http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-app www.lastmileonline.com Blog RSS Feed en 2010-03-11T13:12:03 hourly 1 1970-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.69/title.so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-support Today is a sad day--the last day of Last Mile Online. The announcement is in today's e-newsletter. We at Benjamin Media have been at this since 2005, and I came on board for the May/June issue of 2007. Unfortunately, the current economy has forced us to look hard at the bottom line and make a difficult decision that benefits the company as a whole. Although it has been a pleasure covering the broadband industry and the everyday people who benefit from these services, it is no longer feasible for Last Mile Online to continue operating. Thank you to our advertisers and association sponsors, who provided a great deal of support and backing, which gave us tremendous credibility in the marketplace. Thank you to the many contributors to Last Mile Online, who provided articles and expert sourcing for the stories that placed this publication among the leaders in providing community broadband news. Thank you readers for being a such dedicated audience and providing me with questions and criticisms that I feel have made me a better editor. So long to all and good luck in your business ventures. Best regards, Brad Kramer Associate Editor News and Rumors June 24th, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.68/title.the-meaty-part-of-the-broadband-curve The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has released its global broadband penetration statistics as of December 2008. And once again, the United States falls smack-dab in the middle, ranking 15th among the 30 member countries listed. Despite its rank in the middle, however, the United States is the largest broadband market in the OECD with 80 million subscribers, representing 30 percent of all broadband connections in the OECD. Even with the broadband stimulus funds allocated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act promoting broadband development, the United States may never top the OECD list because of its population density. That's not to say we shouldn't try. News and Rumors May 27th, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.67/title.moving-slow-in-high-speed-quest It has been two months since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was approved and the FCC is still in the process of making rules on how to spend the money relegated for broadband infrastructure. Witnessing the mechanisms of bureaucracy feels like watching paint dry. It's important to make sure that this money is spent in accordance with the objective to expand access to broadband Internet to the un- and underserved masses. However, the other objective was to spark the U.S. economy and job growth with timely action. So far, the road to ubiquitous high-speed Internet has been blocked by too much commentary on how the money should be spent. Not very stimulating. The FCC should stop dilly-dallying and make a decision. Let's get these projects rolling.   Advocacy April 20th, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.66/title.municipalities-still-fight-incumbents-for-broadband-rights It was only a matter of time after the approval of $7.2 billion for broadband in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act that we'd hear of some trouble brewing between municipalities and incumbent service providers. The city of Chattanooga, Tenn., is facing lawsuits from its local incumbent cable company in the attempt to stop the city from deploying a fiber to the home network. Paul Budde of CircleID writes that we should expect more of this behavior in the future as communities apply for government funding through the USDA and NTIA. Budde says: With President Obama determined to promote the development of open network telecommunications and smart grid networks we can expect the incumbents to step up their legal battles to stop this from happening. In relation to the recent $7 billion stimulus package AT&T made a statement that it didn't need the money, but that it would launch a defensive campaign against any competitors using the money to encroach on its territory. Communities that are taking the initiative to improve their communications infrastructure through the economic stimulus plan should also receive some legal leeway from the government in thwarting these kinds of lawsuits. Advocacy April 8th, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.65/title.broadband-stimulus-q-a-be-prepared The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has passed into law and it has been deemed that broadband development projects will get $7.2 billion, distributed to applicants via the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program. Ever since, the government and industry stakeholders have been having a back-and-forth about the particulars — who, what, when, where, why and how — of doling out the broadband stimulus dollars. Juan Vela, director of solutions marketing and strategy for Occam Networks, helped me parse some remaining questions about the stimulus. Last Mile: Now that the economic stimulus is approved, what can municipalities expect to see of the broadband stimulus process? Juan Vela: There has been a lot of interaction with potential stakeholders. So far, much of the dialog between the industry and government has been defining who will get the stimulus, what the unserved and underserved areas are, the terms of the stimulus and what broadband means. Many in the industry are pushing for a more aggressive stance on the definition of broadband. Right now, the FCC defines it as 768 kilobits per second (Kbps). There is talk of going up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or even 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) to compete with the rest of world. Currently, 768 Kbps by anyone’s standards is not broadband, but the most basic of services. In addition, while the term “unserved” is clear, being areas that have no access to broadband services, “underserved” is more undefined.   LM: Specifically, how will rural communities be affected? JV: The use of broadband in rural areas for the advancement of education and healthcare has become very important. Broadband provides the end-user with the availability of services that they do not have access to in rural or remote locations such as advanced training classes, which can make rural communities more competitive in education. It makes health experts more available to rural residents. Getting access to doctors is still a scheduling challenge, but the patients have better access through broadband. There is also an impact on the small and medium business (SMB) community. A business can be located anywhere, and with access to broadband infrastructure they compete on not just a local level, but on a national and even a global scale. Broadband makes rural communities more competitive in the world and can lure businesses to the community with advanced speed services. Broadband makes rural communities relevant, and it spurs investment in community, which spurs growth in the economy and job growth. It’s a self-sustaining cycle. LM: How much funding will be available per project? JV: I haven’t heard of a specific dollar amount per project. There have been general guidelines for projects from the RUS and NTIA. Both advocate that applicants fund their project all at once and come with a complete project plan. If an applicant comes with a project to be deployed as multiple phases, it will not be looked at as favorably. The way that Occam has advised its customers is to say, Get as much funding as you can in the first application. We advise customers to look at the landscape of their infrastructure, look at the rules of the grants and think big. That way when they go to the committees to secure funds, they can show completeness and have an aggressive timetable with regard to securing funds and meeting deliverables. There will be three phases of funding. Phase 1 will be April to June. Phase 2 will be October to December. Phase 3 will be April to June 2010. Every state will be given at least one grant. LM: What steps do communities need to take to get funding? JV: Communities need to understand their demographics, define who is getting broadband and who is not, and what percentage of the people are unserved or underserved. They need to understand what competitive landscape looks like. Communities need to understand the schedule of construction and installation. The funding dollars need to be distributed between now and September 2010, and projects need to be substantially complete within two years from the time the funds are delivered. They also need to understand who in the government and in their area will help them process the application. LM: Who do see benefiting from the stimulus first, private service providers or public entities? Will private service providers be more willing to work with municipalities now? JV: As far as for who wins, it will be the provider who knows how to navigate system best. That’s why it’s important to understand the application process and rules. Stay abreast of what is going on. Be informed. There are some opportunities for partnerships between private providers and municipalities, and there are some creative ways to do that. There is some opportunity for traditional service providers to work with municipalities. There could be a mini market that springs up to that effect. Municipalities are good at providing infrastructure and providing a utility. Providers are good at providing services and dealing with customers. Willingness to work together is usually the biggest challenge. The stimulus has the potential to open that up. Occam recently launched a microsite within its Web site to address broadband stimulus. The company is staying abreast of regulations and is using the site as a means to communicate its expertise and to offer perspective. The site, www.occamnetworks.com/bsp, will help visitors understand the applications process and possibly how Occam can help them in that regard. News and Rumors March 25th, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.64/title.anti-muni-report-is-mistaken I commented last week on a study released by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), which blasted municipal broadband networks as failures. The study, "We Told You So! Continue to Say No to Municipal Broadband Networks" (available at www.ipi.org), chronicled the so-called failures of muni broadband, listing Chicago, Philadelphia, Portland and Ashland, Ore., Lompoc, Calif., and Orlando, Fla. as evidence. Not an impressive list for a study that claims that municipal networks have failed almost every time they have been attempted. Not impressive, and apparently not that accurate either. Wi-Fi Networking News (WNN) responded with a deployment-by-deployment rebuttal to the IPI study with its own "We Told You D'oh: Latest Specious Thinktank Report." WNN's Glenn Fleishman lambasts IPI senior fellow Barry Aarons for misstating the facts in his study.  "Aarons, formerly associated with major telecoms and who works as industry consultant, appears to be trying to forestall putting stimulus broadband dollars into municipal hands," Fleishman says. "I tend to agree: I'd rather see non-profits and local telecom groups use existing expertise and knowledge of underserved audiences to built out infrastructure. Cities, towns, and counties likely have a role in establishing and leasing rights of way and facilitating access for others putting services in. "However, I have to take issue with the facts. There are essentially no municipal Wi-Fi networks of the type that Aarons wants to use as a strawman. Over and over, this report cites private efforts, and misstates facts." Fleishman then procedes to go through each deployment in the study, correcting Aarons' blunders, noting that only the Lompoc deployment merits the criticism. However, Lompoc is a small-time project and is virtually one of a kind. The IPI report, he says, is deceptive in its argument. "I don't quite know how or why this 'report' came into being, but it's specious from beginning to end," Fleishman concludes. "I would have enjoyed seeing a report that attempted to explain from the regulatory and competitive angle why EarthLink, MetroFi, and Kite failed in their efforts (among those of others), as it might teach something to future businesses launching efforts." Advocacy March 16th, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.63/title.don-t-mistake-funding-municipal-networks Today, Last Mile Online reported that the Institute for Policy Innovation has come out against funding municipal broadband networks with taxpayer dollars through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The article states: "According to a new report released March 9th and authored by IPI senior fellow Barry Aarons, municipal broadband has been plagued by failure nearly every time it has been attempted, and at great cost to taxpayers." Aarons' opinion is fully explained in that recent report, "We Told You So! Continue to Say No to Municipal Broadband Networks," available in full text at www.ipi.org. I found this opinion puzzling, as several projects across the United States have proven to be success stories, such as Bristol, Va., Burlington, Vt., and Gainesville, Fla., just to name a couple off the top of my head. However, it may seem like I'm biased since Last Mile Online has covered those success stories. But Mr. Aarons isn't exactly Mr. Objectivity. With the help of Ivy League Consulting president Ryan McCaigue, we found out a little more about Aarons' background. He's a lobbyist with a history of working with incumbent telcos. In the IPI report, Aarons picks on a few noted project failures, particularly those that went for the "free Wi-Fi" business model, which became a major bust by the end of 2007 with projects like Chicago, Philadelphia and Portland. He also mentions Ashland, Ore., Lompoc, Calif., and Orlando, Fla. Those six projects make up the failures of municipal broadband "nearly every time it has been attempted."  Yes, there have been many failures in deploying municipal broadband networks, but there have also been many successes. "There are successful deployments all over the world and U.S.A.," McCaigue wrote in an e-mail. "As other countries speed ahead with Wi-Fi and WiMAX and hybrid networks, we have to deal with the incumbents pushing back on ways to lower the cost of broadband in the U.S." Failures and successes alike provide important lessons for communities to learn from when deploying a broadband network, such as what infrastructure technology to use and which business model best suites the community. Most of us have learned that the "free" model will not work. (You get what you pay for.) But that doesn't mean all municipal projects won't work. Broadband networks need to be properly planned and well funded. That doesn't mean tax money should be the primary source, but why shouldn't broadband get the same kind of funding as other nationwide infrastructure? Broadband, as a primary method of communication, is just important to commerce as roads and rail. It's time broadband got the attention it deserves so that the United States can catch up to Europe and Asia in broadband penetration. UPDATED 3/13/2009: See Craig Settles' related article, "Muni Wi-Fi Projects Deserve to Be Considered for Stimulus Money," at FierceBroadbandWireless.com.  Advocacy March 11th, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.62/title.net-mileage-stimulus-rural-and-lte Ever since President Obama signed the economic stimulus into law, there has been news aplenty about broadband. Here are some news items that might interest you: We've heard that the stimulus might be too slow to help some shovel-ready projects. However, it appears the stimulus is a good solution for rural areas in need of broadband. Although the United States offers the cheapest broadband, we fell to 17th worldwide in IT develepment. One municipal broadband application gaining traction in the market is traffic monitoring and intelligent traffic systems (ITS). Despite losing some market share last year, Alcatel-Lucent is flexing its long term evolution (LTE) muscles. News and Rumors March 3rd, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.61/title.deploying-the-economic-stimulus The economic stimulus has gone through, and now we're starting to get a good look as to where the $7.2 billion for broadband will be distributed. The concern now is if the stimulus will actually, well, stimulate. The purpose of the stimulus, as President Barack Obama argued prior the bill's passage, was that it needed to be timely and targeted. However, with the money distributed to the NTIA and RUS fund, it appears that many bureaucratic hurdles stand in the way of communities getting the money they need to deploy a broadband network. For instance, now that the bill has passed, the government is now busy writing eligibility requirements to access the money. These kind of hiccups will only serve to bog down the process. Wasn't this thing supposed to help "shovel-ready" projects get going now? Instead, such projects have to wait through an applications process, says Tim Nulty, project director for the East Central Vermont Community Fiber Network -- one of those shovel-ready projects. Nulty estimates that the wait will be six months to a year before money is available. Nulty says that partial loan gaurantees would have been a better help to projects like his. Will grants from the NTIA or RUS fund help your project off the ground? Or would loan guarentees have been a better help? Let us know what you think of the stimulus in the comments. News and Rumors February 25th, 2009 http://www.lastmileonline.com/index/siteblog-post-action/id.60/title.stimulus-just-the-beginning Yesterday, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -- that is, the economic stimulus bill. Of the $787 billion approved, $7.2 billion is earmarked for broadband infrastructure. However, according to Alec Ross, a member of Obama's technology braintrust, the stimulus is just the beginning. Ross says that broadband access is a key component of Obama's plan to modernize health care records, reform education and help reduce global warming. But is $7.2 billion enough? The United States ranks around 15th worldwide in broadband penetration. That $7.2 billion will go a long way in getting the ball rolling forward, but it's just a start. And I'm not just talking about money. The whole attitude toward broadband needs to change. Some people still don't think it's a necesssity. Until everyone understands that communication is the key to commerce and that broadband is the primary method of communication in today's society, no amount of money will do much to stimulate broadband growth. Without demand, what's the point? The TG Daily has a nice breakdown of how the broadband portion of the stimulus package will be distributed: The NTIA will get $4.7 billion to distribute through grants aimed at broadband initiatives in unserved or under-served areas.  The USDA will get $2.5 billion for its Rural Utilities Service fund. An additional $350 million will go toward the Broadband Data Improvement Act for mapping and community initiatives. Furthermore, you can see where all this stimulus money goes at Recovery.gov. What do you think? Is the stimulus enough? News and Rumors February 18th, 2009