Public Power - June 2008 - (Page 64)

COMMUNITY BROADBAND In Search of a National Broadband Strategy By Cathy Swirbul Last arena were talkinginabout year, when few the public a national broadband strategy for the United States, Jim Baller and his law partner, Casey Lide, wrote two extensive articles making the case for such a strategy and setting forth an eight-step plan to develop one. Since then, an avalanche of discussion on the issue has emerged—and Baller was named the community broad- torney specializing in communications law. “Individuals and organizations representing a broad cross-section of American life have now called for a national broadband strategy, including the American Public Power Associatin, NATOA, the National League of Cities, EDUCAUSE, Public Technology Institute, Free Press, Communications Workers of America, and many others. So, too, have many leading high technology companies and organizations, including the Fiber to the Home Council, Amazon, Cisco, COMTEL, Google, and many more. At times, even incumbents Verizon and AT&T have Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., took the same position in a “Dear Colleague” letter to her fellow members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., hosted a weeklong online seminar to gather ideas for a national broadband strategy. Durbin, Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Senator Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, have each introduced bills that would support and fund broadband mapping initiatives. Similarly, Senators John Kerry, D-Mass., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, conducted hearings to determine the broadband needs of America’s small businesses. The broadband decline could lead to a potential loss of $1 trillion in economic productivity over the next decade. band visionary of the year by the National Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) “for almost single-handedly putting the issue of America’s need for a national broadband strategy at the forefront of public consciousness.” “Support for a national broadband strategy is growing rapidly across America,” said Baller, a founder of the Community Broadband Coalition and an atiiX Employment Screening Services Instant MVRs/driving records Driver monitoring Criminal records SSN Veriﬁcation Employment & Education Veriﬁcation Contact iiX for unbeatable service and valuable information you can use today. 3011 Earl Rudder Freeway South, College Station, TX 77845 800-683-8553 www.iix.com Booth #208 supported the development of a national strategy.” Many public officials have also made the development of a national broadband strategy a priority, said Baller. Federal Communications Commission members Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein have repeatedly stressed that America needs a coherent and comprehensive national broadband strategy, as has Federal Trade Commissioner Jonathan Leibowitz. The major presidential candidates—Senators Barack Obama, D-Ill., Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John McCain R-Ariz.—all support the idea. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., at the urging of the Fiber to the Home Council, introduced Senate Resolution 191 to encourage Congress and the president to develop a national strategy that would make the United States a “100megabit nation” by 2015. Rep. Most recently, Markey introduced another bill that would, among other things, require the FCC to conduct at least eight regional broadband summits to obtain the public’s input on the matter. The national dialogue about whether the United States needs a national broadband strategy focuses, largely, on the country’s relentless decline in international ranking in three key areas: broadband deployment as a percentage of population (or households), access to high-capacity next-generation networks, and cost per unit of bandwidth. “Americans are coming to understand that unless we quickly reverse these trends, we will not have the advanced communications infrastructure necessary to remain competitive with the leading Asian and European nations in the emerging knowledge-based PUBLIC POWER 64 JUNE 2008 http://www.iix.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - June 2008

Public Power - June 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions Finding Common Ground on Climate Change Solutions A Patchwork Approach to Renewable Energy Whose Grid Is It Anyway? The Little Utility That Could Benchmarking Customer Service Can Prairie Hay Power Your Town? Storming the Control Room Investing in the Smart Grid Coming of Age: Superconducting Cables Community Broadband Economic Development Customer Service Human Resources For Governing Boards Safety Parting Shot

Public Power - June 2008

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