Texans for Economic Progress

Broadband

Articles

Rural broadband access grant to be discussed
The Paris News, March 4, 2010
Ark-Tex Council of Governments plans to submit a federal grant application to the tune of about $30 million to provide broadband Internet access to rural areas of Northeast Texas.

The grant application is to be submitted under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, a federal stimulus package.
Read more.

Counting on Technology?
Institute for Policy Innovation, February 18, 2010
When will the Census Bureau enter the 21st Century—or even the 20th?

It’s time to take the constitutionally mandated census once again. But while the rest of the country gathers and processes information with the speed of light, the Census Bureau still operates at the speed of shoes, where few, if any, technological tools exist to streamline the process. And they seem uninterested in improving their processes.

This is a recurring theme in government: the misapplication of government interest in technology.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) pushed for years to create a means for taxpayers to file their taxes online, even though the private market had created Turbotax, a popular and successful tool for individuals to file their taxes. Government plowed ahead and created an ability to file, but only because of an agreement with Intuit. Reneging on the agreement might have run the company out of business.

Right now over at the Federal Communications Commission, despite a very successful private sector rollout of broadband across the country, bureaucrats are meddling in the marketplace at Congress’s demand, seemingly to try to transform it into some bureaucratic vision of a communications utopia that would not even be a marginal improvement over the status quo.

So who’s surprised that a recent Department of Commerce inspector general report explains that the Census Bureau is wasting money—with more waste on the way?

How is that money being spent? In part, to pay people to walk neighborhoods to “update government maps”—even while Google Maps seems pretty handy.

A great deal of money will be spent mailing pages and pages of census forms to citizens to be filled in with a number 2 pencil. If you can file your taxes with the IRS using electronic forms, couldn’t a similar interface be used for the census, greatly reducing the need for mailing forms?

Clearly past administrations failed to prepare adequately, so the Obama administration should be making plans now to transform the Census Bureau. Surely, 10 years from now, the Census Bureau will have thought of more innovative ways to spend their budget than on a commercial during Super Bowl LIV.

Viewpoints: Texas hospitals cut trail for rural RHIOs
The Government Health IT, February 12, 2010
Four small, rural, government-run Texas hospitals have banded together to create a unique rural regional health information network (RHIO) they say will enable clinicians to share patient information as well as the financial burden of an electronic health record (EHR).

“None of us could do this project alone—it just wouldn’t be possible,” said Nathan Tudor, CEO of Stonewall Memorial Hospital, which has 20 in-patient beds and sees between 1500 and 2000 patients a year in its emergency room.
Read more.

Opinion: Hispanics now conquering the digital divide
The Gilmer Mirror, January 31, 2010

In many cases Hispanics may feel they are left behind and are portrayed as lacking education and the skills necessary to compete in the marketplace. But the fastest growing segment of our state’s population is turning many heads because a majority of Hispanics are embracing the online world. Hispanics are rapidly gaining on other populations in online activities such as downloading information or using social networking or blogging sites.

Hispanics use of the Internet is growing at a fantastic rate and they are continually spending more time using new Internet applications, particularly using wireless devices. Their online usage is surpassing most other consumer groups in the United States at a double digit rate, according to a report released a few weeks ago, entitled Latinos Online, 2006 to 2008; Narrowing the Gap, by the PEW Hispanic Center “think tank” based in Washington D.C.

According to this report, from 2006 to 2008 Hispanics using the Internet grew at a rate of 10 percent per year. Now more than 64 percent, up from 54 percent in 2006, are taking advantage of the online marketplace. This usage rate surpassed the average rate which grew at only two to four percent of white and African Americans nationally.

In this report US born Hispanics online use grew only two percent the test period but foreign born Hispanics online use rose from 40 percent to 52 percent in 2008 according to the Center. This study also pointed out that older Hispanics, those 65 and older, still had a ways to go to keep up with those who are younger and more likely to use their computers to browse the web. These are exciting developments, as bridging the online gap helps bridge the gap in education and prosperity.

Over the past two decades, Internet technology has expanded and Hispanics seem to be capitalizing upon it. As new wireless and broadband services are created, Texas Hispanics are given the opportunity to access new products and faster services which have been fueled by competition in the communications marketplace. As a Hispanic from Texas I am proud that we are not being left behind in the wireless world. And like many other Texas Hispanics, I have embraced this new world and use the net to do many things unheard of just a few years ago.

Experts agree that Hispanics are continuing to grow as a political and consumer force in Texas. I believe that Hispanics taking advantage of the wonders of the online world will only make our stature grow in our state and the nation.

**

Adrian Arriaga, CCIM is Member of Texans for Economic Progress and Gubernatorial Appointee to the Texas Real Estate Commission. TEP keeps its finger on the pulse of Texans and works closely with elected officials and regulators at the local, state, and federal level to further educate them on issues impacting competition in communications. TEP also works to generate public awareness of how Texans’ lives and finances are impacted by decisions made on these issues by our policy-makers.

Viewpoints: High-speed Net improves health care
The Sacramento Bee, January 30, 2010
Our ability to connect through high-speed Internet access – referred to generically as broadband – is improving our lives in many ways. It is helping us share information and images, research and apply for jobs, stay in touch with loved ones, and access entertainment and news.
Read more.

Peachy Progress on Communications Reform

Institute for Policy Innovation, January 28, 2010

While in Washington, ideologues argue over whether there is adequate competition in the communications industry and dream up fanciful schemes to redesign the communications industry and dangerous plans to regulate the Internet, the states are moving ahead with modernizing their communications regulations to reflect the competitive reality that we see around us every day.

This week the story is Georgia, where the legislature is beginning the process of eliminating hidden and distortive subsidies in the rates paid by Peach State consumers.

Wisely, Georgia is planning to “bring access charges to parity,” which means to eliminate the subsidies buried in inter-carrier compensation, or fees paid between different carriers to carry local and long-distance traffic. The entire system is outdated and creates competitive distortions between companies.

Georgia is also attempting to make important changes to its Universal Access Fund, a state-based form of universal service subsidies. The problem here is that rural phone providers have become welfare dependents on the Fund, and consumers in urban areas end up paying higher fees to subsidize phone service to rural areas. Not only is this unfair to suburban consumers, but the rural providers have become content to sit back and collect subsidies instead of aggressively modernizing their networks to provide competitive services to their customers.

Ultimately, such funds balloon to enormous size and have inadequate oversight, which invites abuse and corruption. Georgia is wisely trying to eliminate the rural carriers’ perpetual dependency on such subsidies and force them to invest and compete.

The details, of course, are subject to the political process. Subsidy mechanisms may be eliminated outright, or may be phased out over a period of years, depending on whatever political compromises are worked out among the legislators.

But the important thing is that Georgia is moving ahead with real, practical reform.

Other states, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington are all considering legislation during this state legislative session to fix their access charge regimes and to otherwise modernize their communications regulations. They’re taking pragmatic action to protect their consumers and to make sure they provide an environment hospitable to competition, investment and economic dynamism.

The action, it seems, is in the states. For Washington DC, this could be—how should we say it?— a “teachable moment.”

Can You Hear Me Now? Are You Even Listening?

Institute for Policy Innovation, January 20, 2010

With insurmountable majorities in both Houses of Congress, Congressional Democrats had the votes to jam through any piece of legislation they liked. They didn’t need the support of Republicans, and they acted as if they didn’t even need the popular support of the American people. They had the votes.

Or so they thought. Massachusetts’ new Senator-elect Scott Brown says the biggest driver behind his remarkable election was the people’s disgust with “the way things are being done.” Voters are unhappy with a ruling majority that seems intent to pass an agenda without regard to the will and concerns of the people.

It’s not too big a stretch to see a parallel situation at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), where Democrat-appointed commissioners “have the votes” to jam through new federal regulatory control over the Internet through so-called “network neutrality” regulations.

Meanwhile, the groups most affected by the proposed FCC regulations, consumers and companies, are seemingly being ignored.

As has been reported by the Internet Freedom Coalition, more than 32,000 citizens filed comments opposing proposed network neutrality regulations. On the other hand, only 13,000 filed comments supporting giving FCC unprecedented regulatory control of the Internet. 71% to 29% on a very specific issue—if this were an election THAT would be a landslide.

In addition, by all reports, companies that previously have taken very different positions in this debate are finding ways to reach common ground. At IPI’s Communications Summit last November, Amazon.com’s vice president for global public policy was clear in his comments that he was concerned about arbitrary prioritization that harms other users’ online experience, but even so, he agreed that network operators should be able to manage their networks to provide the best product for all consumers and should be free to try new business models.

And more recently, Google and Verizon filed FCC comments seeking common ground, AT&T and Comcast have both made clear that they would like to address any real concerns even while preserving their ability to best serve their customers, and everyone is urging that the practical need for network operation and management trump ideological agendas.

And of course the best proof of all is the continuation of innovation in the communications marketplace driven by consumer demand and creative offerings, and not by government regulation or prescription.

A ‘National Broadband Plan’
Wall Street Journal, January 20, 2010
The Federal Communications Commission recently told Congress that it will miss a February deadline for delivering a “national broadband plan” and requested a one-month extension. If it keeps missing deadlines, nearly everyone in the U.S. might soon have high-speed Internet.
Read more.

Don’t let Net neutrality rules fuzz up Internet videos
Detroit News, January 20, 2010
Imagine being able to stream full screen, high-definition movies to your computer or mobile device on demand — without the stops and starts, or the fuzzy picture that plague Internet video today. Or consider how great it would be if you could download a new operating system — like Mac OS X or Windows 7 — in just seconds, regardless of how congested the Internet is in your neighborhood.
Read more.

Search, but You May Not Find
New York Times, December 27, 2009
AS we become increasingly dependent on the Internet, we need to be increasingly concerned about how it is regulated. The Federal Communications Commission has proposed “network neutrality” rules, which would prohibit Internet service providers from discriminating against or charging premiums for certain services or applications on the Web. The commission is correct that ensuring equal access to the infrastructure of the Internet is vital, but it errs in directing its regulations only at service providers like AT&T and Comcast.
Read more.

Mobile Future Comments on FCC “Net Neutrality” Proceeding
November 2009

(TEP has permission to reprint this from Mobile Future)

The Federal Communications Commission recently launched a proceeding that would extend so-called “net neutrality” regulations to wireless networks. Following is a comment from Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter.

“Since the inception of mobile phones, Congress and the FCC have fostered competition through a restrained approach to regulation which has led to significant investment and innovation in the wireless space. This competitive marketplace allows for consumer choice which guides further wireless innovation, while carefully protecting consumers from abuses and ensuring providers are innovative stewards of the country’s spectrum assets. These policies have proven to work well for America, creating millions of goods jobs, hundreds of billions of dollars in investment, and making our mobile industry the most competitive in the world.

“The FCC now needs to find a balanced path forward—one that keeps pace with consumers’ diverse mobile interests and facilitates further wireless innovation and investment.

“At this important juncture, policymakers must ensure that additional regulation of wireless services, devices and networks do not compromise one of the most promising drivers of economic growth, investment and jobs. While our government is appropriately taking an in-depth look at the state of wireless today, it is critical that the outcomes of this greater scrutiny continue to foster a marketplace that is driven by consumer value, intense competition and the promise of economic renewal through innovation.”

Broadband economics: How I’ll save $700
CNET, November 19, 2009
It’s a simple principle of economics: competition and more customer choice results in lower prices.

And so it is true of broadband services. With about 65 percent of the U.S. population now subscribing to broadband, cable operators and telephone companies are duking it out for new customers. The companies are offering cut-throat prices and new promotions to win over new subscribers.
Read more.

FCC discusses barriers to national broadband plan
CNET, November 18, 2009
The Federal Communications Commission met Wednesday to discuss obstacles to enacting a national broadband policy that will provide high-speed Internet access to every American.

President Obama has made universal broadband access a key goal. Grants and loans for helping make universal broadband access a reality have already started being doled out as part of Congress’ economic stimulus package.
Read more.

FCC votes to begin crafting ‘net neutrality’ rules
Associated Press, October 22, 2009
WASHINGTON — Federal regulators took an important step today toward prohibiting broadband providers from favoring or discriminating against certain kinds of Internet traffic.

Despite the concerns of telecommunications companies and the agency’s two Republicans, the Federal Communications Commission voted to begin writing so-called “network neutrality” regulations. Proponents say the rules would prevent phone and cable companies from abusing their control over the market for broadband access.
Read more.

Why Government Regulation for Internet Service Providers Is Bad News
Seeking Alpha, October 14, 2009
Our government has settled on a new formula for regulating industry, and they are applying it to one industry after another. While they haven’t yet made it to the restaurant business, at this pace we may not have to wait too many years for the following to happen: Every restaurant is mandated to only offer food in the form of an all-you-can-eat buffet. The government decides on what needs to be served on this buffet, at a minimum, in order to be compliant. No restaurant is allowed to deny a customer service, and all customers must be charged the same price. After all, eating is no longer one half of an exchange of private property, but a “right” entitling a consumer to his neighbor’s property.
Read more.

Hispanic Broadband Access: Making the Most of the Mobile, Connected Future
MobileFuture, September 15, 2009
As the U.S. develops a national broadband strategy, much is at stake for American consumers, our country’s economy, as well as future innovation and its many social benefits. Complex issues from infrastructure deployment to digital literacy to consumer-friendly tax reform all play into U.S. efforts to close the digital divide and usher in a new era of innovation and opportunity. Equally important to ensuring these benefits are shared throughout our society is a deeper understanding of the unique needs, challenges and connected behavior of diverse Americans.

This paper explores the broadband behavior, challenges and opportunities of the nation’s 48 million Hispanics. A better understanding of this community and its connectivity—increasingly defined by a strong preference for mobile broadband access—can help shape a successful national broadband strategy that spurs substantial new opportunities at the intersection of broadband, mobility and the Hispanic community.
Read more.

National Broadband Plan: Why Consumers May Be Let Down
BusinessWeek, August 23, 2009
The Federal Communication Commission last week released a notice of its open meeting to be held on Thurs., Aug. 27. The two most significant items planned for the meeting are an attempt to gather more information on competition in the wireless industry and a request for help in defining broadband for the national broadband plan. The latter item is explained in detail in the FCC blog post: “The Definition of Broadband.” As the blog points out, “much of the recent debate tends to center on throughput speeds. Engineers know that these numbers by themselves are most often misleading. For example, in most cases the ‘advertised’ throughput speed has a tenuous relation with the actually delivered speed, which will actually vary over time, depending on the application, the server, and many other factors.”
Read more.

Cable Vs. Wireless: Guess Which Is Growing Faster?
Barron’s Blog (Wall Street Journal), August 21, 2009
It’s almost impossible believe, but there it is: the cable industry is actually outgrowing the wireless sector.

This stunning factoid comes courtesy of the latest Weekend Media Blast piece from Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett. He notes that in the U.S. wireless industry, subscriber growth over the last 12 months is up 5.3%, but revenue per subscriber is down 1.7%, producing just 3.6% revenue growth. The cable industry, by contrast, grew revenue per sub 4.1% over the same time period; combined with modest sub growth and you get industry growth of 5.3%.
Read more.

Stimulus billions fund rural broadband Internet
CNN, August 11, 2009
Fast Internet access is a luxury most businesses take for granted these days, but in remote areas of the country, the staticky crackle of a dial-up modem connection remains a familiar sound. A $7.2 billion stimulus initiative aims to expand broadband access and speed up the modem’s extinction.

Two federal agencies, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) and the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utility Service, each landed billions from the Recovery Act to fund new broadband infrastructure projects. Applications are due this week for the first wave of grants and loans from those programs.
Read more.

Broadband Bites Cable
Forbes, August 3, 2009
It might be a little early to call Hulu the next HBO, but a spike in broadband usage appears to be eating into viewers for cable television, according to the latest survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That in spite of the fact the average consumer is paying more for broadband—an average $39 a month—up from $34.50 in May 2008.
Read more.

To Spread Broadband, $7.2 Billion Isn’t Enough
BusinessWeek, August 3, 2009
Access to telecommunications networks for all Americans has been the centerpiece of U.S. information policy for 75 years. Now the U.S. government is endeavoring to equip every citizen with broadband Internet access. But the $7.2 billion Congress has allocated for the plan may not stretch as far as lawmakers envision.
Read more.

Wiring Rural America: Which Technology Is Best?
BusinessWeek, August 3, 2009
Reaching the most remote rural customers with high-speed Internet access can be prohibitively expensive. Consider the case of Hill Country Telephone Cooperative in Ingram, Tex. The small provider is undertaking a $57 million effort to install fiber and bring broadband service to a substantial part of its market, which covers 2,900 square miles, roughly twice the size of Rhode Island. Yet even with this effort, the provider will not be able to serve 543 remote households, about 5% of its market area, because it’s simply too expensive. To do so would involve laying 522 miles of fiber optic cable at a cost of $20 million—an average cost of $37,000 per subscriber, according to Delbert Wilson, general manager of the provider, who testified in July before the House Agriculture Committee.
Read more.

Telecom Companies Scramble for Funding
BusinessWeek, August 3, 2009
It’s crunch time at International Broadband Electric Communications (IBEC). The Huntsville (Ala.) telecom provider has until Aug. 14 to complete an application for part of the $4 billion that Uncle Sam is spreading around to make high-speed Internet connections more widely available. To meet the deadline, IBEC Chief Executive Scott Lee has six of his 54-person staff working overtime and weekends filling out the paperwork. “It’s not an easy application. It’s a lot of work in a short period of time,” Lee says. Yet, it’s “worth the effort.”
Read more.

National Broadband Policy Must Enhance Existing Private Investment
Institute for Policy Innovation, July 22, 2009
DALLAS, TX: This week, experts from the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission making clear that broadband deployment in the U.S. continues to be robust and successful, and arguing that any government actions related to future broadband policy should leverage existing private network infrastructure.

In the comments, IPI president Tom Giovanetti and Center for Technology Freedom director Bartlett Cleland also stated that future broadband policy should include the adoption of broadband enterprise zones as a market-friendly means of extending broadband services into unserved areas.

“The goal of the broadband enterprise zone would be to ensure that broadband services were built out to every unserved area of the country, …and that homeowners in the zone would have federal assistance in getting hooked up to broadband,” write Giovanetti and Cleland.

Furthermore, IPI warned that demonstrable public harm is occurring through the massive piracy of intellectual property goods over broadband networks, and any recommendations regarding a national broadband plan should encourage private, market-based negotiations between content owners and network operators to prevent piracy.

“Whatever perceived public benefit might accrue to some by free access to goods covered by copyright, that perceived benefit is more than outweighed by the cost to American economy in terms of lost jobs, earnings and government revenue,” they write.

New FCC chairman sees broadband as priority
CNET, July 20, 2009
The new head of the Federal Communications Commission wants affordable broadband access for all Americans, according to an article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal.

Julius Genachowski sat down with the Journal for one of his first interviews since being sworn in as FCC chairman in late June and said that making affordable high-speed Internet available throughout the nation could be the “most successful driver of economic growth” in the nation.
Read more.

Study: Broadband Adoption Increased More Than Six Times From 2001 to ‘08
Broadcasting and Cable, July 14, 2009
Broadband adoption increased more than six-fold between 2001 and 2008 and provided some $32 billion in consumer benefits in everything from education and health care to new entertainment and civic affairs.
Read more.

Home broadband Internet use on the rise
CNET, June 18, 2009
The American appetite for high-speed Internet hasn’t been stalled by the recession.

Among U.S. consumers surveyed, 63 percent now have broadband access at home, up from 55 percent a year ago. The study, released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, found that home broadband adoption has bounced back from 2008’s relative period of stagnation. Read more.

Broadband saw big jump since 2008, new Pew study reveals
Telephony Online, June 17, 2009
Despite the difficult economy, the number of adult Americans with broadband connectivity at home increased nearly 15% between 2008 and 2009, according to data released today from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which has conducted an influential survey about broadband adoption for about 10 years. Read more.

Making Broadband Dollars Count: Maximizing Our Return on the Feds’ High-Speed Internet Investments
Roll Call, June 15, 2009
Not long ago the biggest public policy challenge for universal broadband was inaction. America had no national strategy for guiding policy makers’ efforts and informing private actors. We had never invested in national broadband mapping to understand where high-speed Internet was offered and where it was lacking. We had no concerted policies to bring broadband to unserved areas or people who could not afford it. There was little coordination among government agencies focused on connecting health centers, educational institutions or affordable housing, and uncertainty about government’s plans and commitment. Read more.

Texas farmer talks about need for broadband access
USA TODAY, June 8, 2009
PLAINS, Texas — The people who live here are still waiting for the digital revolution to arrive.

The local phone company, Windstream, offers high-speed DSL service in part of Plains (population: around 1,450). But those who live outside the city limits, including farmers such as Jeff Roper, don’t have a lot of choice. Read more.

Fight Over Internet Filtering Has a Test Run in Europe
New York Times, March 8, 2009
As European lawmakers debate how to keep access to the Internet free and equal — so-called network neutrality — they are inundated, not unsurprisingly, by lobbyists.

But the corporate envoys roaming the halls of Brussels trying to make their case, more often than not, do not represent the Continent’s myriad telecommunications and Internet companies, but rather those from the United States. Europe has become the world’s technology regulator. So the AT&Ts and Verizons are pitted against the Googles and Yahoos to shape European law in the hopes that American regulators will follow suit. Read more.

Almost half of cable TV customers say they would pay $10 per month to watch video on their PCs
Dallas Morning News Tech Blog, February 26, 2009
There’s a lot of speculation right now that the cable and satellite providers are cooking up their own online video services which would only let paid subscribers watch the videos. Such a system would presumably reduce the number of “cord-cutters” who are dumping their paid TV packages and opting for free, legal videos from Hulu and other sites. Read more.

A Flashy Facebook Page, at a Cost to Privacy
Add-Ons to Online Social Profiles Expose Personal Data to Strangers, Washington Post, June 12, 2008

By Kim Hart Facebook fanatics who have covered their profiles on the popular social networking site with silly games and quirky trivia quizzes may be unknowingly giving a host of strangers an intimate peek at their lives.

Those mini-programs, called widgets or applications, allow users to personalize their pages and connect with friends and acquaintances. But they could pose privacy risks. Some security researchers warn that developers of the software have assembled too much information — home town, schools attended, employment history — and can use the data in ways that could harm or annoy users.

“Everything requires you to give access to personal information or it forces you to ask your friends to do the same — it becomes a real nuisance,” said David Dixon, 40, an information technology consultant in Columbia who recently deleted most of the applications he had downloaded to his Facebook profile after reading on a blog that developers may have access to his information. “Why does a Sudoku puzzle have to know I have two kids? Why does a postcard need to know where I went to college?”

Even private profiles, in which personal details are available only to specific friends, reveal personal information, said Chris Soghoian, a cyber-security researcher at Indiana University. And they’re allowing access to their friends’ information — even if their friends are not using the application. That’s because MySpace and Facebook, the largest online social networks, let outside developers see a member’s information when they add a program. Read More.

How Internet Video Is Clogging the Pipes
How Diners of Internet’s All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Get in Each Others’ Way Over Video, Associated Press, February 11, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) — Why are our Internet lines in danger of jamming up?

One way of looking at it is this: Internet service providers have been serving us an all-you-can-eat buffet for years. That has worked great, because they’ve had more food than they knew what to do with and we’ve enjoyed the simplicity of a flat price and our pick of the dishes.

But every year, our appetites have been growing. Some of us have turned into real gluttons, taking advantage of the pricing to eat 10 times as much as the majority of customers. The food is running out, and diners are starting to get in each other’s way at the table.

Now, Internet service providers are starting to limit the availability of dishes that are popular with the big eaters (controlling traffic). They’re also considering telling us to stick to two helpings per person (limiting monthly downloads). They might end up doing both. Read More.

U.S. Internet Traffic Projected to Grow 50-Fold by 2015
New Study Shows Required Network Expansion Could Cost $100 Billion Over Next Five Years, Staff-Discovery Institute, January 29, 2008

Washington, D.C. – New technologies are dramatically transforming the Internet and could boost IP traffic in the United States more than 50-fold within the next decade, according to “Estimating the Exaflood: The Impact of Video and Rich Media on the Internet,” a report released today by the Discovery Institute.

“Innovations like YouTube, IPTV, high-definition video and mobile phone cameras are driving this new wave of data—or exaflood—of Internet and IP traffic,” said Bret Swanson, an adjunct fellow at the Discovery Institute and co-author of the report. “Many of the new online opportunities we can’t even imagine today. But these exciting applications and services will only be possible if we make large new investments in broadband fiber-optic and wireless networks.” Read More.

Pay Per Gig,Washington Post, January 30, 2008

If you are an Internet-crazy movie lover in Beaumont, Tex., life may soon take a miserable turn for you.

Time Warner Cable, which also sells broadband via its Road Runner service, has chosen your city for a pricing experiment. If you have plans to sign up and watch lots of high-definition flicks using, say, the new iTunes digital rental program announced last month, start saving now, because Time Warner is going to tally up those gigabytes. You know that feeling that mobile phone users get when they exceed their allotted minutes and get a heart-stopping tariff for overage charges? Some Beaumont cinephiles could get the same infarction from their Road Runner bills.
Read More

Survey: Nearly half of Americans have home broadband access
Network World, July 5, 2007

Nearly half of all Americans have broadband Internet connections in their homes, largely because of increasing use among minorities and the poor, according to an annual survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The number of home broadband users nationwide now equals the total number of Americans with any type of Internet connection in 2000, the first year the survey was conducted. Four out of 10 African-American adults have broadband access at home, compared to 15% two years ago. Nearly one-third of rural Americans have home broadband connections, compared to about one-half of Americans living in urban areas and the suburbs. Read More

THE TELEHEALTH PROMISE
High-speed Internet connections and innovative health care applications are improving…even saving…lives. The following is a Q&A with telemedicine expert Dr. Alexander H. Vo from the AT&T Center for Telehealth Research and Policy at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX.

Dr. Vo discusses his new study, The Teleheath Promise: Better Health care and Cost Savings for the 21st Century

Q: Can telemedicine really save health care cost?

Dr. Vo: The growing cost of medical care and gaps in coverage are creating enormous pressure on both providers and public policymakers to identify new strategies for delivering cost-effective and quality care to all citizens. Many health care experts believe that part of the answer lies with telehealth applications made possible by the increasing power of information technology and the spread of broadband connectivity. Indeed, we believe widespread implementation of telehealth could save the U.S. health care system $4.28 billion just from reducing transfers of patients from one location, such as a nursing home, for medical exams at hospitals, physicians’ offices, or other caregiver locations. When appropriate diagnosis and care can be provided remotely via telemedicine, a patient transfer creates unnecessary cost as well as hardship for the patient. Read the rest of the Q&A

Research Papers

Network Management Restrictions May Harm Rural Wireless Internet Service Consumers May 2, 2008

The American Consumer Institute today released a ConsumerGram noting that the debate over the network management practices of ISPs has largely overlooked the impact of potential legislation on rural wireless consumers. The report concludes that even the best-intentioned policies produce unintended consequences, and network management prohibitions could threaten the existence of small, rural wireless ISPs, thereby harming their customers. Read More.

Advancing Healthcare Through Broadband: Opening Up a World of Possibilities by Neal Neuberger, Health Tech Strategies LLC, Internet Innovation Alliance, October 2007

The spread of broadband can help improve the quality of health care in America, as well as reduce the cost of care through a number of advanced health technology applications. The paper notes the range of medical uses for broadband is very broad, adding that “at the most basic level, broadband enables enhanced information sharing among medical facilities, practitioners and patients.” IIA urges Congress to establish a National Commission on Telemedicine to help “accelerate the deployment of telemedicine; provide financial incentives … and remove regulatory or statutory barriers to telemedicine programs.” IIA also stresses the importance of expanding the reach of affordable broadband services across the country to spread cost-effective health care. Read More

Home Broadband Adoption 2007 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, June 2007

The latest home broadband study by the Pew Internet Project finds that 47 percent of all adult Americans have a broadband connection at home, a five percentage point increase from early 2006. Also noteworthy, “the percentage of African-American adults with a home broadband connection has nearly tripled, from 14 percent in early 2005 to 40 percent in early 2007.” Read More

The Exabyte Internet The US Internet Industry Association, May 1, 2007

“Recent research reports have suggested that he growth of data created by humans…may create a situation in which it becomes impossible for the Internet infrastructure to handle the capacity demands for data, particularly video,” according to a recent study by the US Internet Industry Association (USIIA). USIAA notes that continuing high levels of investment in the Internet backbone and related subsystems will be necessary to ensure consumers and businesses have access to new services, applications and opportunities. Read More

The Effects of Broadband Deployment on Output and Employment: A Cross-sectional Analysis of U.S. Data by Robert Crandall, William Lehr and Robert Litan

Economists Robert Crandall, William Lehr and Robert Litan calculated new estimates of the effects of broadband penetration on both state economic output and state employment, finding that their “empirical investigation of state data on broadband penetration, employment and output thus suggests that employment is rather strongly related to broadband deployment, particularly in certain service sectors, such as finance, education, and healthcare.” In Texas, the paper estimates that a one-percent increase in Texas broadband penetration would bring the state 21,100 new jobs, while a three-percent increase would result in 63,300 new jobs. Read More

Broadband is booming in Texas
As of December 2005, there were 3.5 million broadband subscribers in Texas – an 80 percent increase since 2003. Broadband subscribership in Texas has grown from 152,518 in December 1999, to more than 3.4 million as of December 2005. Texas has the fourth-highest number of high-speed lines in the country. Read more… [pdf]