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02/14/2008

The Rise in U.S. State Broadband Initiatives

Speaking at the University of Colorado law school earlier this month, Democratic FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein observed that the United States has fallen behind other countries in making broadband a national priority, concluding that "localities are taking it upon themselves because the federal government isn't doing anything."

In front of an international audience at the Global Forum in Venice last November, Republican FCC Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tait hailed the broadband mapping and connectivity work of ConnectKentucky, noting, “They have opened an office in Washington called Connected Nation.”

We have certainly come a long way since November 2004 when Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed H.B. 30, prohibiting the cities and counties of his state from setting up their own broadband-wireless networks to serve local populations. Today, even FCC commissioners of differing ideological stripes are roving far and wide exalting U.S. municipal and state broadband connectivity initiatives.

Just a few years ago, more than a dozen legislatures around the country were following Pennsylvania's lead. And it wasn't until Senator John McCain introduced the Community Broadband Act of 2005 that the fierce rhetoric against local authorities' embrace of broadband service provision — especially as it could be delivered through low-cost Wi-Fi mesh networks — began to soften. (At least, of course, until challenges with single-user public-access business models became another lightning rod.)

“As a country, we cannot afford to cut off any successful strategy if we want to remain internationally competitive,” said Senator back in 2005, championing the rights of local communities to deploy wireless networks to bring high-speed Internet to their constituents.

Today, a vigorous national debate on broadband — and broadband wireless — continues among public officials and high-tech business leaders and in opinion pages and at universities and think tanks, and you can bet the next president will take up the rhetorical torch. At the same time, W2i has monitored has watched the impressive rise of several states now taking leadership on the broadband and digital-inclusion issue, setting the stage, last December, for a first-ever Public-Officials Roundtable at the 15th Digital Cities Convention in Washington, DC. Why the need to track more systematically the rise of state initiatives?

States have a natural convening authority and can play a role in reviewing and vetting city and county broadband-wireless projects;
States are taking an increasing role in administering federal funding streams aimed at local government;
States have a vested interest in coaching local authorities in securing federal funding as well as in coordinating regional efforts especially in the realm of public-safety interoperability.

In other words, states could hold the key not only to replicability and regional coordination of affordable broadband infrastructures but also the funding and best-practice dissemination that can foster sustainability. Herewith, a beginning list of initiatives and recent media coverage, to be updated regularly: