CNations

From Mike's working wiki

From the report draft

In February of this year, Connected Nation presented web-based maps of broadband availability in Minnesota that display broadband service in a searchable and verifiable format. Go to http://www.connectednation.org/mapping/ to view the maps. Connected Nation’s work is scheduled to be final this summer. As a result of this work, Minnesota has taken an important first-step in identifying unserved households. The Broadband Task Force and the State of Minnesota should build on this foundation and support a second phase of mapping that further refines the data compiled by Connected Nation. A complete understanding of the availability or lack of availability of broadband in specific areas of our state is essential to an informed discussion of broadband policy in Minnesota and an efficient utilization of public dollars to support broadband deployment and promotion The mapping project indicates approximately 92% of Minnesota households have broadband access available. This broadband access is through a variety of technologies (e.g., fiber, coaxial cable, hybrid, copper, DSL, cable modems, wireless). The primary focus of the Task Force should be on the 8% of the unserved households and the secondary focus should be on the households who have broadband available but have not subscribed.

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HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY

Minnesota's current position with respect to broadband deployment and availability has resulted from adherence to the following principles:

<Comment from Swanson: I disagree that we are the leader in broadband in Minnesota and the premises below that use the connected nation data as the argument. The most current data is subject to interpretation with data that seems to be questionable. I respectfully disagree with the findings below because they operate on the premise that what I am hearing from my neighbors, constituents, friends, and family is inaccurate. Maybe the people I am talking about all over Minnesota don’t have a clue and the speeds they need are not a necessity, but they seem to believe that the internet is critical to their day to day operations and the speed of the internet is what impact them the most.” <end Swanson comment>

DEMAND SHOULD DRIVE INVESTMENT

As the Connected Nations inventory mapping for Minnesota shows, market forces have worked well in developing Minnesota's broadband infrastructure. However, there is little macro-level research regarding levels of demand for broadband service in Minnesota. To the extent empirical evidence pertaining to demand exists, the data indicates there is not yet sufficient demand to support mass-market deployment of broadband speeds over 50 Mbps. The only conclusion that can be fairly drawn given the data available to the Task Force is that where adequate demand exists for broadband services, the private sector has delivered. The Task Force defines "adequate demand" to mean markets in which broadband service suppliers are providing services and earning a reasonable return on investment for doing so. The Connected Nations map and inventory has shown that in certain, discrete areas, the cost of providing service is too high, and/or the demand for service too small, to justify construction of facilities to serve those customers. In these areas, the market has behaved rationally; it is in these "unserved" areas that government intervention or assistance can help

A paper by the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) cites a 2007 study by Parks Associates finding that 29% of U.S. households are not planning to subscribe to a broadband service. Those not planning to subscribe to broadband gave the following reasons:

• 3% said it was because Internet was not available to them.

• 7% cited affordability as the reason.

• 14% said they could not afford a computer.

• 44% said they did not want to have anything to do with the Internet.

TPI concluded that, from a policy perspective, spending a lot of public money on infrastructure will not affect household penetrations rates. Instead, policy makers should consider targeting subsidies at low-income consumers who would subscribe if they could afford the service. Programs designed to provide computers to low-income populations through public libraries or "community technology centers" also make sense.

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DEMOGRAPHICS

• Rural/Metro population

• Per capita income

• Household income

Mapping project – we haven’t seen the final version yet. When we do see the final version, it’s an imperfect product for a number of reasons – budget, confidentiality of date, methodological assumptions. Areas served by DSL were assumed to have service to the end of the exchange, even though they really only extend 15000 feet from the switch. So the DSL portions of the map have built-in inaccuracies. Similarly, if any person in a county had broadband access, the whole county was counted as having access – again, a distortion that needs to be corrected in subsequent efforts.

Granularity – First-generation maps from Connected Nations are at the County level. We feel that the next generation of these maps should be at the census-tract level at a minimum and preferably at the Zip+4 level.

Underserved – we struggle with what this means. Is an area that only has 768k mobile really to be considered as having broadband? Especially broadband sufficient to run a business?

Disagree – Gibbs It is a problem that the maps don’t reflect prices, costs or affordability. This should be addressed in subsequent mapping projects. Similarly, we need to see take-rates, perhaps based on community-based polling/mapping efforts.