Library

Fiber critical for growth in Dan River Region

By Tara Bozick, Go Dan River

High-speed broadband infrastructure is key to future growth for Martinsville and the region, economic development leaders say. Over the past 10 years, Martinsville expanded its Martinsville Informational Network or “MINet” to more than 20 miles of fiber optic cable throughout Martinsville and Henry County.

Retransmission Consent, Round Two

The latest cycle of retransmission consent negotiations is drawing to a close. The negotiations  have been acrimonious, with significant rate hikes on the horizon.  Cable and DBS continue to call for FCC retrans rules with some teeth, while broadcasters question why negotiations over broadcast carriage should be treated differently than other programming.  In the meantime, the FCC has failed to issue its long-awaited new rules but it is now examining joint negotiations by unaffiliated stations.  How will cable operators implement the rate increases, and how will consumers react?   Do blackouts remain a possibility?   Is action by the Commission or Congress necessary or desirable?  What effect will the new carriage rates have on the future of television?  Co-hosts Jim Baller andMarty Stern have reassembled their highly popular panel of experts on retransmission consent for another lively debate on the economics and politics driving these issues.

The Employment Effects of Advances in Internet and Wireless Technology

Continuing investments to upgrade the wireless broadband Internet infrastructure, including the transitions from 2G to 3G wireless technologies, and now from 3G to 4G, had produced cascades of innovation. Based on previous advances, the current transition to 4G technologies is likely to spur significant new job creation and growth which could help the American economy restore gains in incomes and business investment. New econometric analysis set forth in this study shows that the investments and innovation entailed in the transition from 2G to 3G wireless technologies and Internet infrastructure spurred the creation of some 1,585,000 new jobs from April 2007 to June 2011.

Rural Broadband Report Q1 2012

Each quarter, Calix shares a snapshot of the previous quarter’s Internet traffic and applications utilization based upon data aggregated from a subset of Compass Flow Analyze deployments at different sized wireline communications service providers serving rural America. For this Q1 2012 snapshot, over 50 service providers from every corner of the U.S. provided data, drawing information from over 100,000 subscriber endpoints. Networks monitored consisted of both copper and fiber access infrastructures, and access technologies deployed in these networks included ADSL2+, VDSL2, GPON, and point-to-point gigabit Ethernet.

State Developments 2011

After the Stimulus: Broadband and Economic Development

Last year the U.S. broadband stimulus program finished awarding public, private and nonprofit organizations over $7 billion to build new broadband infrastructure, create public computing centers and implement broadband adoption programs. Concurrently, hundreds of millions have come from private and other public sources for broadband. Improving economic development is a driving force behind these investments.

The Importance of Broadband To Economic Development

By Matt McQuade, director of business development, Columbus 2020

Utility service has always been among the most heavily scrutinized factors in the site selection process.Locations are routinely eliminated due to issues pertaining to inadequate — or lack of — electric, gas, water, wastewater, or telecommunications infrastructure. Advances in technology have elevated the importance of the Internet in economic development and site selection. The availability, quality, and competitiveness of broadband service have become and will continue to be a key issue for many locations. Moreover, the United States has a “broadband problem” that is impacting the country’s competitiveness for new investment.

Stimulating Economic Growth with Broadband

By Howard Baldwin

One of the toughest aspects of promoting new technology deployment and usage is finding meaningful facts to support its potential value to local business community stakeholders. While there are readily available estimates and forecasts, detailed analysis and actual payback examples are somewhat rare. That’s especially true with new technologies such as broadband that require the concerted efforts of multiple parties — which can include government agencies, service providers, equipment manufacturers, and end-users — in order to deliver quantifiable results.