Is e-rate working for North Carolina schools and libraries?

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 expanded the obligation of telecommunications providers to allow discounted services to the nation's schools and libraries. This initiative became known as the e-rate (Education Rate) program, administered by the Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Administrative Company. The e-rate program funds technology discounts to K-12 schools, and amounts nationally to approximately $2.5 billion each year.

All libraries and K-12 schools are eligible for discounts at a minimum of 20 percent and up to a maximum of 90 percent, based on the school’s participation in the National School Lunch Program. Applicants are also required to have a state-approved technology plan before they can receive discounted services through e-rate.

But even with the help of e-rate funds, many schools and libraries struggle to pay for vital telecommunications services. So to help, the N.C. General Assembly in 2007 funded a $12 million initiative to pay the balance (amount not covered by e-rate) of the cost to connect schools. In the 2008 session, legislators stepped up again to grant an additional $10 million.

North Carolina is in the process of upgrading services to Local Education Agencies (LEA) and to each of the associated schools with adequate bandwidth to support their needs. The majority of North Carolina’s schools and LEAs are operating at 100 Mbps but many are connected at speeds far slower than this. The installation will be complete this year with the exception of the schools still under independent contract for this service, and even those will be converted at the end of their next contract.

With funding from the e-rate program, the N.C. General Assembly and Golden LEAF, each school will have resources to participate in programs like Virtual School, Learn and Earn and distance education through interactive video.

This program has greatly enhanced educational capabilities of participating schools by allowing high-speed connections not only to the Internet, but also to state’s computing systems. So to answer our own question – YES – the program seems to be working…

A Crescendo of a Video

We recently wrapped production of the video below, intended as a general piece that would promote the value of broadband deployment as an economic fixture in North Carolina (and by extension, the nation as a whole). It is a unique visual style and we are thrilled with the results. Moving forward, we are sure to find plenty of opportunities to use this at community meetings, legislative briefings and the myriad occasions in which we are asked to provide remarks and data at large presentations and events. Hope you like it...

Infrastructure is infrastructure, is infrastructure. Right?

It has been interesting to see the changing perception of high-speed or broadband Internet in the legislature over the past few years. When the Rural Internet Access Authority (the organization that preceded the e-NC Authority) began operations in 2001, it’s fair to say that not many legislators were tuned in to the importance of this new infrastructure. But over the past eight years, the legislature’s understanding of the need for high-speed Internet services has grown. And a lot of this has to do with how much they have heard from their constituents.

Citizens and state leaders are beginning to more fully realize the growing benefits of broadband for economic development, lifetime education, health care, public safety, homeland security, telework and environmental sustainability, to name a few. Unfortunately, we still lack an easy answer for the citizens and businesses in rural North Carolina that do not have access to a broadband connection. They live in sparsely populated areas; there is little to no business case for the providers to deploy the needed infrastructure there.

But as more leaders come on board to solve this problem, we believe more solutions will be found. So far, there is no magic technology cheap enough to deploy in sparsely populated areas that would deliver true broadband. And we can’t expect the service providers to shoulder the cost all on their own – they are businesses after all. So really, the question is a policy issue, and a critical one for us at the state and national level. Maybe it cannot be solved at the state level, but the states still have an important role to play, serving as models or testing incentives programs, emerging technologies and public-private partnerships to get the job done.

The question is – will North Carolina leaders and national leaders decide that broadband Internet is actually a public service, like electricity and telephone service? Will they implement policy solutions, like they did with electrification of the United States, to ensure that everyone is able to access broadband Internet? We hope so. While we work toward increasing availability here in North Carolina, we can’t do it without the support of our national leaders.

On the bright side, it is clear that times (and minds) are changing. And the legislators really are beginning to understand the issues involved here. When we get calls from people in rural areas that lack broadband service, we try to help on our own but we also encourage them to contact their legislators. With this newfound understanding in the N.C. General Assembly, we believe we will see more focus on the issue of broadband - more discussions, more solutions, and more prosperity for our state.

All good things.

Entrepreneurial ISPs (especially wireless), take heed

We receive a number of calls from entrepreneurs and ISPs wanting to start a wireless Internet access network. They usually ask what areas need the service, info on tower availability, where would they be the most successful, and also if we happen to have any grant funding. They have usually looked at our Web site and understand that our mission is to work toward universal high-speed Internet access to every citizen of North Carolina.

Normally, the urban counties, metropolitan areas, larger towns and larger subdivisions have at least one type of high-speed Internet access whether it is by cable modem, DSL or wireless. A business case for these areas is easy to develop (with all those potential customers packed in together), so they already have service. The small towns, communities, crossroads and rural areas of our state are the areas lacking high-speed Internet access, yet they are the areas that need it the most. These are the areas that need to be served, but are the hardest to develop a business case for.

Tower availability is also harder to find in these areas. Most water tanks already have some form of wireless equipment on them and most communities have set up guidelines and fees for their use; some have very stringent requirements and hefty fees associated with them. Getting access to fire towers has also become more difficult and backhaul transport to these locations is very expensive. All of these hidden and obvious costs have to be included in the business plan for entrepreneurs interested in starting a new ISP. And don’t forget a billing system, support staff and back office operations. It adds up.

But let’s get back to the case of effective wireless in rural communities…

Another issue for ISP entrepreneurs is access to customers, which is one of the main problems in rural areas. Manufacturers often present a “best-case” scenario when they advertise their radio equipment. Some state that their equipment is line-of-sight, but then give exaggerated examples of five to seven miles of coverage from their antenna. Some say that their signals can “blast through trees.” (They just don’t say what kind of tree.) We need for them to run some trials in the thick pine trees of rural North Carolina. According to some of the wireless providers we have talked with, pine trees “eat radio frequency.” Besides the trees, there are other items that cause interference and affect the range and quality of the signals.

Even with these challenges, wireless will probably be the only way a number of areas in North Carolina will ever see service. The e-NC Authority supports wireless efforts and the challenges outlined here are not meant to be negative or against wireless service. When ISP entrepreneurs spend their money, time and effort to serve these areas of our state, we want them to be successful. Our intention is to assist those entrepreneurial ISPs in developing a thorough business case. And when it comes time to deploy, we want them to be successful.

As for grants, we do not have any available at this time. If the N.C. General Assembly provides us with funding this year, we will address the counties with the lowest connectivity as we have in the past. And who knows – hopefully wireless can be a part of that…

Just trying to do what we're mandated to do...

On Monday there was another meeting of the House Select Committee on High-Speed Internet in Rural Areas (chaired by Rep. Bill Faison, N.C. District 50) and it was quite the adventure. Invited to present was Jim Baller of Baller Herbst Law Group in Washington, D.C., an attorney and national telecommunications policy expert. He addressed the committee and those members of the public about - in general - how far the United States and North Carolina are falling behind in terms of broadband deployment and access to connectivity. It was pretty depressing, though he did have some excellent concrete recommendations toward the end about what can be done to remedy the situation, namely to support research efforts of the e-NC Authority and provide funding for public-private partnerships for deployment in the most critically underserved counties. These recommendations tie directly into the e-NC Authority's legislative and advocacy priorities for the 2008 session.

Unfortunately, the reality of how far behind we are as a nation in terms of broadband deployment and broadband access is nothing new. But tell that to some of our rural citizens that are TRULY stuck at the bottom of the heap because their only access is dial-up or (expensive and slow) satellite! The meeting started with only three legislators present, but three others joined the meeting before leaving again prior to adjournment. The full legislature just reconvened for this summer's short session on Tuesday, so everyone there is pretty busy right now.

What also made the committee meeting so interesting was the discussion around a proposed bill that would mandate the service providers to annually report their coverage areas (availability, not disclosure of actual take-up rates or subscriber information) to the e-NC Authority. A good number of the service providers currently DO send this information to us on an annual basis, but a few of them don't - and unfortunately, this holds up the entire process.

The committee started to discuss the bill that would mandate reporting, and no issues were raised by the legislators. When the floor was opened up for commentary from those of us in the peanut gallery (staff members from the e-NC Authority, and various and sundry representatives from the service providers) - things got really interesting. Many of the service providers stated that providing this information could be financially burdensome. Some also argued that they do not have information about where exactly they offer service, at least not to the detail/degree suggested in the bill.

When you really get down to it, the e-NC Authority is only trying to accomplish its mission as assigned by the N.C. General Assembly - to accurately track the availability of high-speed Internet access in all 100 counties on an annual basis and then advocate for deployment in underserved counties.

But how can that happen effectively if the data we receive is incomplete?