IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

There are better ways to close the digital divide

Dallas leaders look to build their own fiber network using $82 million in taxpayer dollars in a city with no shortage of broadband options. They are moving forward with this plan despite the city having a 98% coverage rate of 5G wireless service.

The city has recently consulted on a plan to make Dallas a “smart city,” with wireless internet access everywhere within its borders.

A 100-mile fiber deployment from FiberLight along a Texas highway aims to support autonomous vehicle development and other “intelligent infrastructure zone” applications. FiberLight will invest $20 million in the project, which it will undertake with the Autonomy Institute, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.

The project illustrates the potential for smart city applications such as autonomous mobility districts, public safety and response, and distributed work centers to leverage infrastructure deployed to support autonomous vehicles. In this case, the infrastructure will run along State Highway 130 (SH130) in the Austin area.

These rural entrepreneurs are representative of the hundreds of thousands of Texans in rural communities all across our state, families and businesses that truly represent an integral part of our Texas economy.

Yet, think how much the world has changed in 100 years for these families and their farm and ranching businesses. Cultivating a crop and moving cattle to market today relies far more heavily on technology than they did just a decade ago. The need is ever increasing for greater connectivity across rural America.

Sugar Land plans to install hundreds of miles of infrastructure that will enable all residents and businesses to access fast, affordable and reliable internet.

During a recent meeting, the City of Sugar Land approved SiFi Networks’ 30-year plan to establish fiber optic infrastructure across the city.

The new Administration in the USA laid out a $100 billion proposal for broadband investment as part of its $2 trillion infrastructure plan. Under the proposal, the plan is to provide national broadband coverage. The Administration will use better competition measures, such as price transparency, the use of public utility infrastructure, and subsidies for low-income households to achieve its goals.

Of course, we will have to wait and see if this policy will indeed be implemented, but there seems to be a significant level of support for it.

Rural areas face substantial risks in their efforts to provide high-speed Internet to citizens who live in remote places. Here's what local leaders should consider as they plan to expand broadband.

The essential point at the Nevada Broadband Workshop in Reno last Friday was this: Communities that want broadband should produce a plan that’s as comprehensive as possible.

Broadband breaks down barriers to modern day advancement. In terms of commerce, it enables nearly any business to be conducted from any wired location. Physical urban proximity to customers and suppliers, which once was the norm for businesses, is now unnecessary due to the virtual proximity created by a high-speed Internet connection--the same communications needs can be met and business operations completed whether located across a street or across an ocean.

That's why it's so important that Montana keep pace with the rest of the nation in broadband access. High-speed Internet access is no longer a luxury for the urban elite; it's a necessity that all Americans deserve.

Our 10 government, industry and nonprofit representatives answer who they think should be responsible for ensuring that every American has access to broadband Internet.

Editor's note: Recently the FCC estimated that about half of the residents living in rural America can’t get the advanced broadband service that metropolitan areas take for granted. Some rural residents can't get any Internet connection at all. And even some city dwellers lack access: At Government Technology’s Los Angeles Digital Government Summit in August, CIO Ted Ross said that almost a third of the city does not have broadband Internet access.

Broadband is a crucial asset for most businesses, and states like Utah are advertising through new tools just what kind of pipes they have on offer.

Technology’s role in government continues to evolve, having changed from liability to asset over the past decade. Officials realized that IT wasn’t something they had to babysit, but a rich suite of tools that could enrich everyone’s operations. Such uses of technology by economic development offices represent one of the fastest growing trends in government. The Utah’s Governor’s Office of Economic Development, for instance, launched an interactive map on May 18 that shows commercial availability of broadband Internet, encouraging new investment in the state.

The towns of Arlington and Sunderland have received grants from e-Vermont - a part of the Vermont Council on Rural Development - that will provide greater technical resources to the communities.

The grants will be responsible for a number of technological improvements, according to Gordon Woodrow, the chairman of the Sunderland School Board. Certain grades in Arlington - with the help of partner Digital Wish - will receive laptops for each of their students. The Martha Canfield Library - with the assitance of the Vermont Department of Libraries, another partner - will receive computer upgrades and e-services.

Participation in health information exchange (HIE) has reached approximately 35%, and just about half of all surveyed providers expect to be using telehealth services within three years. One third of behavioral health providers already use telehealth to connect patients with services, and another third plan to implement the technology before 2015.

"It will increase the capacity and the bandwidth here to improve telemedicine and those types of things," Foley said.

Salem was the fourth and final municipality to unanimously vote "Yes" to joining the Roanoke Valley Broadband authority.

The fiber-to-the-home/fiber-to-the-business network will leverage Seattle’s unused fiber, also known as dark fiber. The beginning phase will include a demonstration in 12 Seattle neighborhoods, which were chosen based on multiple factors, such as proximity to both existing dark fiber and University of Washington campuses and housing.

Broadband initiative crucial for growth

The need for high-speed internet service is being tackled on regional, state and federal fronts as officials recognize how crucial broadband service is for both individuals and businesses. That is especially true in rural areas where the service can be limited or non-existent.

Almost any product can be marketed globally now, and businesses routinely use broadband to reach an audience that goes far beyond state lines.

The centers located mostly in rural communities are benefiting from the Federal Communication Commission Rural Health Care Pilot Program administered in West Virginia by the West Virginia Telehealth Alliance.

The program expands telehealth and telemedicine capabilities of eligible health centers and to enhance capacities for future electronic health information exchange.

Huntington city officials are in the planning phase of the new “Smart City” project.

City council approved a governing board to oversee the work.

Founded as an industrial city, there is a lot about Huntington city officials are hoping to upgrade.

“We want to lay 183 miles of fiber throughout the entire city, which will completely blanket the city in fiber-optic cable,” said project manager Cory Dennison.

The White House launched three new tools to help accelerate broadband infrastructure deployment across the nation, specifically on federally owned land.

According to a Sept. 16 White House blog post, the Obama administration is trying to make it easier for companies to install broadband infrastructure on federally owned properties and roads – nearly 30 percent of all land in the U.S. (including roughly 10,000 buildings). Toward that end, the President signed an executive order last year to make private-sector broadband construction projects on those roadways and buildings cheaper and more efficient.

For Fresno CIO Carolyn Hogg, the answer has to do with olive trees as wireless subscribers, tracking tomatoes from vine to dinner plate, self-driving tractors, and agricultural research and education that could boost the state’s economy and help feed the world. Hogg, along with a coalition of federal, state, private-sector and local interests, are working to secure high-speed wireless broadband to take the region’s agriculture, health care and education to the next level.

If the federal infrastructure bill makes it through the House of Representatives and receives President Joe Biden's signature, $65 billion will go to broadband. What does that really mean, though, for America's future?

In modern U.S. politics, there are no guarantees. Despite bipartisan support for the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill, the bill faces political hurdles among the Democratic members of the House of Representatives.