IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Der künftige US-Präsident Barack Obama hat die größte Investition in die Infrastruktur des Landes seit dem Bau des Autobahnnetzes in den 50er Jahren angekündigt.

Unter anderem soll die Versorgung mit Breitband-Internet ausgebaut werden, wie er am Samstag in einer Radioansprache erläuterte.

It’s a well-known lament that America’s broadband performance badly lags the rest of the world’s. Household adoption rates are mediocre compared with those of other OECD countries, and subscription prices are scandalously higher than even the super-speed nirvanas of South Korea and Japan.

Mainly this is a curse of geography. Vast, suburbanized America is pricier to equip with high-speed fiber or wireless than densely populated Asia. But unlike in many countries, the government also lacks clout over the telecommunications sector, leaving private operators such as Verizon and AT&T to upgrade aging copper networks on their own time.

A total of $44.8 million will go to OneCommunity, a nonprofit Internet provider in Cleveland that plans to nearly double its fiberoptics network, to 2,300 miles in 27 counties. That will include 111 miles of new fiberoptic in Cuyahoga County.

OneCommunity expects 800 new subscribers -- colleges, hospitals, universities and governmental entities -- to tie into the network.

Hocking, Vinton and Perry counties joined together to form a plan to get coverage in the area.

"Broadband is a utility and needs to be treated like one," Brent Runge, retiring director of Hocking County 911 operations said. Runge is spearheading the campaign for Hocking County.

Nonprofit OneCommunity will receive a $44.8 million stimulus grant that will fund 64% of a nearly $70 million fiber construction project targeting Northeast Ohio. The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (CCI) program, will add nearly 1,000 miles of fiber-optic cable to OneCommunity's high-speed broadband network, enlarging its total footprint to 27 counties, and creating nearly 500 jobs.

The OneCommunity "middle-mile" fiber project will create a broadband superhighway for robust and affordable connectivity services through an open and provider-neutral network infrastructure. This means the high-speed network will be available for use by all of the region's carriers, cable operators and private networks at reasonable rates and terms, allowing them to better serve business and residential customers. OneCommunity also will leverage this great regional asset to provide robust, affordable broadband services to public interest subscribers, called community anchor institutions.

But even in an era when technology facilitates change seemingly overnight, Northeast Ohio has tremendous resources and a terrific opportunity to reinvent itself as a leader in the 21st-century knowledge economy.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) directed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to develop and maintain a comprehensive nationwide inventory map of broadband service capability and availability and to make the map publicly available via the Internet. NTIA has awarded a grant to the State of Oklahoma to collect and verify statewide data about the availability, speed, and location of broadband Internet service.

Chamber of Commerce President Barbara Hawkins said Google is going to work with up to 15 U.S. communities to install broadband communications networks as part of the program.

“The internet is an essential tool for many reasons,” she said. High speed broadband is essential for business infrastructure, both to draw potential businesses here or keep them here.

Current internet connectivity in most Southwest villages is slow and cumbersome, with satellite connections that tend to be sluggish and unreliable.

The Southwest Alaska Broadband Consortium has only had one meeting since its formation about a year ago, and the turnout wasn't substantial. However, officials with the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference, who started the consortium, are excited about the future, noting that outreach efforts are under way.

‘‘We need this in order to grow economically,’’ said Edward Silvetti, president of the Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission.

One project involving a group of Pennsylvania universities, including Bucknell University in Lewisburg, will receive $99 million in federal stimulus dollars to develop a broadband network. A related $29 million venture will fund a similar push to expand broadband in communities north of Interstate 80.

The Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research, a coalition of Pennsylvania colleges and universities, health care organizations and economic development entities that submitted a joint application for the construction and management of the statewide broadband network.

On Feb. 18, the FCC gave the public an idea of what will be in the plan by releasing its national purposes update, which outlines what the commission will present to Congress. The plan embraces a broad vision of public connectivity that some public interest groups consider long overdue. The vision includes increased public education programs to bridge the digital divide, efforts to utilize broadband to improve energy and health care efficiency, and plans to provide first responders with radio interoperability.

SUBJECT:Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution

America's future competitiveness and global technology leadership depend, in part, upon the availability of additional spectrum. The world is going wireless, and we must not fall behind. The resurgence of American productivity growth that started in the 1990s largely reflects investments by American companies, the public sector, and citizens in the new communications technologies that are what we know today as the Internet. The Internet, as vital infrastructure, has become central to the daily economic life of almost every American by creating unprecedented opportunities for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. We are now beginning the next transformation in information technology: the wireless broadband revolution.

Although the Wi-Fi mesh network went live in September 2006, it was re-launched in an expanded mode on June 3, 2008. It is devoted exclusively to public safety and municipal use, and is not available to the public.

The city joined Corpus Christi, Texas, in launching a municipal wireless broadband network for municipal use only. Minneapolis and Riverside, Calif., are among the cities that offered mixed-use networks, allowing the public to access the system for internet connections, as well as for city function.

The 20th century was a time when new ideas changed everything. Now, in the 21st century, we are on the verge of a new transformational era, with new technologies for transportation and communication.

But there's another side to the challenge of connecting Minnesota to its brightest prospects for the future: getting people to make full use of high-speed Internet service once it is available.

At a hearing on “Why Broadband Matters,” the committee heard testimony – remotely – from an Alaska telehealth facility, among others.

Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, pressed for passage of his Broadband Data Improvement Act, S. 1492, and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, announced his Telehealth for America bill designed to expand current programs supporting broadband-enabled telehealth applications.

The Community Broadband Act of 2007 would pave the way for cities to install free Wi-Fi networks without being forced to contract through existing commercial providers. A similar measure is moving forward in the House, and both bills have broad bipartisan support.