Broadband on Jones Street?

Well, things are moving quickly on Jones Street. For those of you trying to follow broadband issues in the legislature, here are a few references for you.

As you may already know, there was a House select committee called High-Speed Internet in Rural Areas. This committee submitted its final report to the N.C. General Assembly in January. That same month, the e-NC Authority also submitted its Internet Action Plan to the state’s legislators. Take some time to read it – we think you’ll find it to be overwhelmingly progressive.

Once the House select committee wrapped, we were pleasantly surprised to find that a House standing committee was created to look at broadband. The name of this group is the House Ways & Means / Broadband Connectivity committee.

Funding for the e-NC Authority
As far as the e-NC Authority, our priority is to obtain operating funds for the upcoming year so that we are still here to advocate for access on behalf of the citizens. As of June 30, 2009, the e-NC Authority will have depleted almost all of its original private monies. The e-NC Authority cannot continue to operate as it currently does without additional state funding support for the upcoming year. In her version of the budget, Gov. Beverly Perdue has recommended $495,000 recurring for the e-NC Authority’s operations. However, our operating budget is approximately $1 million – this means that the governor’s proposal alone would only cover half of our ability to operate. Of course, we are also requesting funds for connectivity incentive grants, public access/digital literacy training and two new telecenters. Some of these funds could also serve as match for federal stimulus dollars.

Take some time to look over our entire funding request to the N.C. General Assembly. There are bills both in the House (H532) and the Senate (S697) that appropriate funds to the e-NC Authority, in the amounts we have requested. The Senate will put the budget together first this year, likely coming out this week. Then the House will compile their version before both bodies meet in conference committees to negotiate and resolve the differences.

Other Broadband Bills
On our Web site, we have a page that will allow you to track federal and state legislation that affects connectivity. Note in particular, N.C. Senate bill S1004. This legislation is a resurgence of a bill from a few years ago that sought to put restrictions on the ability of local governments to offer telecommunications services. Here is one take on the bill, from a blog that ran last week. The e-NC Authority’s position on this issue is that local governments should have the right to offer broadband services when the service available does not meet the needs of the local community.

In closing, keep in mind that while there are certainly a lot of lobbyists floating around the legislature, it is the constituents around the state that ultimately impact the legislators. So, share your opinions with your delegates. Remind them of who they really work for.

Lacking broadband infrastructure in N.C. - Piedmont Comm. College, Caswell County

Lionell Parker, librarian at Piedmont Community College in Yanceyville, Caswell County, shares his story about the challenges of life without broadband at a public meeting about poor Internet access in North Carolina.

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...

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?