Thursday, November 12th, 2009
By Christina Kirchner, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, November 12, 2009 - While the economy is slowly turning itself around, small and disadvantaged businesses face problems gaining capital, according to panelists speaking at the Federal Communications Commission national broadband plan workshop on November 12.
Small disadvantaged businesses are businesses that are at least 51 percent owned or controlled by an individual or a group of individuals who are deemed as economically or socially disadvantaged. They are deemed disadvantaged by the Small Business Administration.
Businesses with this status struggle to gain any form of capital, and that does not give these businesses a foothold to hang on to in troubled times. However, such businesses may be eligible for grants and loans.
Within the $7.2 billion devoted to broadband stimulus funding, “Additional consideration is given for small and disadvantaged businesses,” said Maureen Lewis, director of Minority Telecommunications Development Program at the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is administering the program.
However, while small disadvantage businesses might receive a different level of consideration when it comes to the funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, they don’t also get a break in the private sector.
“Funding doesn’t always have to come out of the Universal...
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Monday, November 9th, 2009
By Christina Kirchner, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, November 9, 2009 – Panelists at a Federal Communications Commission field hearing on Friday agreed that there should be a national broadband plan that made high-speed internet connections accessible to everyone, including those with hearing, visual and other disabilities.
“A national broadband plan is not national if not accessible to everyone,” said Michael Richert, director of public policy for the American Foundation for the Blind.
Thus far, people with hearing or visual disabilities have been limited to the resources that are offered to those without disabilities. And those have been inadequate to meet the special needs of people with disabilities, panelists said.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said that soon after he first became a commissioner in 2001, he went to speak in Sioux Falls, S.D. The unemployment of the hearing disabled community was at 75 percent, he said.
“Broadband can impact education and the environment of the people with disabilities,” said Jay Wyant, president of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
With the speed increase that broadband offers vis-à-vis dial-up services, and with appropriate technology, people with disabilities are able to work from home and attend class at home. That can be useful when...
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Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Christina Kirchner, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, November 5, 2009 - Panelists at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation on Friday agreed that price and digital literacy have created a barrier to broadband demand that can affect more than just broadband adoption.
The event was based off of a report written by Robert Atkinson, president of ITIF, “Policies to Increase Broadband Adoption at Home.” The report said that of the 92 to 94 percent of Americans have the opportunity to subscribe to broadband, only 65 percent have chosen to do so. The broadband penetration number comes from the widely-regarded random-digit-dial surveys of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
James Prieger, associate professor of public policy at Pepperdine University’s school of public policy, cited another barrier to adoption: the price of broadband service is just too high.
Creating subsidization programs for broadband, or lowering taxes that pertain to broadbandmight be additional possibilities, he said. Prieger said that Canada had used tax credits to subsidize broadband, which could be a possibility for the United States, too.
But Prieger cautioned, “Just because you have a plan, doesn’t mean that it is going to work.”
According to panelists, another problem for broadband adoption is that consumers may not recognize that...
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Thursday, November 5th, 2009
By Christina Kirchner, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com
October 6, 2009 - The Federal Communication Commission hosted a “field hearing” in Charleston, S.C., on October 6, 2009, as part of as part of its series of workshops and testimony in preparing a national broadband plan. One panel at the hearing focused on expanding digital literacy to the elderly, and to those whose professions rely heavily on the Internet.
Finding ways to help mend the health care system was also on the agenda. Having seamless medical care would be ideal for older populations, said Otha Meadows, CEO of Trident Area Agency on Aging. It would be beneficial to have a patient’s medical records travel from one state to facilitated specialized health care.
Doing so would also provide better statistics and vital signs taken from the patient through broadband from the comfort of their own home, and not at the doctor’s office.
However, telemedicine is not the only aspect of society that has affected by the advances of broadband.
Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps highlighted the fact that, as he said, “75 percent of Fortune 500 Companies hire their employees off the web.” Such a development might be beneficial from the perspective of reducing printing costs, but Copps said...
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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
By Rahul Gaitonde, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, October 2, 2009 – The Federal Communications Commission says that it wants to ensure that the pending national broadband plan addresses the needs of minorities, and the October 2, 2009, workshop heard multiple perspectives on the subject, with a focus on “Diversity and Civil Rights.”
FCC Consumer Research Director John Horrigan said that there is a clear correlation between education level and adoption: those with less than a high school degree only have a broadband penetration rate of about 30 percent.
Minorities are much more likely to access the Internet via mobile devices, he said, although the national average for all Americans is around 32 percent, while it is 47 percent for Hispanics. Although more Hispanics may access the Internet via mobile phones, such phones are generally prepaid and have limited internet capabilities.
The biggest barrier to adoption is the issue of relevance, with 50 percent of those using dial-up to access the Internet saying that they saw no reason to upgrade to a high-speed connection. The lack of available cited by a mere 17 percent.
Another major barrier to access is simply not having a computer, or knowing how to properly use a computer.
While users are able to...
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Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
By Rahul Gaitonde, Reporter, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, October 9, 2009 - The Federal Communications Commission workshop on economic issues in broadband competition on October 9 brought together regulators and academics, who agreed that regulation of the broadband market would be difficult and different compared to old-style telecommunications.
Judith Chevalier of Yale University, explained that while economic models do exist and can be useful they are not perfect. “There are big gaps between these models and the world we see.”
She said that there are too many variables for a truly perfect model to be created. Hence one must look at the market to predict the outcome of any regulation – and not just rely on a result from an econometric model. Echoing a refrain of almost every workshop, Chevalier said that in order to create a better model, “we need more and better data”.
In answer to the question of whether “there a duopoly in the broadband market,” almost everyone said yes.
However this duopoly in the wireline market may soon be losing its bite, as incumbent telecommunications carriers begin to compete more aggressively with cable companies. Additionally, panelists said, mobile broadband is becoming more of a substitute than a complement to the wireline options.
Looking at...
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Thursday, October 8th, 2009
By Mercy Gakii, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com
October 8, 2009 - The national broadband plan needs to focus on “the least, the last and the lost,” according to panelists participating in the Federal Communications Commission’s field hearing on mobile applications and radio-frequencies Thursday in San Diego, Calif.
The “least” would include those in the lower income bracket, while the “last” are those in the outer limits of technology, panelists said.
Education and literacy is probably the main key to reaching the “lost,” who are mainly the people who have not understood the value of broadband in their lives.
Rey Ramsey, president of the non-profit group One Economy, added that mobile applications enable people to improve their lives using broadband.
“We need a purposeful approach to involve minorities in the national plan, since these groups have been slow in the adoption of the technology,” Said Ramsey. More work also needs to be done to build awareness on the benefits of broadband.
The national broadband plan currently under consideration by the FCC should also focus on maximizing opportunities for populations that have previously not been using broadband, panelists said.
High rates of internet connectivity can be used to improve consumers’ compliance with environmentally-friendly choices.
“We need to ask ourselves what we need...
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Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
By Mercy Gakii, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandCensus.com
WASHINGTON, October 1, 2009 - For the national broadband rollout, the big question is who will pay for it? Phil Bronner, of Novak Biddle Venture Partners, challenged investors to make the national broadband happen at an October 1 Federal Communications Commission workshop.
“We have been on innovation and we must see the fundamental shift that will make national broadband a reality. Technology is a risk, but even business is a risk too. We cannot stop now.”
Other panelists echoed calls for investment in the national broadband plan. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said that every dollar invested in broadband leads to tenfold returns in the economy.
There is tremendous potential for free speech and free enterprise through broadband, and high speed network will bring a robust communication, said Thomas Aust, a senior analyst at GE Asset Management.
“The issues around broadband are subtle, with investors asking for surety before they put their money,” Aust added. The notion that the government can and should make broadband better though regulatory management is not enough.
Also at the panel, investors voiced concern about the need for capital commitment because they want to know the new telecom rules, and that those rules will not change.
“Larger telecommunications...
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