Convention Speakers Call for Broadband Partnerships

Private/Public Partnerships Will Drive Broadband Penetration, Panelists Say

By Linda Haugsted -- Multichannel News, 5/7/2007 11:34:00 PM

Las Vegas -- Even as bills proliferate to move oversight over technology from local to state or possibly federal governments, local officials argue that their proximity to end-users and knowledge of specific local issues are the key to strategies to drive broadband to the most rural of users.

At a panel of state and local regulators at The Cable Show '07 here, speakers stated that public/private partnerships are the key to eliminating the digital divide, even to the most rural homes. They also decried local bills, which several speakers said fail to mandate that new carriers extend new technology to unserved areas, let alone duplicate the service areas of incumbent video providers.

Offering an example of a community-based remedy to an access issue, Colleen Landkamer, president of the National Association of Counties, told the tale of a rural elevator company based near her Mankato, Minn., hometown. The business needed high-speed access to be able to remain based in its community while operating a global enterprise, she said. A consortium including the county, the local cable operator and phone companies figured out how to bring the needed access to the company, even though it meant putting antennas on water towers to complete the transmission path. The project was paid for by a combination of grant money and industry participation.

“Local control is critical because every area is different,” she added.

Indiana Rep. Terri Austin noted that the United States is ranked only 16th worldwide in broadband deployment and recent trends in state legislation are not likely to alter that ranking upward. Bills passed in the name of competition also shut the door to data collection from new providers, she said. Indiana is one of the states that approved state regulation of video franchises.

“We won’t know if we’re making gains in deployment or closing use gaps,” she said of the legislation.

Rep. Rene Garcia, who serves on the Florida House Utilities and Telecommunications Committee, called the bill passed there last week “unfortunate,” as it lacks build-out provisions.

“A lot of communities will be left in the dark,” he predicted.

But Rep. Kraig Paulsen, the Iowa house minority whip, defended bills, such as the one passed this session in his state, which lack build-out requirements. When regulators pass bills requiring service to areas where companies can’t make money, legislators create a burden for those new providers. He noted that service is available to low-density areas via satellite, or that municipalities can provide service. Other panelists countered, however, that satellite Internet access is too expensive for some rural households.

Going forward, local governments should plan their technology futures much like they dictate land use, said Sonja Reece, mayor pro tem of Normal, Ill. Ubiquitous, affordable high-speed access is no longer a luxury but a utility, she said.