in July and the first rules governing the use of the spectrum by wireless broadband devices should be released in October 2007. Once that happens, the IEEE will likely begin the work of standardizing the tech. If all goes as planned, white space broadband service could begin in the US as soon as February 2009.

California rural lawmakers back UC request for FCC telemedicine pilot funding

The California Legislative Rural Caucus has lent its support to the University of California’s application for $24 million in funding to the Federal Communication Commission Rural Health Care Pilot Program. According to the caucus, the federal funds would be matched with funds from the California Emerging Technology Fund to speed broadband deployment for telemedicine applications in rural areas of the Golden State.

"Together with an investment from the California Emerging Technology Fund, the FCC’s funds will make quality health care more accessible to Californians living in rural areas," the caucus wrote in a May 15 letter to FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin. "Many of the challenges in rural health arise from limited access to core health care services. Lack of access to healthcare may mean that appropriate treatment is delayed or deferred, causing unnecessary hospitalizations, higher costs, and greater disability and personal suffering. Health information technology (HIT) provides powerful tools to enhance access to comprehensive, quality healthcare services in the most geographically isolated areas. HIT can assist rural providers to better coordinate services for their patients by bridging distances and providing immediate access to clinical knowledge, specialized expertise, and services otherwise unavailable in rural areas."

The letter was sent the same week Blue Shield pulled out of four California counties, complaining medical care costs incurred by state and local government workers and retirees covered through the California Personnel and Retirement System (CalPERS) are signficantly higher in rural parts of the state.

Municipal wireless broadband off to inauspicious start

"I will be surprised if the majority of these are successful and they do not prove to be drains on taxpayers' money," said Michael Balhoff, former telecom equity analyst with Legg Mason Inc. "The government is getting into hotly contested services."

The vendors remain confident despite technical and other problems. Chuck Haas, MetroFi Inc.'s chief executive, said Wi-Fi networks are far cheaper to build than cable and DSL, which is broadband over phone lines.

Demand could grow once more cell phones can make Wi-Fi calls and as city workers improve productivity by reading electric meters remotely, for instance.

Balhoff, however, believes the successful projects are most likely to be in remote places that traditional service providers skip — and fewer and fewer of those areas exist. Cities, he said, should focus on incentives to draw providers.

I think Balhoff's called it right. In more densely populated areas where municipal wireless broadband Internet access is being deployed, residents generally have one or more wireline broadband providers -- telcos and cable companies -- whose speeds and reliability can often exceed those offered by wireless systems.

At present, wireless broadband appears most suited to the plains and deserts -- relatively less populated regions in the heartland and the southwest -- where both economics and relatively flat terrain make it a viable option for the relatively near future.

It's only natural: U.S. Supreme Court rejects anti-trust action targeting big telcos

Bloomberg reports the U.S. Supreme Court today tossed out a lawsuit alleging telcos Verizon, AT&T Inc. and Qwest violated anti-trust law by colluding not to compete in each other's service areas.

The high court found there was no evidence of collusion. Rather, the justices ruled 7-2, the fact that the former baby bells hardly ever directly compete is a natural consequence of their business models. "There is no reason to infer that the companies had agreed among themselves to do what was only natural anyway," Justice David Souter wrote for the court.

Maryland county lacks adequate broadband access, report finds

The insufficiency of existing services doesn’t come as news to Ken Decker, chairman of the Carroll Cable Regulatory Commission. Home-based workers in Carroll often need broadband access and can’t get it, he said.

The report recommends the county increase broadband access by exploring partnerships with service providers, conducting a feasibility study of a public broadband network and considering how other infrastructure projects can provide opportunities to add fiber-optic lines.

Arizona state broadband authority backed

According to this item in the East Valley Tribune, the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council has given its support to the creation of an Arizona Broadband Development Authority that would oversee the implementation of a statewide plan for high-speed Internet service. It would study ways to reduce the cost of extending broadband infrastructure including fiber-optic lines to rural areas and ensuring that local communities play a major role in the process.

The council also proposed a revolving fund under the control of the authority that would be used to help pay for rural broadband projects that could be funded by a 50 cent surcharge on the monthly bills of existing broadband customers, said Michael Keeling, chairman of the council. Implicit in this subsidization scheme is the recognition of broadband as vital as basic telephone, roads and utilities.

Federal measure would map broadband black holes, redefine broadband

Nate Anderson of ars technica reports on draft federal legislation, the Broadband Census of America Act, that would define broadband as 2Mbps and have the National Telecommunications and Information Administration create a searchable, Web-based map census of broadband availability. The cable/telco duopoly has historically resisted such maps since they would show large portions of their service areas don't include broadband access and discredit providers' claims that market dynamics are filling America's broadband black holes.

A broadband census has already been enacted in California as part of that state's Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006, AB 2987. It requires those providers who hold broadband "video franchises" issued by the California Public Utilities Commission to provide the PUC broadband penetration data by census tract each year beginning April 1, 2008.