BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Here’s my piece in the Deseret News, responding to information about the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency that simply isn’t correct. I discuss why cities need to open up their thinking about using fiber as a utility, and why cities are going to be in the game for a long time yet to come.… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: Major new expansion by wholesale infrastructure provider CityFibre in U.K., giving more credence to the “open access” model that is beginning to be deployed globally. Under such a model, one entity owns the fiber infrastructure, with another selling retail internet access services to customers. Frequently, there is yet another entity that provider… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: This new 60-page report by the National Regulatory Research Institute (and which was founded by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners), delves into the important state role in broadband deployment. It discusses the role of State Broadband Initiatives, including broadband mapping efforts, and discusses in greater detail the projects in California,… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2017 – Ending months of speculation, President Trump announced his intent to nominate Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, back to her previous role as a Federal Communications Commissioner. The announcement came in a pre-midnight email from the White House. Attempts to get Rosenworcel’s re-nominated at the end of the last Congress faltered in… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: In a conference call with reporters, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said that governors and mayors are scheduled meet at the White House with President Donald Trump for a session focused on efficiently using tax dollars for infrastructure projects.|| Trump to Push for U.S. Infrastructure Overhaul of Roads, Bridges, Air Traffic,… Keep Reading
BROADBAND BREAKFAST INSIGHT: While there are a lot of uncertainties about timing – and how it meshes with tax legislation – the White House is pressing forward with its “vision” for infrastructure, which is primarily one of melding public and private forces to rebuild physical backbone of America. This is not all bad, as public-private partnerships… Keep Reading
DALLAS, May 5, 2017 – Open access networks are becoming more real for gigabit connectivity in the United States, according to panelists attending the Broadband Communities Summit here this week. The conference was notable in having numerous, positive discussions of the “three-tiered” model: One entity owns the fiber infrastructure, a second entity operates the gigabit… Keep Reading
DALLAS, May 1, 2017 – One of the biggest puzzles in broadband today is a financial conundrum: Our nation needs next-generation networks everywhere, but advanced internet capacity is spotty at best. One solution to the problem of financing universal broadband networks — on display in Ammon, Idaho — will be presented at the Rural Telecommunications… Keep Reading
DALLAS, April 25, 2017 – What kind of workplaces and economic environment are rural areas likely to experience in the future? At the Rural Telecommunications Congress program here at the 2017 Broadband Communities Summit next week, two of the sessions on Wednesday, May 3, will feature address that question. First, we’ll hear a “case study”… Keep Reading
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, April 19, 2017 – At 7,200 square miles, this Southern California county is nearly the size of New Jersey. On April 3, the county put out a “Request for Participants” in an effort to jump-start a $2 billion to $4 billion initiative building a gigabit fiber network. The project is dubbed RIVCOConnect, and represents… Keep Reading
DALLAS, April 18, 2017 – Over the past ten years, broadband mapping has gone through many changes. In the beginning, the Federal Communications Commission collected data about high-speed internet access, but didn’t release any local or granular data collected through its semi-annual forms. Through the efforts of organizations like BroadbandCensus.com (the predecessor to BroadbandBreakfast.com), a… Keep Reading
DALLAS, April 18, 2017 – The Universal Service Administrative Corporation may not grab broadband headlines, but the once-obscure federal agency is central to helping rural America and other stakeholders get Broadband Broadband, Better Lives. USAC’s programs, plus its “new look,” will be the subject of the lead panel at the Rural Telecommunications Congress happening here… Keep Reading
DALLAS, April 6, 2017 – The Rural Telecommunications Congress program at the 2017 Broadband Communities Summit here on May 1-4, 2017, will feature panelists on the Universal Service Administrative Corporation’s role in bringing broadband to underserved and unserved communities, the role of broadband mapping in today’s telecommunications ecosystem, a case study of bringing broadband to… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, February 6, 2017 – The House of Representatives on Monday approved by voice vote the Email Privacy Act, H.R. 387, designed to protect Americans’ privacy and public safety in the digital age. Below is a statement from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, applauding passage of the bill. I’ve written about previous version of this legislation… Keep Reading
WASHINGTON, January 31, 2017 – Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Tuesday announced the formation of a new federal advisory committee that would seek to accelerate deployment of high-speed broadband nationwide, and to close the digital divide, by providing a model approach to deployment for municipalities. “Access to broadband is increasingly critical for all… Keep Reading
KEYSTONE, Colorado, June 6, 2016 – Three Washington wireless policy experts – Stephen Coran of Lerman Senter, Jonathan Adelstein of the Wireless Infrastructure Association, and Michael Calabrese of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute – addressed current issues discussed at Mountain Connect here. Keep Reading
KEYSTONE, Colorado, June 6, 2016 – Here at Mountain Connect, I caught up with Bruce Patterson, the chief technologist in Ammon, Idaho (a suburb of Idaho Falls), where he discussed the innovative open access network that is common online in this city of 13,000. He and Jeff Christensen, President of Entry Point Networks, spoke about… Keep Reading
KEYSTONE, Colorado, June 6, 2016 – My interview with Lori Sherwood, following her panel discussion on “Financing Options for Municipal Networks” at the Mountain Connect conference here. Panelist during her discussion were Jason Gredell of J.P. Morgan Chase, Brian Garcia of Aegis Capital and Kevin Padrick of Symmetrical Networks. Keep Reading
KEYSTONE, Colorado, June 6, 2016 – Continuing my live interviews at Mountain Connect, I interview Kelleigh Cole of the Utah Broadband Project. Kelleigh holds the position in Illinois similar to the role I had as Executive Director of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois from 2010-2013. Keep Reading
KEYSTONE, Colorado, June 6, 2016 - Here at the Mountain Connect conference at the heart of the Rockies, I caught up with Paul Recanzone and Alex Telthorst of Colorado Fiber Community. They addressed the benefits of shared infrastructure for rural broadband communities. Keep Reading
MOUNTAIN VIEW, November 24, 2015 - Community broadband institutions are a key building block to accelerate deployment of high-capacity internet service, said speakers and panelists at the inaugural Anchornets conference here last week.
Such community institutions also play a vital role in facilitating public-private partnerships that aid such deployment, they said at a conference hosted by the Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition at the Museum of Computer History here in the heart of Silicon Valley on Monday, November 16.
Among the high-profile leaders who emphasized the important role of schools and libraries in promoting high-speed internet service were former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Sunne McPeak, CEO of the California Emerging Technology Fund, and Evan Marwell, founder of EducationSuperhighway, a non-profit designed to promote greater internet connectivity in schools.
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, California - Local broadband institutions seeking to leverage high-speed connectivity for the benefit of their broader communities will benefit from attending the inaugural AnchorNETS conference here on November 16 and 17.
Sponsored by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, the AnchorNETS conference is being hosted in conjunction with the federal government's BroadbandUSA initiative on Tuesday, November 17. The AnchorNETS event will be keynoted by former Gov. Pat Quinn, the Illinois Democrat responsible for completion of a nearly $100 million, four-year project to install 1,000 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure throughout Illinois. “Governor Quinn's role in bringing together state, federal and local resources, from private and public sectors, in the pursuit of improved digital literacy and internet connectivity to Illinois anchor institutions is a model for all public officials," said John Windhausen, executive director of SHLB Coalition.
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WASHINGTON, October 19, 2015 - The Federal Communications Commission on Friday announced that it had launched an investigation into the broadband pricing plans of local exchange carriers AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier and Verizon Communications for so-called "special access services" of business data.
A coalition of competitive carriers and non-profit organizations dubbed Competify has been urging the inquiry, and praised Friday's order by the agency's Wireline Communications Bureau.
"The incumbents use inherently anticompetitive lock-up plans – which only an entity with immense market power could impose – to charge businesses and anchor institutions excessive access rates that harm competition, restrain the deployment of competitive facilities, and impede the transition to next-generation services," according to a statement released by the group.
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SALT LAKE CITY, October 19, 2015 - Utah has been leading the nation in many areas of broadband internet access and its proliferation, according to a report released on Wednesday by the non-profit Utah Foundation.
"Utah’s history of investing early and its collaboration among many public and private entities has helped develop an infrastructure that can support the local business climate, including Utah’s expanding tech sector which is heavily reliant on high-capacity networks," reads the report, by Shawn Teigen, Christopher Collard and Robert Jordan of the foundation.
"It is likely that future internet applications will require exceedingly high-speed internet, far beyond that which is available today. Preparing the infrastructure now may be prudent," write the authors.
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LAKE OSWEGO, Oregon, October 14, 2015 - This suburb of Portland, a potential candidate for Google Fiber's Gigabit-speed internet service, has said it isn't willing to wait around for the search engine giant.
At a city council meeting here on Tuesday night, elected officials in this city of 37,000 listened, questioned and debated between two proposed public-private partnerships that would result in the construction of Gigabit-speed fiber-optic infrastructure.
Instead of sitting and waiting for Google, the city council members appeared inclined to move forward on a public-private project with city involvement.
"There was a great buzz and excitement when Google announced" the possibility that it would come to Portland, said Councilmember Jon Gustafson during the session -- but the city hasn't wasn't seen any action since that time.
Last year, Google announced possible expansion to Portland and five suburbs, including Lake Oswego. The company has made commitment, however.
"Google is still at the vapor stage," added Chip Larouche, chief technology officer for the city. Speaking at the Tuesday meeting, he said that Google is "talking about how 'we might make you a promise.'"
Instead, City Manager Scott Lazenby said that in June Lake Oswego put out a Request for Proposals to build their own Gigabit Network. The city received two responses from private companies, and one from the City's own Public Works Department.
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NEW YORK, October 13, 2015 - The battle between Verizon Communications and the Communications Workers of America escalated on Tuesday, as the union announced a new television advertisement slamming the broadband provider for failing to build-out its high-speed fiber-optic internet service here.
The advertisements come just ahead of a New York City Council hearing on Wednesday that will include the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, customers that say they have been unable to get FiOS, and from Verizon officials.
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PROVO, Utah, October 6, 2015 - One of the highest-bandwidth cities in the country will next week host the Utah Broadband Tech Summit here on Wednesday, October 14.
The event, sponsored by the Utah Broadband Outreach Center, will bring national experts from Washington together with practitioners of Gigabit Networks throughout the state
"The Utah Broadband Tech Summit is an annual event focusing on how providers and communities can work together to meet increasing infrastructure demands," said Kelleigh Cole, director of the Utah Broadband Outreach Center. "As network usage increases and devices become smarter, preparing for these advancements will give communities, businesses and individuals a competitive advantage."
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Editor's Note: This column, "Once 'Athens of the West,' a Kentucky city seeks revival and improvements," was originally published in the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, Utah. Here is a complete list of Drew Clark's weekly columns for the paper.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — This city now best-known for horse racing and bourbon was, 200 years ago, once described as the "Athens of the West."
And while east-central Kentucky has since gone through its economic ups and downs, last month the state's civic leaders announced an ambitious fiber-optic development project that boosters say will once again put Kentucky in the national spotlight.
Lexington enjoyed its early heyday from its founding in 1787 until the early decades of the 19th century. Its most notable resident was Henry Clay, the lawyer who became one of the three most influential national legislators (with Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun) of the antebellum era.
Clay, the founder of the Whig Party, was a vigorous advocate of the "American System" of internal improvements. Today we would describe these as infrastructure investments.
It was the internal improvement sought by Clay that made transportation possible across the Western frontier. They began creating a truly national marketplace.
Lexington bequeathed us another figure sympathetic to the Whig cause: Mary Todd Lincoln. Visiting the museum here that was her home, I learned that her father — a member of the Kentucky Legislature — frequently invited his politically minded young daughter to sit in on meetings with constituents.
Mary Todd left Lexington, or course. More than 400 miles west, in Springfield, Illinois, she met and fell in love with a more hardscrabble Kentuckian. Abraham Lincoln also was a strong proponent of "internal improvements."
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LEVERETT, Massachusetts, October 1, 2015 - The first segment of the "last mile" fiber optic network in Western Massachusetts will launch on Friday afternoon with a community event here featuring the president of the state senate, leading state broadband advocates, and an official from the U.S. Commerce Department. Dubbed LeverettNet, the municipal network is the first last mile project built off of the MassBroadband 123 fiber-optic middle mile network. MassBroadband 123 was funded by the Commerce Department's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program of the 2009 federal stimulus legislation. The middle-mile network brought fiber-optic connectivity to Leverett in early 2014. Dozens of other towns in region are planning to build additional fiber to the home last mile networks in their communities. [More...] Keep Reading
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, October 2, 2015 - The Berkman Center for Internet and Society here has launched an ambitious new dashboard designed to provide a visualization of internet health and activity.
The dashboard, which debuted at the World Economic Forum in Geneva on Monday, builds upon the prior collection of broadband data available through Internet Monitor, a project of Harvard Law School's Berkman Center.
The dashboard is a tool for policymakers, researchers and users to understand, at a glance, various metrics pertaining to broadband access and use.
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PORTLAND, Maine, September 28, 2015 – In the first significant conference following the release of the Broadband Opportunity Council Report and Recommendations, top telecommunications officials from the Obama administration — including the Departments of Commerce and Agriculture — will be speaking on Monday in Portland at “Digital New England: A Summit for Regional Broadband Leaders.”… Keep Reading
LEXINGTON, Kentucky, September 21, 2015 - The lieutenant governor of Kentucky, a bevy of state officials and their private sector counterparts here celebrated the finalization of the deal to build a $324 million broadband infrastructure project.
The project, KentuckyWired, is a public-private partnership (also dubbed a PPP) of the state and of the Australian financier Macquarie Capital. It is a 3,400-mile open access "middle mile" network that will span all 120 counties in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
In planning, financing and negotiating stages for nearly a year, the Macquarie project closed on September 3, 2015. Bonds are set to be issued and construction of the network - albeit in very early phases - has begun.
When completed in 2018, the network will include six fiber rings around regions of the state, and fiber connections to at least one point in every county.
The Kentucky Wired network was the highlight and toast of each of four days at the Broadband Communities economic development conference here.
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LEXINGTON, Kentucky, September 16, 2015 - Fiber-optics is now the default mode for deploying high-speed internet throughout the country, even including rural areas, said the head of the Federal Communications Commission's office of strategic planning.
"Everywhere the country [that] has been able to get an electric line, it ought to be able to get a fiber cable," said Jonathan Chambers, chief of the office, widely regarded as the FCC "think tank" for technological advancement.
Chambers, in the kick-off presentation at the Broadband Communities economic development conference here, highlighted the widespread acceptance that everyone deserved broadband deployment at speeds significantly higher than even those put forward in the National Broadband Plan five years ago.
This expectation for broadband at speeds upward of 25 megabits per second (Mbps), 100 Mbps, or 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps), Chambers said, extended even to rural areas.
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WASHINGTON, September 16, 2015 - A movement to make cities "smart" by using the power of broadband and information technology processing power is reaching critical mass, with the White House on Monday announcing a comprehensive initiative to support municipal efforts.
Coinciding with the Smart Cities Week conference here this week, the White House released a 4,000-word summary of more than $160 million in federal research investments, leveraging more than 25 technology collaborations with local communities.
The goal of these efforts? Tackling such key challenges, in the words of the White House, as "reducing traffic congestion, fighting crime, fostering economic growth, managing the effects of a changing climate, and improving the delivery of city services."
"Advances in science and technology have the potential to accelerate these efforts," read the White House statement. "An emerging community of civic leaders, data scientists, technologists, and companies are joining forces to build 'Smart Cities' – communities that are building an infrastructure to continuously improve the collection, aggregation, and use of data to improve the life of their residents – by harnessing the growing data revolution, low-cost sensors, and research collaborations, and doing so securely to protect safety and privacy."
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WASHINGTON, September 16, 2015 - State broadband entities and commissions continue to plan an important role in fostering economic development and digital learning, according to a recent report from the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy.
The report, "State-Level Broadband Policy: A Compendium of Resources and Approaches," catalogs some of the important capabilities and tools of the federal technology program dubbed the State Broadband Initiative of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
But the report, by Pell Center Adjunct Fellow Angela Siefer, also advances the discussion about state-level broadband resources by highlighting more recently discussed tools, including eRate funding, telecommunications modernization legislation, and ways to promote local infrastructure partnerships.
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Editor’s Note: Several months ago, Drew Clark's column from the Deseret News of Salt Lake City, Utah, touched upon some of the important parallels between the most prominent infrastructure investment of the 20th Century - electricity – and the emerging essential fiber-optic infrastructure of the 21st Century. With increased discussion about the significant of the applications that run Gigabit Networks, including the upcoming Broadband Communities Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, it is reprinted here.
SALT LAKE CITY — It's easy to plug a refrigerator, television, alarm clock or toothbrush into a wall socket. We forget the lesson that electricity became widely available only after a single application — the light bulb — caught the imagination and desire of the public.
Electricity is history. Today we face the next-generation infrastructure: gigabit networks. Global visionaries here in Utah see the need for these communication networks, even as they struggle to explain the "light bulb" that will make it plain why a super-fast Internet network is as necessary as running water and a universal electric grid.
One of these visionaries is Glenn Ricart, an unassuming man who moved his family here from the East Coast 20 years ago. The late Ray Noorda recruited him as chief technology officer at Novell. A renowned technologist, Ricart set up the first Internet exchange point at the University of Maryland in 1986. Two years ago, he was inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame.
Ricart's recent energies have been devoted to co-founding an ambitious venture known as US Ignite. Its goal is next-generation applications with "transformative public benefit."
What are those? Of the 476 technologies submitted to US Ignite, none have yet emerged as the light bulb thatwill answer skeptics who believe a few megabits of connectivity should be enough to satisfy anyone’s need for Internet movies, music and email.
They include real-time emergency response systems, air pollution monitoring, collaborative virtual reality surgery and analyses of traffic congestion. US Ignite is particularly keen on applications that advanceeducation and workforce, energy, health care, public safety, transportation and advanced manufacturing.
In other words, said Ricart, “we exist to help cities become smarter, and help their citizens take advantage of gigabit networks.”
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WASHINGTON, September 14, 2015 – The pro-innovation advocacy organization Lincoln Labs on Monday introduced a report, “Lobbying for the Future,” which is aiming to promote policies that will benefit the companies not yet in existence. The report, co-authored by Derek Khanna, Aaron Ginn, Garrett Johnson, and Chris Adams, identifies these problems with with our existing… Keep Reading
September 14, 2015 - Every city should create a city-wide broadband plan of its own, said the former director of the National Broadband Plan, in wide-ranging speech touting four strategies useful for different types of city broadband plans.
Speaking on Friday at the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Officers annual conference in San Diego, Blair Levin of the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and the group Gig-U, said that every city should tackle four key strategies: (1) Getting fiber deeper into neighborhoods; (2) Using community WiFi; (3) Getting everyone online; and (4) Promoting innovative civic applications for broadband.
Levin, the former architect of the Federal Communications Commission's broadband plan, crafted from 2009 to 2010, said that the United States was about the 20th country to adopt such a plan for the deployment of high-speed internet. Nearly 150 countries have one now.
"With cities, we're where we were with countries in 2010. Several dozen have them," Levin said. "But now, such a plan is becoming table stakes for any city that wants its residents to be part of the 21st Century Information Economy."
In his remarks, Levin addressed the pivotal role that Google Fiber has played in spurring the development of Gigabit Networks. Indeed, on Thursday, Google announced upcoming fiber-optic deployments in three new cities: Irvine, Calif., Louisville, Kentucky; and San Diego.
He categories the types of cities, and they relative trajectories towards Gigabit Networks, as follows:
"The first set of communities is those that either have or are likely to see Google Fiber enter. For these, the starting strategy is pretty simple. Accelerate to the extent possible, Google's entry." Whether or not Google comes, such cities will be well-situated for others, as well.
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PROVO, Utah, September 11, 2015 – Utah is uniquely hospitable to entrepreneurship, and its deepening roots in software and search analytics have enabled it to become a significant technology hub, said Gov. Gary Herbert and a host of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and national journalists participating in the first annual Startfest here.
The startup festival last week featured more than 200 speakers and panels, including CEOs or top executives from Domo, Qualtrics, Pluralsight, Maritz CX, MX, Oracle, Vivint and a score of VCs.
“Utah, in a lot of ways, is a stronger and vibrant community than Austin, Texas; or Boulder, Colorado; and yet they get an insane amount of press,” said Clint Betts, the founder of the publication BeehiveStartups.com, which hosted the event.
Timed to coincide with Provo's annual "Rooftop Concert Series," showcasing local bands, and the smartphone-focused Pocket Film Fest, the event also concluded with a Google Fiber-sponsored "hackathon" devoted to helping develop applications for Gigabit fiber connectivity.
Cheerleader-in-Chief Gov. Gary Herbert
"I see Utah rising like cream to the top," said Herbert, governor of the 33rd largest state since 2009, and who is running for re-election in 2016. He kicked off the panel programs on Tuesday, September 1, with a speech followed by a question and answer session with Betts.
"That doesn't mean we don't have challenges, but we are on the right road and going in the right direction," said Herbert.
Herbert said his job is being a cheerleader for the state: "Mainly, it is making people aware that if you invest in Utah, your chances of success are greater than elsewhere."
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Editor's Note: The broadband world has lost three visionary giants over the past several months: Scott DeGarmo, Charles Benton and Don Samuelson. Each of these men had a significant impact on the world of advancing high-speed communications. Personally, each of them also had a significant impact on my professional career in broadband. I have had countless interactions with each of them over the course of many years.
SALT LAKE CITY, August 31, 2015 - I learned of the passing of Broadband Communities CEO Scott DeGarmo from pancreatic cancer two weeks ago this morning. One of my colleagues on the board of the non-profit Rural Telecommunications Congress had shared the news. His death came just one month prior to his company's next conference, "Fiber for the New Economy" in Lexington, Kentucky.
I immediately sent off my condolences -- now joined with dozens of others on the Broadband Communities web site -- to those in his company whom I have known and with whom I have interacted on my levels.
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