Merit Stimulus Blog
Merit Stimulus Blog 10.6.09
By Gregory Monroe - October 06, 2009 1:19 pm
Greetings!
Welcome back to Merit Network's continuing coverage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
This post is just one of many weekly updates intended to keep you informed on the latest developments in funding opportunities for cyber-infrastructure, research and education.
This post will detail some press-worthy actions from the FCC and USDA's Rural Utility Service (RUS). We'll also provide an interesting update from a major trade show of the telecommunication industry, and give you the latest on the future rounds of ARRA broadband funding.
But before we begin, I'd like to draw your attention to the winners of this year's Nobel Prize—particularly, the Nobel Prize for Physics which was awarded to Charles K. Kao of Standard Telecommunication Laboratories of Harlow, UK and Chinese University of Hong Kong. Mr. Kao is none other than the creator of modern fiber-optic cable as we know it. Thanks to Kao, information in the form of text, music, images and video can be transferred around the globe in a split second.
The official web site of the Nobel Prizealso had this interesting tidbit to impart on Charles Kao's accomplishments and the ubiquity of fiber: "If we were to unravel all of the glass fibers that wind around the globe, we would get a single thread over one billion kilometers long – which is enough to encircle the globe more than 25,000 times – and is increasing by thousands of kilometers every hour."
Cheers, Mr. Kao!
Last Tuesday, the FCC Task Force released an interim report on the state of a National Broadband Plan. Summarized in this press release, the 160-page report acknowledges the need for increased bandwidth and capacity, stating that actual broadband speeds lag advertised by as much as 80%, with 1% of users driving 20% of traffic with bandwidth-clogging applications. In order to ensure that the Internet will keep up with the evolving and necessary trend towards education, job training, business and other productive purposes, increased bandwidth is necessary, the report says.
Preliminary analysis indicates that approximately three to six million people are unserved by basic broadband (speeds of 768 Kbps or less). The number of unserved increases as the definition of minimum broadband speed increases. The incremental cost to universal availability varies significantly depending on the speed of service, with preliminary estimates showing that the total investment required ranging from $20 billion for 768 Mbps-3 Mbps service to $350 billion for 100 Mbps or faster—though Corning, maker of Corning Optical Fiber has refuted that number vehemently, arguing that it will only cost a fraction of that price to secure fiber to every home in America, even at high-bandwidth.
Nearly 2/3 of Americans have adopted broadband at home, while 33% have access but have not adopted it, and another 4% say they have no access where they live. But large segments of the population have much lower penetration rates, and adoption levels vary across demographic groups.
To date, the broadband task force's efforts have focused on gathering the facts and data needed to develop the plan. Its efforts have included 26 workshops and hearings on key topics, with another six scheduled. About 230 witnesses have testified during these sessions. At the same time, nearly 41,000 pages of written comments have been filed with the FCC in response to its National Broadband Plan Notice of Inquiry, with another 143 response to Public Notices requesting more focused information. Nearly 40 blogs have been posted on the FCC’s new Blogband page, which have prompted over 300 comments to date, all of which will be included in the official record.
SUPERCOMM 2009, a prominent telecommunication industry trade show, is hoping attract more attention to its annual event this year as they announced Tuesday that Jonathan Adelstein, RUS Administrator and Larry Strickling, Assistant Secretary for NTIA, will discuss implementing the $7.2 billion allocated to national broadband stimulus. Both heads of the two ARRA broadband programs, the two will serve as keynote speakers.
Aneesh Chopra, Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. and Associate Director for Technology in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy will also deliver a keynote at SUPERCOMM 2009. Chopra—appointed by President Obama to "promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities"—will deliver his vision of how broadband will transform the American economy on the second day of the convention.
Finally, RUS Deputy Administrator Jessica Zufolo, speaking at the 2009 FTTH Council Conference & Expo, said the department is "painfully aware" of problems with the application process and is desperately seeking suggestions on how to change things for the next go-around of funding.
Zufolo also confirmed a rumor that the RUS and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) are considering combining the scheduled second and third rounds of ARRA broadband funding into one round. She also hinted that the Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) for this abridged second round will be issued in December with funding released this coming summer.
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
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