I’m passing this on, although I know most of the us will not be in DC – although it looks as if this meeting will be webcast too. I will try to get notes on the event after the fact too.

Members of the US Broadband Coalition, Members of the Baller Herbst List, and Other Colleagues and Interested Parties:

Please join us on November 13, 2009, for our event to announce the release of the Adoption and Use Working Group’s report entitled “Bridging the Divide and Increasing the Intensity of Broadband Use Across All Sectors of the Economy.”

The event will be held from 1:00-3:00 pm Eastern in the Federal Communications Commission’s main hearing room, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20554

The program will include introductions, statements by the co-chairs of the Adoption and Use Group, a panel of experts on the key various components of the report, and a session for interaction among members of the Group, FCC staff, the media, and other attendees.

The event will be webcast live nationwide. More on this next week.

Please mark your calendars and watch your email for additional information.

Thanks to Gary Fields for the following update.

On November 3, the Saint Louis County Board approved financial support for the Lake County Fiber Network to expand into the northeastern portions of Saint Louis County. Lake County plans to submit a funding application for the next round of stimulus funds to expand the fiber-to-the-home network to include the area that includes Ely, Babbit, Aurora, Hoyt Lakes, Embarrass and the rural areas in-between these communities. “We are excited about adding these communities to the network,” said Paul Bergman, the Lake County Board chairman. “It allows us to double the number of subscribers, while adding proportionally less cost to serve them. Our network will be financially stronger.”

The Lake County Network will be owned by Lake County and will be developed and operated by National Public Broadband, Inc., a national non-profit organization that serves municipally owned networks. Symmetric broadband speed up to 100 megabits per second, along with voice and video services, will be available on the network. Tim Nulty, CEO of NPB, added, “We look forward to changing what people perceive as being possible – that you can serve rural areas with affordable, state-of-the-art fiber-based broadband without needing local taxpayer subsidies.” The Lake County Network will be accessible by all homes and businesses that have electrical service within its footprint.

For more information, please contact Gary Fields, CFO, National Public Broadband at gfields@nationalpublicbroadband.org

Here’s the word from the Anoka County web site:

[Anoka] is seeking to enter into a Public Private Partnership with one or more qualified network services providers to support our efforts to obtain funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), or other funding sources, for the provision of broadband services in Anoka County.

Proposals due December 14, 2009

The Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Report is unveiled today. (Get it here!) It’s been more than a year in the making. It’s a consensus document, which is admirable given the strange bedfellows who worked together to create the report and the trend toward people insisting on what they want without consequence or compromise.

It’s a great opportunity to shine a light on broadband as a solution to folks who don’t think about it every day as was done in the Duluth News Tribune yesterday. For those who do think about broadband, I suspect that everyone will have their differing opinions about what the Task Force got right, where they went too far and where they didn’t go far enough – but this is a great place to pick up the conversation that began in 1985, when as the report points out (pg 17), the first major Minnesota telecommunications report was issued by the Minnesota Telecommunications Council. The Task Force hopes to give that conversation legs to move forward by recommending “the creation of a Broadband Advisory Council of Minnesota (BACM) to oversee the actions put forth in this report and see that these objectives are achieved (pg 70).

Where do we stand?

Using the FCC’s definition of broadband, 768 Kbps, more than 93% of American households now have broadband available to them in one form or another. Minnesota’s broadband adoption in the metro area rate is 57% and the rural broadband adoption rate is 39.4%, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. (pg 20)

The national broadband adoption average seems to sit between 63-68 percent. (pg 21)

There are lots of nice charts and maps. I think the chart from (pg 29) from Connected Nation on broadband availability and speeds by county is most telling. Cook County sits with 37 percent availability; 11 other counties sit with 99 percent availability. (That disparity is striking regardless of how you feel about the maps.) Broadband here is defined at 768Kbps downstream and 200Kbps upstream.

The report recognizes that 768 Kbps is not the target speed. Here’s how Minnesota ranks using the new Minnesota 2015 goal speed:

Based on statistically significant averages of consumer-initiated speed-tests:
• Zero counties currently meet or exceed the higher 2015 download speed target (20 Mbps).
• One county currently meets or exceeds the lower 2015 download speed target (10 Mbps) (Washington County at 12 Mbps).
• Zero counties currently meet or exceed the higher 2015 upload speed target (10 Mbps).
• Zero counties currently meet or exceed the lower 2015 upload speed target (5 Mbps).

So what do they recommend? Here’s a list – mostly cogged from the report itself. I’ve tried to list pages where applicable.

Recommendation 1: Identify the Level of Service

1. 10-20 Mbps download / 5-10 Mbps upload (pg 51)
2. Recommended sufficient speeds both up and down (pg 55)
3. Minnesota will be in the top 5 states of the United States for broadband speed. Minnesota’s current ranking is 23 according to Akamai.
4. Minnesota will be in the top 5 states of the United States for broadband penetration. Minnesota’s current ranking is 24 according to Akamai and Leichtman Research.
5. In the top 15 when compared to countries for global broadband penetration.

Recommendation 2: Policies and Actions Necessary to Achieve Ubiquitous Broadband

1. The goal is 100% coverage by 2015. (pg 56)
2. An ongoing entity (Broadband Advisory Council of Minnesota- BACM) to oversee is recommended (pg 57-62)
3. There is a roadmap of recommendations to help guide the BACM it includes acting as a clearinghouse of tools and communication to support communities deploying broadband, provide tax incentives to promote digital literacy programs, support programs to increase computer ownership, coordinate broadband efforts, projects, legislation in the State, initiate research including:
   1. A study to develop wide-ranging collaborative funding strategy, support the formation of procurement collaborations by govs and others to stimulate deployment
   2. A study to determine the advisability of establishing a surcharge-funded Minnesota Broadband Fund.
   3. Track broadband availability, adoption, speeds (advertized and actual), costs
   4. Assess the state of broadband in Minnesota on a regular basis

Recommendation 3: Opportunities for Public and Private Sectors to Cooperate (pg 63)

1. State government should lead the effort to accurately map the state to delineate the well-served, underserved, and unserved parts of Minnesota.
2. Designate one state agency to be responsible for maintaining the map, including a process for updating, verifying, and making the map publicly available.
3. Local government entities (i.e., cities, counties, townships, school districts) and regional library consortia can form collaboratives to improve connectivity between them and/or combine their purchasing power in the aggregate.
4. Government should encourage private sector providers to build out or upgrade their networks where necessary with tech assistance, financial incentives (appendices C &D), optimize use of right of way, be attractive to tech initiatives

Role of State Government:

1. Promote broadband adoption (pg 66)
2. Conduct a thorough review with the provider community to determine the security and redundancy of Minnesota’s broadband infrastructure. (pg 67)
3. Continue efforts to advocate on behalf of broadband consumers, especially those consumers in areas served by only one broadband provider.
4. Keep broadband maps up-to-date
5. Study right of way issues
6. Recommend state building code officials consider wiring standards to prepare to accommodate emerging “smart home” technology.
7. Develop best practice common code requirements that facilitate future broadband.
8. Explore a process that promotes advance notice when trenches are going to be opened (for conduit or fiber installation) as a way to share costs and create efficiencies for installation.
9. Create legal authority for municipalities to mandate conduit installation on development applications as a condition for approval.
10. Determine if there is current university capacity (University of Minnesota and MnSCU) to conduct research into advanced generation broadband that would support the goals of this report.
11. Consider appropriate seed funding for projects which further Minnesota’s broadband goals (once adopted by the Governor and Legislature.)

Role of Municipal Government

1. Form public/private partnerships as needed to extend services to businesses and residents.
2. Develop model zoning ordinance language that encourages wireless tower placement.
3. Install conduit, as appropriate
4. Encourage the development of high-level collaborative broadband plans by bringing community stakeholders together.

Role of Federal Government

1. Consider offering tax credits and other financing vehicles (See Appendix D) where appropriate, to encourage broadband deployment.
2. Consider offering incentives for schools, community education entities, libraries, etc. to offer broadband adoption/education opportunities, and encourage programs to reduce the cost of home computers and
3. Internet access for those who cannot afford them.
4. Consider requiring federal projects and federally funded projects to require conduit installation, where appropriate.
5. Establish and maintain standardized measurement criteria for annually measuring the nation’s progress toward federal broadband policy goals, including available Internet speeds and Internet adoption and penetration.
6. Explore, along with business and industry, the development of a coordinated strategy and educational campaign to maximize the benefits of broadband use that will further stimulate broadband adoption.
7. Establish strategies for extending next generation broadband to job centers.

Recommendation 4: Establish the Broadband Advisory Council for Minnesota (pg 70)

1. Advise and assist stakeholders and policy makers

Recommendation 5: Evaluation of Strategies, Financing, and Financial Incentives Used in Other States/Countries to Support Broadband Development and Cost Estimates (pg 71)

1. Minnesota should initiate a study to develop a wide ranging collaborative funding strategy to support the recommendations of this report.
2. Minnesota should explore financial options such as tax incentives including property and sales tax credits and exemptions to further provide incentive for private capital investment. (See Appendix D.)
3. Minnesota should encourage and facilitate a variety of partnerships that increase the adoption and utilization of broadband. (See Appendix E for examples of existing and proposed programs.)
4. Minnesota should encourage minimizing any unreasonable barriers to right of way or easement access and facilitate efficient cooperation related to open trenches and development.
5. Minnesota should encourage appropriate utilization of available federal funding to support the deployment of broadband to unserved and underserved populations, as well as to encourage efforts to support broader public adoption of broadband services.

There’s a nice discussion of costs by technology in pages 69-74. They maintain the following average costs per house/business passed (using technologies that will serve 20 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up):

1. FTTP/FTTH $2,000 (urban area) $4,000 (suburban) $12,000 (rural)
2. Hybrid Fiber Coax (DOCSIS3) $500 (urban area) $1,000 (suburban) $2,500 (rural)
3. Wi-Fi 802.11g $150 (urban area) $300 (suburban) $900 (rural)

Improving adoption is set out as a strategy to improve the business case for deploying broadband. There’s also a list of potential funding resources. (pg 80)

Recommendation 6: Evaluation of Security, Vulnerability, and Redundancy Actions Necessary to Ensure Reliability (pg 82)

1. Undertake and fund a detailed study on redundancy, security, peering strategies and exchanging intra-state traffic, privacy
2. Identify and endorse an organization(s) (or collaborative) that can provide ongoing support and promote security, reliability and redundancy with reports, expertise, communication support and clearinghouse functions in the state
3. Track, evaluate and reward successful security/reliability/redundancy initiatives

Recommendation 7: Economic Development Opportunities

1. The Legislature should consider public/private partnership models in making funding available for technology training, production, and adoption in communities at the margins of technology
2. Minnesota should fund digital and media literacy as a component of public education, and support education in libraries, YMCAs, and public housing community centers.

Recommendation 8: Evaluation of the Benefits of Broadband Access to Organizations and Institutions

1. This section takes a look at the benefits of: e.emergency, e.government, e.economic development, e.health, e.learning

The appendices are worth a peek too – great lists of resources for anyone interested in broadband.

We are gathering a list of broadband resources to share at the Blandin Broadband conference on November 18-19, 2009. I’m going to create a bibliography and we’re going old school by handing out materials. If you have a link, you’d like me to add to the bibliography, please send it my way. (Via blog comment or email atreacy@treacyinfo.com.) If you have a research report, policy analysis or other items you’d like us to handout please let me know. With all due respect, we’re not looking for sales collateral (although you can ask me about exhibitor opportunities) and we can’t print out multiple copies for you – but I thought I’d still throw out the opportunity.

I’m a little slow on this – because broadband has become such a hot topic that I’ve had to choose carefully the areas where I can really focus. There are only so many hours in the day! That’s when I’m glad to have a resource such as the Daily Yonder.

I’ve quoted them in past. I like them because they are looking through policy with rural-colored glasses, starting with the fact that they know that there are many facets to rural.

The Daily Yonder has been following the Net Neutrality and they have a nice article that takes a look at life before, during and after the FCC vote. The bare bones: three FCC Commissioners supported Net Neutrality, two Commissioners “concurring in part, dissenting in part.”

There are six principles they are considering:

1. Consumers can access any legal content on the Internet unhindered.
2. Consumers can run any legal applications on the Internet.
3. Consumers can connect any legal device to the Internet.
4. Competition is allowed.
5. Providers cannot discriminate against legal applications, content or devices.
6. Providers must be transparent with their network management practices

So now the whole shebang is open for comments – until January 14, 2010. So in many ways the saga continues.

Finance & Commerce just profiled an interesting Minnesota-based company called Access Genetics. They have a portal for medical labs. They host lab tools such as guides, worksheets and calculators. They perform online interpretation and reporting. So you send in your data, they report on it.

Here’s a quick blurb from the article:

“What’s unique about the way these results are reviewed by Access Genetics is that typically, all results are reviewed in a double-blind format initially by two medical technologists and then by a pathologist,” Hoedeman explained. “So having three sets of eyes on a set of analytical results provides a very high level of quality.”

If a lab wants to use TeleGene for single tests, cost range from $2 to $35 per test. And the time taken from the reviewers being alerted to the final result being transmitted back to the lab averages 90 minutes, Hoedeman said. (Traditionally, technical data is sent using paper-based systems, which may take several days and heightens the possibility of logistical errors.)

The Web portal also allows lab technicians running the physical test to know when supplies are running low. In other words, every time test data is entered, the software knows which enzymes, reagents, dyes and plastic tubes are being used and calculates when they will run out. Access Genetics can ship whatever is needed from its warehouse before inventory falls short.

So it seems as if the quality, speed and efficiency are all good. It’s nice vote for telemedicine as a direction for healthcare. The article also provides some business information on the company:

Hoedeman said the company has been profitable since 2004 and will have annual revenues of about $10 million this year. It has about 50 employees, most of whom are medical technologists, genetics counselors and pathologists.

So it’s also a vote for telemedicine as a desirable industry for Minnesota. Just another great use of broadband both in terms of improved healthcare and economics.

Minnesota Public Radio is looking for folks to talk about rural broadband. Here’s the blurb from the web site:

Does faster internet mean stronger communities?

The Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force will soon make recommendations to the Legislature on how to spend the stimulus money set aside for improving broadband access in Minnesota. What does — or would — broadband access mean to you and your community?

If you’re interested, there’s a form right on their web site to fill out.

Here’s the news from our latest newsletter. It’s mostly a compilation of Minnesota-related stories from the blog in the last month – but sometimes it’s nice to have it compiled.

News from the Blandin on Broadband Blog

NTIA/RUS Funding Update
The NTIA/RUS asked states to recommend local ARRA applications for funding consideration. States responded by October 14, 2009. http://tinyurl.com/yf4pfmz Minnesota has elected to not make their list public. http://tinyurl.com/ygdegcs NTIA’s Larry Strickling says they will take their time to sift through states’ recommendations and fund the right programs. http://tinyurl.com/yk9334s It sounds as if notification in December is likely.

Broadband Task Force Meetings
The Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force met three times in October http://tinyurl.com/yhxa332 to put the finishing touches on the final recommendations for the Minnesota Legislature, which will be unveiled on November 6. http://tinyurl.com/yjoeel7 The Task Force has been generous with sharing the draft recommendations. The last version available is from September 15 http://tinyurl.com/ydd5px7. Many changes have been made since – especially in terms of cost and financial details and plans for ongoing broadband support – but the early draft will give a glimpse at what’s to come.

Blandin Offers Advice to Task Force
The Blandin Foundation Broadband Strategy Board sent a letter to the Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force offering advice and praise for the hard work the Task Force has been doing. http://tinyurl.com/yfu5w89 The Blandin Strategy Board and Task Force will be presenting together at the Blandin Broadband Conference later this month. http://tinyurl.com/n4gqvb

Blandin Broadband Conference
The Blandin Broadband conference is coming up November 18-19 in Duluth. http://tinyurl.com/n4gqvb The theme is Realizing our Broadband Future: Getting from Here to There. It will focus on the future of Minnesota communities, providing community leaders with the information and tools they need to position their communities in the future. The agenda is now online. http://tinyurl.com/yfbyvw9  You can also follow the conference on Twitter #mnbb09 or http://twitter.com/BFBroadband  

Dakota County Smart21
Congratulations to Dakota County, named one of the Smart21 communities by the Intelligent Community Forum. http://tinyurl.com/yh9jz4w Past Blandin Conference attendees may remember hearing from Robert Bell of the Intelligent Community Forum in 2008. http://tinyurl.com/yhox22m

Local Broadband News

Cook County
Cook County posts an RFP for the design and construction of a FTTP network. http://tinyurl.com/yjjg7hl

Duluth
Broadband comes up early on in the Gubernatorial race. http://tinyurl.com/y8jjnuw  

Fargo/Moorhead
PEPP creates a video series of interviews with Latin@s in Fargo/Moorhead about their internet needs, challenges and benefits. http://tinyurl.com/yc7gauo  

Lac qui Parle
The Lac qui Parle County EDA receives a $25,000.00 grant from the Blandin Foundation to prepare a Robust Broadband Network Feasibility Study. http://tinyurl.com/yavserl  

Lake County
Lake County plans are on hold as they wait on word of ARRA funding. http://tinyurl.com/yjhngz6  

Maple Grove
Maple Grove Fire Department improves communication with a wireless solution. http://tinyurl.com/ya8by6v  

Minneapolis
Minneapolis Summit features great uses of technology but most uses require access to broadband. http://tinyurl.com/yb5qpfh  

Southern Minnesota
Southern Minnesota plans are on hold as they wait on word of ARRA funding. http://tinyurl.com/yas8u4j  

Monticello
TDS offers 50Mbps service in Monticello. http://tinyurl.com/yjdhbu9  

Windom
Windom plans are on hold as they wait on word of ARRA funding. http://tinyurl.com/yjhngz6  

(Many stories are gathered from local online newspaper. Unfortunately each newspaper has a different policy in regards to archive news and therefore we cannot guarantee access to all articles cited.)

Coleman’s Corner

There is a tremendous amount of broadband and telecommunications policy discussion happening right now. The FCC, the MN Ultra High Speed Task Force, and the Jim Baller-led US Broadband Coalition have released or are working on policy documents. (Jim is the keynote speaker at the upcoming Blandin Broadband Conference.) Some stakeholders in this discussion have firm views on the best approach to ensuring broadband delivery to all Americans.

My work on broadband extends from the Twin Cities suburbs to the most rural areas of Minnesota. The variety of situations that I encounter makes it difficult to be so philosophically pure on telecommunications issues. The situational analysis and the available alternative solution strategies are quite different depending on each community’s combination of geography, demography, existing providers, prospective competitive providers, existing public technology networks and community leadership. What seems impossible in some places might be the best solution in another; while what seems like a slam-dunk in one place might be ill advised in another. The decisions made by one community influence what might be possible — positively or negatively — in the adjacent community or rural area.

What’s my point? Simply this: in the absence of financial or regulatory policy guaranteeing that every Minnesotan has broadband access (neither of which seems likely from either the federal or state government), we should not be so quick proscribe the “right” way for broadband deployment. Each community, county or region had better be working to improve their own broadband situation. Seek out all partners, maximize every dollar spent on technology to benefit the community, however community is defined.

Finally, the MN Ultra High Speed Internet Task Force report strongly promotes public-private market development efforts to spur adoption of broadband; providers heavily promoted this concept as the appropriate role for government. Heretofore, however, many communities have found that getting providers to participate in community initiatives can be difficult. Communities should be aggressive in using the task force report to convince providers that they need to be at the table. It might even be a good idea to document this process and to let the legislature know how the providers are following their own advice.

Today was the last webinar leading up to the Blandin Broadband conference later this month (Nov 18-19). I’m posting the presentation, link and questions from the webinar. I’ll add the audio when I can. (Audio now online – link on right side of page.)

I was the presenter. I want to thank everyone for their kind attention and help. I was nervous! We heard from a few social media users and had some great questions – especially about what social media tools work with limited broadband. You can get a good summary from Twitter #mnbb09 (the link will only be good for a while, until new Tweets on the conference replace the old). I was delighted to see that a few folks start Tweeting about the session.

Questions:

What are rural nonprofit organizations using?

Take a look at Main Street Project. Also check out the Minnosota Voices Online group. You can check out the members and/or past conversation. Folks there have been talking about their projects – mostly in rural areas. And we did a (very unscientific) survey of use: http://blandinonbroadband.org/2009/09/12/rural-use-of-social-media/

Links from the Presenation:

Social Media Revolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8
Cluretrain Manifesto: http://www.cluetrain.com
Google Alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts
Minnesota Voices Online: http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mnvoices
Blandin on Broadband: http://blandinonbroadband.org
WordPress: http://wordpress.com
How to Start a Blog: http://byteoftheweek.com/2007/12/12/starting-a-new-blog/ (with WordPress, from 12/07)
Twitter Shortcuts: http://byteoftheweek.com/2009/06/18/twitter-shortcuts/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com
Twitter Search: http://search.twitter.com/advanced
RSS in Plain Language: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com
Picasa: http://picasa.google.com
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com
Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com
Flip Video: http://www.theflip.com
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com
Ping.fm: http://ping.fm/