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Planning for Progress: Why National Plans Matter

In today’s digital era, the role for broadband – and the benefits of broadband connectivity – in underpinning a country’s progress have never been greater. That is why ITU and the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development have conducted research into the role of policy frameworks for broadband, in conjunction with Cisco.

This Report finds that there has been strong recent growth in Plans, with some 134 Plans in force by mid-2013. Plans may take different forms (e.g. legislation, policy framework, strategy and/or regulations) and vary in emphasis (e.g. IT, Information Society, ICT,
Digital Agenda, or Broadband). Plans prior to 2005 tended to focus on Information Technology (IT) or Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The Information Society proved most popular as the focus of Plans in 2007-2008, with broadband growing sharply as the focus of Plans from 2008 onwards. Most recently, Digital Agendas account for a small, but growing, number of Plans. However, all of these Plans share a common emphasis on the vital role of broadband in underpinning national competitiveness, and aim to extend national footprint of broadband networks and usage of broadband-enabled services and applications.

Evolution and Prospects of Cable Networks for Broadband Services

In the summer of 2012, an excellent TNO report appeared, describing the evolution and prospects of Cable networks for Broadband services. In it, TNO set out how owners of a coax cable network can upgrade in steps and withstand the competition from an optical fiber network as long as possible. The provision of Gigabit broadband services is the new challenge for cable networks. With existing DOCSIS3.0 techniques, cable networks are marketing broadband services to 150 Mb/s.

Sourcewatch Background Report Website

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) publishes SourceWatch, this collaborative, specialized encyclopedia of the people, organizations, and issues shaping the public agenda. SourceWatch profiles the activities of front groups, PR spinners, industry-friendly experts, industry-funded organizations, and think tanks trying to manipulate public opinion on behalf of corporations or government. We also highlight key public policies they are trying to affect and provide ways to get involved. In addition, SourceWatch contains information about others who help document information about PR spin, such as reporters, academics, and watchdog groups.

Broadband’s Contribution to Economic Health in Rural Areas

This paper uses the latest data on both broadband availability and adoption to empirically gauge the contribution of broadband to the economic health of rural areas. Researchers utilize availability data from the National Broadband Map aggregated to county level, and county-level adoption data from Federal Communication Commission’s Form 477. Economic health variables of interest are gathered from a variety of sources and include median household income, number of firms with paid employees, total employed, percentage in poverty, and the percentage of employees classified as either creative class or non-farm proprietors. A propensity score matching technique (between a “treated” group and a control group) is used to make causal statements regarding broadband and economic health. Researchers measure whether the growth rates between 2001 and 2010 for different economic measures are statistically different for the treated and non-treated groups, restricting the analysis to non-metropolitan counties.

Congressional Budget Office Estimates the Current Impact of Recovery Act

According to the Congressional Budget Office, which produces independent analyses of the federal budget and economic issues, the Recovery Act provided jobs for at least 200,000 people and possibly as many as 900,000 during the third quarter of 2012. Similarly, the gross domestic product increased between 0.1 and 0.7 percent during the same period and the national unemployment rate was lowered between 0.1 and 0.5 percent also as a result of the Recovery initiative, CBO added.

ITIF: 2012 State New Economy Index

More than three years on from the end of  the Great Recession, only six states have  regained employment levels enjoyed prior to the recession, and 17 states are still more than 5 percent below their pre-recession employment levels. As many state economies continue to struggle through the lingering effects of the Great Recession, a question commonly asked is, “What is this seemingly invisible force that prevents the economy from returning to pre-recession and especially 1990s growth rates?” In
other words, why is it that, despite massive monetary and fiscal stimulus, employment seems locked in persistent malaise?

State Developments 2012

National Broadband Plan relies on communities to drive innovation

Blair Levin is one of the premier communications strategists in the country who led in the creation of the National Broadband Plan and now serves as executive director of Gig.U. His remarks this summer during an exclusive interview remain of great value to the networking community in the Triangle, which is why it was chosen to represent the seventh day of this year’s 12 Days of Broadband.

Wilson’s Greenlight Leads North Carolina in Fast Internet

Following the collapse of key industries, a town of 50,000 in eastern North Carolina had to make a hard choice. It wanted to support existing businesses and attract new ones but the cable and telephone companies were not interested in upgrading their networks for cutting edge capacity.

So Wilson decided to build its own fiber optic network, now one of the fastest in the nation, earning praise from local businesses that have a new edge over competitors in the digital economy. In response, Time Warner Cable lowered its prices and modestly boosted available Internet speeds, contributing to the $1 million saved by the community each year.