BILL MOYERS: Low-power radio is one piece of the media landscape — a small piece…an alternative, as you’ve just heard, to the handful of corporate giants that have gobbled up practically every media outlet in sight. Those media titans control most of what we hear, see and read and they still want more.
Category: Reports & Articles
FTTH Prism’s Dave Chaffee on US fiber needs
The struggle between those who are building an aggressive fiber-centric network in the United States and those who are not really boils down to which carriers are putting their citizens and communities first and which are making their own interests primary
Bristol Virginia Utilities fiber network is revitalizing SW Virginia
There was a time when Bristol, Va., and other mountain communities yearned for better roads — ribbons of asphalt that would link them with the world beyond. Today, an impressive network of highways crisscrosses this region in Southwest Virginia.
Now leaders of this city of 18,000 at the Tennessee state line have turned their attention to building a different kind of highway over which voice, data and video can travel at lightning speeds.They’re laying cables of hair-thin glass fibers — fiber optics. Their goal remains unchanged: to link with the outside world so that the region can stay in the game when it comes to economic development. Build it and they will come.
America Needs a Fiber-Based National Broadband Policy Now
By Jim Baller and Casey Lide, the Baller Herbst Law Group
In his latest album, Modern Times, Bob Dylan paints a troubling picture of what may lie ahead for the United States. In a track called “Workingman’s Blues #2,” Dylan sings of the diminishing buying power of American workers; of low wages becoming a reality in the face of brutal competition from abroad; of our inability to give away, let alone to sell, what we have to offer; of hunger creeping into our bellies; and of our fear of sinking into lives of continual crime.
“The place I love best is a sweet memory,” Dylan laments, “It’s a nude path, that we trod.” Dylan urges each of us to choose: “You can hang back or fight your best on the front lines, singin’ a little bit of these workingman blues.”
Are Dylan’s concerns overstated? Are they premature? We think not. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the details of President Bush’s broadband policies, most of us would surely agree with his observation in his most recent State of the Union address that America’s ability to remain competitive in the “dynamic world economy” is at risk. Noting the rapid emergence of competition from India, China, and other countries, he challenged America to take the dramatic steps necessary to ensure that we will continue to occupy the position of global leadership to which we have become accustomed.
In this paper, we discuss the critical importance of an aggressive national broadband policy that emphasizes the development of high-bandwidth communications systems, particularly FTTH systems. The stakes for America are huge. It is a fight from which we cannot hang back but must give our best on the front lines.
Baller Herbst white paper on municipal fiber systems
The Tennessee Broadband Coalition has asked the Baller Herbst Law Group to respond to the main criticisms that opponents of public Fiber-to-the-User (FTTU) initiatives have raised in Tennessee and elsewhere. The Coalition would like to know whether any of these criticisms is valid, and, if so, what lessons the Coalition can learn from them to avoid or mitigate similar problems in Tennessee.
The Case for Municipal Broadband in Florida
By Florida Municipal Electric Association
Why barriers to entry stifle economic development, disadvantage school children, and worsen health care.
Important study of FTTH usage patterns in Japan
As peer-to-peer applications become popular, an unprecedented increase in user-to-user traffic has been observed worldwide, particularly in Japan due to its high penetration rate of broadband access.
USA Today again supports Lafayette fiber project
Lafayette, La., is on the leading edge of the broadband revolution. Or at least it could be if BellSouth would just step out of the way, says Joey Durel, president of the city-parish.
Seattle Task Force Report
The Internet has sparked a communications revolution that will accelerate as advanced voice, data and video services emerge. Interactive, high-speed broadband networks with the capacity to deliver next-generation applications will become essential to businesses, schools, health care providers, government and individuals. Such a network is not available to most of Seattle today. If Seattle is to compete in the new world of enhanced communications, it must have an affordable, open, universally available, state-of-the-art broadband network.
Broadband and Economic Development: A Municipal Case Study From Florida
In this paper, George S. Ford and Thomas M. Koutsy explore whether broadband investment by municipalities has an effect on economic growth. To do so, they employ an econometric model to compare economic growth in Lake County, Florida, with other similar Florida counties. In 2001, Lake County – a small county in central Florida – began generally offering private businesses and municipal institutions access to one of Florida’s most extensive, municipally-owned broadband networks, with fiber optic connections to hospitals, doctor offices, private businesses, and 44 schools. Lake County has experienced approximately 100% greater growth in economic activity – a doubling – relative to comparable Florida counties since making its municipal broadband network generally available to businesses and municipal institutions in the county.
Does Municipal Supply of Communications Crowd-Out Private Communications Investment?
There are 2,007 municipalities across the United States that provide electricity service to their constituents. Of these, over 600 provide some sort of communications services to the community. An important policy question is whether or not public investment in communications crowds out private investment, or whether such investment encourages additional entry by creating wholesale markets and economic growth.
USA Today editorial supports Lafayette fiber project
Lafayette, a city of 116,000 in southwest Louisiana, has plenty of Cajun spunk. Creativity, too. Just ask telecommunications giant BellSouth, which is trying to block Lafayette’s plan to save its citizens’ money and time by giving them high-speed access to the Internet.
USA Today feature on Lafayette fiber project
To hear BellSouth talk, high-speed fiber lines are the way of the future. So why is it so determined to stop Lafayette, La., a rural community in the heart of Cajun country, from installing its own fiber?
Study of Economic and Community Benefits of Cedar Falls, Iowa’s Municipal Telecommunications Network
The purpose of this study was to investigate the economic growth and quality of life benefits a municipal communications system stimulates. Data was collected to compare the level of activity within two adjoining communities, Cedar Falls and Waterloo commonly referred to as the “Cedar Valley”. The specific areas measured include economic development (business recruitment, business retention and expansion), enhanced education, improved healthcare, competitive advantages and population growth. The following presents the findings in each of these identified areas.
South Dundas Economic Impact Study
The Township of South Dundas invested $750,000 CAD in 2000 to build a fibre optic network. The goal of this investment was to provide broadband connectivity to South Dundas and promote local economic development. To conduct an economic impact study of the South Dundas fibre network, SNG collected data from the network subscribers, identified the direct effects to those organizations, and assessed those impacts on the local economy