Roam on the Range: When Washington’s Moves Hit Rural Communities

By Robert Howden

It’s easy to forget sometimes that what happens thousands of miles away in Washington, DC, can and does impact the states and our rural communities.

An unfortunate and unexpected outcome of Washington policy surfaced in rural America this month when some wireless carriers announced they would move rural customers to roam for coverage on other carriers’ networks instead of maintaining or building out their own wireless network.

With all the progress and promise of the National Broadband Plan in helping connect rural America with high-speed Internet and communications services, it would be a shame to see Washington and a Federal Communications Commission policy put rural communities on the back burner.

At issue is something called the Home Market Rule, some good public policy that said if a wireless carrier owned spectrum — the lifeblood of wireless communications and broadband connectivity — those carriers should build out the networks necessary to utilize that spectrum. Doing so would ensure more Texans and Americans could access faster servicer without having to “roam” on other carrier’s networks or lose coverage completely.

While regulators in Washington considered eliminating the Home Market Rule a way to spur investment and network development, it appears the outcome quite the opposite.

Now, as some carriers look to take advantage of the FCC rule change, it raises real concerns about rural access and connectivity.

It now appears that the policy shift from the FCC gives wireless companies an opportunity to step away from rural markets and force rural residents to literally and figuratively “roam on the range” of other providers’ networks for their wireless and broadband service.

Given the goals of the National Broadband Plan, smart policy would look to encourage investment and deployment of broadband networks, not the reverse. The National Broadband Plan holds great promise for job creation and private investment, but those goals could be at risk if wireless carriers proceed with stepping back from rural investment.

Roam on the Range: To Learn More

THE DAILY CALLER (Jan. 25, 2012)
Sprint rural data roaming decision signals confirmation to conservatives critical of FCC data roaming rule

http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/25/sprint-rural-data-roaming-decision-signals-confirmation-to-conservatives-critical-of-fcc-data-roaming-rule/

Maximum Entropy (Jan. 26, 2012)
Roam, roam on the range. Will Washington’s new intrusions discourage wireless expansion?

http://www.bretswanson.com/index.php/2012/01/roam-roam-on-the-range-will-washingtons-new-intrusions-discourage-wireless-expansion/

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —  A new economic study released today by NDN finds that the adoption and use of successive generations of cell phones supported by the transition from 2G to 3G wireless networks led to the creation of 1,585,000 new jobs in the U.S. between April 2007 and June 2011. The study also estimates that a rapid transition from 3G to 4G mobile broadband networks could create more than 231,000 additional jobs within a year.

The study, “The Employment Effects of Advances in Internet and Wireless Infrastructure: Evaluating the Transitions from 2G to 3G and from 3G to 4G,” was co-authored by economists Robert J. Shapiro, chairman of the Globalization Initiative at NDN and former U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, and Kevin A. Hassett, senior fellow and director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.  In the paper, the authors quantify the large economic benefits – from employment to innovation – associated with the deployment of and investment in more advanced wireless infrastructure and associated mobile devices, tracking the impact of the transitions from 2G to 3G and from 3G to 4G network technologies.

Before we ring in the New Year, the Mobile Future team took a look back at some of the year’s exciting developments and ground-breaking wireless innovations. Our new video, the Mobile Year in Review 2011, and accompanying paper highlight many of the key consumer and mobile tech trends and explore what’s driving the dynamic mobile sector.

Watch the video here.

At the State Capitol in Austin recently, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples honored 119 Texans whose families have farmed and ranched the same lands in the Lone Star State for more than 100 years.

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 just a decade ago. The need is ever increasing for greater connectivity across rural America.

And, while most Texans enjoy adequate access to the Internet, the sheer size of our state makes access to broadband a struggle still for many rural communities. The Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan set out the admirable and important goal of bringing high speed Internet to every home, ranch and small business in America.

It’s good timing, too, given recent studies that point to rural communities increasing preference and reliance on wireless devices to communicate, educate, access health care and do business.

A Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy study released in late October found that Texas ranked second in states with wireless-only homes. In the study, 32.5 percent of Texas households are wireless-only, a full 7.5 points higher than the rest of the nation. Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota and Idaho were the other states – with heavily rural populations -that also topped the study’s list and bucked the national average.

That’s why it’s welcome news to see Texas Speaker Joe Straus recently instruct the House Committee on Technology to “Study the impact of the Federal Broadband expansion programs in Texas” and to evaluate the Federal Communications National Broadband Plan.

Speaker Straus should be applauded for his foresight into addressing the needs of Texans outside the major metropolitan areas of the Lone Star State and efforts in the public and private sector to better connect these communities and businesses to the digital world.

After all, a broadband connection to every home will make a tremendous difference for students in small towns to get access to educational material or allow a farmer to get the latest commodity prices. And in rural Texas, the ability to get a medical diagnosis quickly via telemedicine and broadband applications means greatly expanded health care access to a population that’s been traditionally underserved.

Small business owners in small town Texas want to compete in a global marketplace. A manufacturer in Paris, Texas should be able to market internationally, just like an omega-business in Paris France. And a doctor in London, Texas should be able interact wirelessly and seamlessly with a specialist in London, England so that a very ill patient doesn’t have to endure hours of needless travel for quality care.

The Legislature’s Interim Study on Rural Broadband brings to light the need for more growth in access to high speed Internet to undeserved parts of our state. With more than a third of rural households in Texas now wireless-only, there is a burning desire to compete in the international market place.

High speed Internet is a powerful force and improving access to faster broadband connectivity means transforming wide-open spaces in Texas to rural economic hubs, able to grow, compete and prosper on a grander scale.

The following is a statement by the Speaker on all the Interim Studies he has created:

Speaker Outlines Priorities for the House and creates an Interim Study on Rural Broadband Access

By Speaker Joe Straus

I issued the interim charges for the Texas House of Representatives. House committees will conduct comprehensive studies of the issues outlined in the interim charges during the 15 months between now and the next legislative session. The findings will ultimately form the foundation of legislation to be considered during the 83rd Legislative session in 2013.

Members of the Texas House are dedicated public servants whose jobs extend well beyond the 140 days the Legislature is in session every two years. During the next year, Members will look at ways to strengthen our state’s economy, improve our transportation infrastructure, improve wildfire response, address our water challenges, enhance public and higher education, and work toward a stronger and more prosperous future for all Texans. During a time of ongoing budget challenges, I am also especially interested in greater transparency, accountability and efficiency in our state budget, and greater effectiveness in state services such as reducing wait times for drivers’ licenses.

The interim charges are developed in two ways: Members of the Legislature submit priorities for study, and the Speaker includes his own priorities for review. Each of the House’s standing committees will study specific areas. The charges also include areas of special focus driven by pressing current events such as the ongoing drought and its impact on the state water plan, which will be reviewed by the House Committee on Natural Resources.

In a letter introducing the charges to the members, I wrote: “From our growing population to the severe drought that is plaguing our state, Texas is in a period of significant change. We are responsible for handling these changes in a way that makes our state government more efficient and responsive to the evolving needs of our changing communities.”

In addition to charges for each of the standing committees of the Texas House, I also identified two comprehensive charges that every substantive committee is to consider during the interim. These charges focus on economic growth by (1) improving the state’s manufacturing capability; and (2) finding ways to increase transparency, accountability and efficiency in state government. Each committee is to submit a final report no later than December 1, 2012. For a full list of the 82nd interim charges, please visit the House of Representatives website.

Thank you as always for your interest and commitment to the future of Texas.

Governor Rick Perry has appointed Rolando Pablos of Olmos Park and reappointed Ken Anderson Jr. of Dallas to the Public Utility Commission (PUC). The three-member PUC encourages competition and customer choice in Texas, and ensures electric and telephone operations, services and rates are fair and reasonable.

Recently he told TEP that,”I look forward to working with my friend Robert Howden and his members to ensure that telephone and electric services remain reliable, plentiful and affordable in rural Texas.”

Pablos is an attorney in private practice and a senior advisor of SNR Denton. He is honorary consul to Spain, a member of the State Bar of Texas, chair of the San Antonio Free Trade Alliance, and a member and past board chair of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He is past chair of the Texas Racing Commission and City of San Antonio Small Business Advisory Committee, and a past board member of  the Nueces River Authority and Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. He is also a former adjunct professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), a past member of the UTSA College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council, and a graduate of Leadership San Antonio. Pablos received a bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio, a master’s degree in hospitality management from the University of Houston, and a law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law. He is appointed for a term to expire Sept. 1, 2013.

Anderson is a current commissioner of the Public Utility Commission, and is a former corporate and securities attorney in private practice. He is also past director of governmental appointments for Gov. Perry, and chief deputy director of governmental appointments for former Gov. Bill Clements. He is president of the Entergy Regional State Committee and a member of the State Bar of Texas Administrative and Public Law and Public Utility Law sections. He is also a past board member of the North Central Texas Health Facilities Development Corporation and Texas Securities Board, and a past member of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Anderson received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from Southern Methodist University. He is reappointed for a term to expire Sept. 1, 2017.

by MARK AREND
mark.arend@conway.com

If the path being beaten to Texas’ front door is any indication, there’s a better way to do things in the Lone Star State. Giving businesses some certainty with which to risk investment capital and expand their enterprises has been central to the state’s economic success.

By most measures, including Site Selection’s own Governor’s Cup and Business Climate Rankings, Texas is the place to be for business and industry. Companies are flocking to the Lone Star State — Atlas Van Lines’ annual study of corporate relocations in 2010 logged more than 7,200 relocations inbound to Texas, the sixth highest, and 5,300 outbound relocations. Overall, Texas claimed 58 percent of the inbound relocations. More to the point, 40 percent of the new U.S. jobs created since June 2009 were created in Texas, giving Gov. Rick Perry an enviable credential with which to make a run for the Republican presidential nomination.

COVER STORY: TOP U.S. BUSINESS CLIMATES
From Site Selection magazine, November 2011

A Better Mousetrap
If the path being beaten to Texas’ front door is any indication, there’s a betterN way to do things in the Lone Star State. Giving businesses some certainty with which to risk investment capital and expand their enterprises has been central to the state’s economic success.

Illustration by Bob Gravlee
by MARK AREND
mark.arend@conway.com
B
y most measures, including Site Selection’s own Governor’s Cup and Business Climate Rankings, Texas is the place to be for business and industry. Companies are flocking to the Lone Star State — Atlas Van Lines’ annual study of corporate relocations in 2010 logged more than 7,200 relocations inbound to Texas, the sixth highest, and 5,300 outbound relocations. Overall, Texas claimed 58 percent of the inbound relocations. More to the point, 40 percent of the new U.S. jobs created since June 2009 were created in Texas, giving Gov. Rick Perry an enviable credential with which to make a run for the Republican presidential nomination.

Texas is no longer a runner-up to North Carolina in Site Selection’s Top Business Climate contest. That was the case in nine recent such rankings. But Texas has claimed the top slot for 2011, based on a strong finish in both the objective, data-driven component of the index used to determine the top business climates, and the subjective input supplied by respondents to our annual executive survey of site selectors, indicating which states they consider to be the most business-friendly (see the chart on page 909 for the top 10).

Each of these categories is weighted 50 percent; the data side is comprised of five sub-categories: the state’s ranking in the Governor’s Cup tally of total new and expanded facilities the previous calendar year according to Site Selection’s New Plant Database, published each March; total projects per million population; the state’s placement in our annual Competitiveness Ranking, published each May; qualified New Plant projects year to date; and a new criterion this year — the states’ 2011 business tax climate as measured by the Tax Foundation.

On the subjective side, survey respondents offered these comments regarding their selection of Texas as the state to beat in 2011:

“a pro-business, entrepreneurial, right-to-work state”
“no state income tax, ease of pulling permits, available work force”
“the government makes it easy to do business”
“Texas is progressive, fewer regulations”
“willingness to work with business”
“the tax climate, regulatory environment, incentive programs and work-force development efforts”
“the state fights OSHA, EPA and other negative, useless regulations; no state income tax”
“work-force availability, existing facilities and good economics for labor and facilities”
“cooperation and flexibility of state and local officials; proactive in growing the economy.”
Intended Consequences

It’s too soon to gauge the business-climate benefits of the passage of House Bill 274, which enacts several lawsuit reforms, including a loser pays provision designed to discourage frivolous lawsuits. But the fruits of tort reform measures passed in 2003 are easier to quantify.

“Tort reform and protection from frivolous lawsuits is a story that does not get its due, but the Dallas Fed chairman said earlier this year that one of the most important things that has happened in Texas is tort reform, meaning the measures passed in 2003,” Gov. Perry told Site Selection in an interview on October 18 — the same day he appeared in Las Vegas at a Republican presidential debate. “One of the great things about the 10th Amendment, the concept the Founding Fathers had that these units of government within the United States would compete against each other, was that you can’t just live on what you did last year or yesterday. You have to continuously improve your game, to be looking at your tax structure, your regulatory climate and your legal system. That’s why we passed loser pays, which took effect the first of September.”

As for the 2003 reforms, Perry says he can cite concrete evidence that they produced the desired results: “There are 23,000 more physicians practicing medicine in Texas, [Corpus Christi-based] CHRISTUS Spohn Health System saving almost $100 million in legal defense costs that they can put back into their system for more doctors and technology. Premiums have gone down for doctors, and more importantly, 30 counties have emergency room physicians today that did not have them in 2003.”

Tort reform and reducing the regulatory burden on businesses are the keys to giving capital investors the confidence they need to start and expand businesses, he asserts. “I travel around the country and talk about we’ve done, and when I mention the loser pay reform, it’s an applause line. People instinctively understand that if you get sued frivolously the other side picks up your court costs and legal fees. That is a huge win for the business environment. It’s about confidence that you can risk your capital and know that you’ll have a chance to have a return on that investment. I can’t tell you how important that is to the job creators in this country. Groups like the Texas Association of Manufacturers know that a fair and efficient legal system is a very important consideration when manufacturers look for locations in which to invest. We lead the nation in the value of manufactured goods, and we added more net new manufacturing jobs — 19,000 — than any state in the nation between July 2010 and July 2011.”

Where the Jobs Are

By several recent measures, Texas’ job-creation record is impressive. Site Selection’s Texas Spotlight, in the September 2011 issue, drew attention to a recent ranking of the Best Cities for Jobs from Forbes. The point was to show how many Texas metros ranked in the top 10 for each of the three metro sizes ranked. A similar ranking is available from NewGeography.com, a joint venture of Joel Kotkin and Praxis Strategy Group, that makes a very similar point. Their Best Cities for Job Growth 2011 Rankings also look at employment data over time across three population tiers — large has a current non-farm employment base of least 450,000, midsized is 150,000 to 450,000, and small is up to 150,000. Another category combines the tiers into one ranking.

Three Texas metros appear in the top five in the small metros category, with Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood in first place. College Station-Bryan and Midland are in third and fourth place respectively. Similarly, three Texas metros appear in the midsized tier — El Paso in first place, Corpus Christi in second and McAllen-Edinburg-Mission in fourth. And four of the top five large metros are in Texas: Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos (1st place), Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown (3rd), San Antonio-New Braunfels (4th) and Dallas-Plano-Irving (5th).

Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood is first in the overall ranking, and that’s the metro in which you’ll find Belton, Texas, where CGI Group Inc. plans to invest $7 million in a new IT Center of Excellence that will create 350 new jobs. The state is investing $1.8 million through the Texas Enterprise Fund (TEF), the state’s deal-closing fund that is credited with helping to attract more than 59,000 new jobs and nearly $15 billion in new capital investment since its inception in 2003. CGI provides IT and business processing outsourcing services to corporations and public-sector clients. The company focuses on recruiting veterans and military family members, who are in good supply in Belton with the Fort Hood army base nearby.

In late September, CCS Medical announced the relocation of its headquarters from Clearwater, Fla., to Farmers Branch, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The company is a leading provider of mail-order medical supplies, including diabetes test strips, insulin pumps and others, for patients with chronic conditions.

“Selecting Texas for our corporate relocation was an easy choice,” said CCS Medical CEO Dirk Allison at the time. “The State of Texas has a superior business climate and a strong work force.”

In April, Cisco opened its new data center in Allen, also in the Metroplex, a day after Gov. Perry hosted a group of business leaders and elected officials from California — including Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom — seeking insights into Texas’ business–attraction appeal. The same month saw a 1,000-job expansion announcement from eBay in Austin and a 3M expansion in Angleton, south of Houston.

The Office Space Indicator

Demand for office space is a fitting indicator of the Texas economy, because so many recent expansions in such sectors as back-office services, IT and energy require it.

“Unlike the bulk of U.S. markets right now, Texas is not flirting with a double-dip recession story,” says Kevin Thorpe, chief economist at Cassidy Turley, a national real estate services firm that recently released its Office Trends Report for the third quarter. “It’s a robust economic story. In terms of job creation, Houston and Dallas are numbers one and two in the country in job creation thus far in 2011 with strong numbers that are close to pre-recession levels, which were robust. And you have Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio in the top 20.

“Many of the jobs being created are generating demand for office space. Sectors in the Texas economy — energy, drilling technology, IT, semiconductor production — those require back-end office work, which is why we’re seeing steady growth in accounting, legal services, financial advisory and other functions.” Houston, Austin and Dallas finished in the top 10 markets nationally in demand for office space, according to the Cassidy Turley analysis, and those three markets alone accounted for nearly 20 percent of all net demand in the third quarter. “Other markets in Texas are also positive,” says Thorpe. “The U.S. is a mixed-bag story, with many negative markets and many positive markets. In Texas, it’s positive across the board.”

Demand for office space is a lagging economic indicator in most cases, says Thorpe. “It mostly confirms when an economy is healthy, and it confirms it when an economy is on a downtrend. These statistics for Texas corroborate the story that has been going on in Texas for a long time. It’s a population-growth story, a technology-growth story. Texas is very much plugged into the mobile technology boom because of the semiconductor industry. And it’s an energy story. The office-space indicator confirms that there is a significant number of real jobs requiring large volumes of office space, and those tend to be middle to higher-paying jobs.”

Jones Lang LaSalle research concurs.

“Texas’ office market is a very good indicator for the overall friendly and expanding business climate for the state,” says John Sikaitis, senior vice president and director of office research. “The office market, after all, is based on jobs and job growth; and, Texas is leading all states with respect to both overall job creation, as well as office-using jobs. In fact, in the 12 months ending in August 2011, Texas ranked number one among the 50 states with the creation of 253,200 jobs, far outpacing the second state, California, which created 171,300 jobs.

“Currently,” he elaborates, “as companies expand, they add jobs and in turn they need more office space. Due to a limited construction pipeline (not just in Texas, but also across the country), vacancy is starting to settle down and decline quite gradually, limiting options for tenants and providing landlords and owners with the ability to push rents and decrease concessions, in turn improving their bottom line. Furthermore, thanks to the attractive business climate, which creates jobs and thus demand for office space and rental growth, commercial real estate investors increasingly view markets like Houston and Dallas as ideal markets to allocate capital and purchase assets.”

Following are four excerpts from city-specific commentary submitted to Site Selection by local Jones Lang LaSalle office market experts:

Austin: Driven largely by the tech wave that has swept over the country, Austin remains one of the leading office markets nationally near the end of 2011. With year-to-date net absorption at almost 750,000 sq. ft. and a number of pending occupancies, Austin will most likely end the year with over 1 million sq. ft. of positive net absorption. This would be the first time since 2006 that Austin will have recorded net absorption square feet of over 1 million. With consistent leasing activity and net absorption and occupancy on the rise, this begs the question: when will the next office building be constructed? While developers are reluctant to move forward with speculative product, they are beginning to dust off the plans in preparation of being shovel-ready for that big tenant to kick off the project.

— Zack Jamail,
Austin Research Analyst
Dallas: Corporate relocations and expansions to the market remain a positive catalyst for Dallas with several companies announcing plans to move headquarters and other significant office operations to the market due to a combination of lower costs, business-friendly environment and strong, diversified work force. Most announced relocations are from California (but other relocations are from not-surprising states). This trend is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. All current economic indicators (positive job growth, strong population growth, healthy corporate profits) point to a much more robust Dallas office market in late 2011 and beyond, especially compared to the national landscape.

— Steve Triolet,
Dallas Research Manager
Houston: The Houston office market is showing impressive growth signs with sustained to increased activity backed by a diversified, stable economy. Houston is one of the top-performing office markets in the country, if not now leading the country (at least from a pure corporate expansion standpoint), mainly as a result of the economic livelihood and energy focus of the area. Houston’s economy is thriving, and the city’s employment figures are increasing, especially for high-paying industries. Growth is occurring from existing energy-related firms, such as BP and Plains All American. Firms such as Nexen Petroleum U.S.A. are also opting to relocate to Houston due to the energy epicenter that exists within the region. Tenants remain active and continue to canvass the Houston market for high quality spaces. Until new buildings are delivered, and as quality availabilities diminish, concessions will continue to dry up and effective rates will increase in Houston’s strongest submarkets.

— Omar Nasser,
Houston Research Manager
San Antonio: Smaller concentrations of tech and energy than in other Texas metropolitan areas has positioned the San Antonio market as more aligned with the U.S.’s national recovery than the recoveries experienced in other parts of the state. San Antonio experienced its third consecutive quarter of increased leasing activity, yet the city’s occupancy, absorption and rental rates remained virtually unchanged from the previous quarter. Similar to the other market fundamentals, landlord concessions did not change significantly in the third quarter of 2011. San Antonio is witnessing a slight uptick in construction, with nearly all new projects either pre-leased or build-to-suit opportunities for corporate users (new corporate campuses for NuStar and Nationwide). Meanwhile, sublease space still constitutes less than 5 percent of all available space in the San Antonio market, with 170,930 square feet currently available, demonstrating minimal shadow space throughout the market. So when job growth kicks in at greater rates, we can expect companies in San Antonio to begin to expand more aggressively.

— Deborah Allen,
San Antonio Research Analyst
Meanwhile, Austin and another state capital — Columbus, Ohio — are competing with Sears’ home state of Illinois to be the location of its new headquarters, and the 6,200 jobs that will come with that decision.

“There is a leveraging game going on, which I agree with,” says Gov. Perry. “I’ve told Sears’ CEO, ‘Look, I get it. We may not get [this project]. You may get the Illinois Legislature to understand that raising the personal income tax by 66 percent and continuing to put that state’s economic future in jeopardy because no one has the courage to cut spending isn’t a good idea. If we can play a part in that, then I will consider that to be a great success for this country.’

“Tax policy, regulatory climate and the legal system are the three things that when made more competitive will grow this country,” he says.

It’s working in Texas.

E-mail your comments or inquiries directly to mark.arend@conway.com
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by Joan Engebretson, Connected Planet

Which five states have the highest percentage of wireless-only homes? The answers, which came this week from a Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy white paper, are not only surprising, they also have some interesting policy implications.

Topping the list were five heavily rural states, including Arkansas (35.2%), Mississippi (35.1%), Texas (32.5%), North Dakota (32.3%) and Idaho (31.7%). In comparison, the national average is 25%. This may not seem logical, considering that rural telcos have seen less landline erosion than counterparts in metro areas. But as the researchers theorized, wireless communications has the strongest appeal to people who are not “yoked to their nodes (e.g., domiciles.)” The researchers also offer an example of the theory in action, which illustrates their thinking in a more down-to-earth manner. The white paper, titled “Achieving Rural Universal Service in a Broadband Era: Emergent Evidence from the Evolution of Telephone Demand,” quotes a U.S. Cattlemen’s Association official and rural rancher:

“When I leave the house and head out to the high country, I have, at best, limited access to Internet and cellphone service. While out gathering cattle, I am virtually unreachable and must suspend all business communications…and that is not an ideal working situation.”

by Cecilia Kang, Washington Post (Post Tech)

There are now more wireless devices being used in the United States than there are people, and Americans have doubled the amount of Internet data traffic they generate on smartphones, according to the trade group CTIA.

The number of mobile devices rose 9 percent in the first six months of 2011, to 327.6 million — more than the 315 million people living in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Wireless network data traffic rose 111 percent, to 341.2 billion megabytes, during the same period.

How is this possible? Many adults have more than one wireless device, which include smartphones, tablets, and wireless cards.

Analysts have also pointed to the shorter lifecycle of electronics in U.S. homes, a trend prompted mostly by the availability of high-speed wireless access and more affordable devices.

(WASHINGTON, DC) — Today, Mobile Future and Roger Entner of Recon Analytics, released a new report, What’s It Worth To You? Comparing Wireless Pricing in 14 Countries. The analysis finds that Americans consume more than five times the wireless services at more affordable rates than those in key countries around the world.

“Never has it been cheaper and more affordable for Americans to take full advantage of all that mobile connectivity has to offer,” Entner said. “Putting both voice and data spending together, Americans pay more than $4 less per month on mobile communications than they did three years ago, all while enjoying faster speeds and increased utility through more applications and tools. That is a remarkable value given the exponential growth in recent years in U.S. mobile Internet use.”

Among the key findings of the report, the United States is:

• #1 in Overall Value: From 2007 to 2010, consumer spending on wireless voice and data combined has dropped more than $4 per month.
• #1 in Lowest Per-Minute Costs: U.S. consumers get significantly more “bang for their buck” with one minute of average work earnings buying 19 minutes of talk time – nearly four times more than the second most affordable country, Finland where one minute of work buys 5 minutes of talk time.
• #1 in Mobile Voice Usage: In 2010 Americans talked 875 minutes per month on their mobile devices—more than the next two most talkative countries combined—Canada (375 minutes) and Israel (360 minutes).
• #1 in consumption: Americans consume more wireless minutes, messages and data than anywhere else while paying less than nearly all the countries surveyed.

“American consumers are leading the world in embracing the mobile future, and the value they receive for their hard-earned dollar is the envy of the world,” said Mobile Future Chair Jonathan Spalter. “This is a testament to the intensely competitive nature of the U.S. mobile marketplace and the untapped potential that still exists to create jobs and move our innovation economy forward if we take the right policy steps today, particularly in the spectrum arena, to continue the rapid expansion of the mobile Internet here in the United States.”

The study compares consumer spending data from 14 countries and pricing data from 56 service providers in Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. The countries were selected to provide a good comparison in terms of geographic and economic diversity as well as the different stages of wireless development, in terms of wireless penetration and wireless data usage. The study is the second in a series of key global comparisons in the mobile sector Mobile Future and Recon Analytics is conducting.

# # #

Mobile Future is a coalition of cutting-edge technology and communications companies, consumers and a diverse group of non-profit organizations, working to support an environment which encourages investment and innovation in the dynamic wireless sector. Our mission is to help inform and educate the public and key decision makers in business and government on the broad range of wireless innovations that are transforming our society and the nation’s economy.

Texas’ jobs climate continues to receive accolades, with the Lone Star State ranked as best business climate of all 50 states by both Development Counsellors International (DCI) and Area Development magazine, with DCI also naming Texas “Best in Class” for state economic development organizations.

“I’m proud of the environment we’ve created in Texas that allows employers to risk their capital, receive a return on their investment, and create jobs, thanks to our low taxes, reasonable and predictable regulatory environment, fair legal system and skilled workforce,” Gov. Perry said. “These top rankings echo what employers in our state have known for a long time – that Texas is wide open for business.”

In DCI’s 2011 Winning Strategies Report, corporate executives with site selection responsibilities were asked to choose the state with the most favorable business climate. Texas was named the favorite by 49.4 percent, with the next highest state receiving 27.8 percent of votes. Executives noted Texas’ tax climate, pro-business climate and economic development incentives as reason to relocate or expand a business in the Lone Star State. DCI also asked location advisers to indicate up to three “Best in Class” regional, community or state economic development organizations. The Office of the Governor Economic Development and Tourism Division earned the top spot among the states, and Austin earned the number five spot in the regional or community category.

In Area Development Magazine’s survey, location consultants were asked to rank their top five state choices for doing business based on 12 site-selection categories, including business environment, labor climate, infrastructure and economy. Texas ranked number one in overall business environment based on business friendliness, incentive programs, corporate tax environment and overall cost of doing business, receiving 38 points, with the next highest state receiving 28 points.

Texas continues to receive national accolades, including Site Selection Magazine’s 2010 Governor’s Cup for the most new and expanded corporate facilities announced over the year. According to USA Today, Texas has moved past New York as the nation’s second largest economy, and the Wall Street Journal has credited the state’s low taxes and employer-friendly environment with helping make Texas the job creation capital of the nation. Additionally, Texas is ranked as the top exporting state in the nation for the ninth year in a row, and Texas consistently ranks among the top states for Fortune 500 headquarters.

To view the DCI 2011 Winning Strategies Report surveys, please visit http://www.aboutdci.com/winning-strategies/2011-winning-strategies/ and http://www.aboutdci.com/winning-strategies/2011-winning-strategies-6/.

To view Area Development Magazine’s survey, please visit

http://www.areadevelopment.com/siteSelection/Fall2011/top-business-states-consultants-survey-292876.shtml.