Press Releases

This is a test post to the media blog.

MPR
Posted at 1:16 PM on June 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments) _Filed under: Tech



This map, showing the availability of broadband in Minnesota, is one of a handful of broadband maps that will be used to figure out how to spend $7 billion in stimulus funds nationwide to improve broadband Internet service. (More maps can be found here)

With so much money at stake, some states are battling over the maps, contending the firm that produced them -- Connected Nation, Inc. -- is overestimating the availability of broadband in some states and has ties that are too close to the telecommunications companies, according to an article last week in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Some cable companies worry the stimulus money will be used for municipal broadband systems that will compete with them.
Diane Wells, the manager of the telecommunications division for the Minnesota Department of Commerce, stood by the integrity of the mapping process in a post on the Connect Nation blog.

" As [the Federal Government] develop[s] a plan for mapping broadband availability across the United States, we invite and encourage you to look closely at Minnesota's broadband mapping process. We believe you will find an excellent model for mapping broadband availability in such a way that is transparent, verifiable, continuously updated, and perhaps most importantly, practical and valuable for identifying those unserved and underserved areas of Minnesota," she said.

One upshot of the maps: There's more broadband coverage in Minnesota than I would have imagined. But the map looks different when it's broken down by download speed:



Shades of yellow and green represents download speeds between 200 kilobytes per second (light yellow) and 6 megabytes per second (green), which isn't much.

Meanwhile, the group Free Press today asked the Federal Communications Commission to increase the amount of competition among broadband providers, suggesting the government should "move past availability" and look instead at speeds that "are too slow and prices that are too high."

Link to this article

January 28, 2010
GIS User

Ten U.S. states and one U.S. territory will soon launch comprehensive broadband mapping and planning initiatives based on ESRI's geographic information system (GIS) technology. They will use BroadbandStat, an application developed by ESRI and Connected Nation, to organize and display broadband service and related data on the Internet.

The BroadbandStat application hosts interactive Web maps that show broadband coverage across U.S. states and incorporates other relevant data. It includes tools that use service provider and demographics data to identify unserved and underserved broadband areas with optimum potential for new broadband infrastructure development. Its Web capabilities enable a shared picture of broadband data and support transparency by giving the public access to the information.

The new state broadband mapping initiatives are supported by more than $20 million in State Broadband Data and Development Program grants recently announced by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

"These grant dollars are an investment in the future of Texas," said Texas agricultural commissioner Todd Staples in a press release on NTIA's $2.5 million award to Texas. "Many communities do not have sufficient broadband service, which limits their abilities to attract new economic development opportunities. It is essential that families, schools, and businesses have high-speed Internet access that will open up the prospects for development."

Funds were made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). More than $7 billion in ARRA stimulus funds have been designated to help expand broadband access in unserved and underserved communities across the United States. The NTIA grants were awarded to each state's designated project entity, which in many cases is Connected Nation, a nonprofit corporation and leader in promoting broadband expansion. Awards include the following:

•Florida: $2.5 million, to Florida Department of Management Services

•Illinois: $1.8 million, to Partnership for a Connected Illinois

•Iowa: $2.2 million, to Connected Nation

•Michigan: $1.8 million, to Connected Nation

•Minnesota: $1.7 million, to Connected Nation

•Nevada: $1.4 million, to Connected Nation

•Ohio: $1.8 million, to Ohio Office of Information Technology

•Puerto Rico: $1.4 million, to Puerto Rico Office of the Chief Information Officer

•South Carolina: $1.7 million, to Connected Nation

•Tennessee: $1.8 million, to Connected Tennessee

•Texas: $2.5 million, to Connected Nation

For more information about ESRI's BroadbandStat application, visit www.esri.com/bbstat.

January 4, 2010
by Britt Johnsen
St. Cloud Times

When Sandy Hansen's Watkins agriculture supply business swapped its dial-up Internet connection for a high-speed one almost five years ago, she and her employees helped more farmers make decisions about whether to buy feed.
"It just made everything a lot easier and a lot quicker," said Hansen, owner of Ag Venture Feed & Seed Inc. "We were able to provide more customers with detailed information."

Ag Venture is just the kind of rural business local and state officials say is helped by expanding access to broadband Internet. Minnesota is getting $1.7 million in federal stimulus funding for mapping high-speed Internet access and showing where gaps in coverage exist — which is often in rural areas.

Local economic development officials and others say broadband access is a significant player in economic development and innovation. They argue that the state will need access to faster Internet connections as more businesses, schools and health clinics rely on online services.

Still, local government agencies aren't poised to shell out funding for more access. But they plan to encourage providers to offer service in places where residents and businesses say they need it.

The Legislature is expected to take up this issue in February as it considers recent recommendations made by a state task force advocating for high-speed Internet connections.

Rick King, chairman of the Ultra High Speed Broadband Task Force, said about 94 percent of the state has access to broadband.

But that's given the current definition of broadband under the Federal Communications Commission. That definition is much slower than where the state should be if it wants to be economically competitive, King said.
The current definition of high-speed Internet is 768,000 bits per second, which translates into a two-hour movie taking 23 hours to download, King said.

The task force would like the speed to become as fast as 10 million bits per second, making it so the same movie would take less than two hours to download.

If the FCC changed its broadband definition to the task force's recommended 10 million bits per second, 18 percent of the state would have access to high-speed Internet, King said.

Local work
Some local officials support more and better access to high-speed Internet.
Tom Moore, president of the St. Cloud Area Economic Development Partnership, is one. "I think access to broadband is crucial to small businesses," he said.

He said in the coming months a comprehensive economic development strategy will be created by local business leaders and elected officials.
People from the four-county area — Benton, Sherburne, Stearns and Wright counties — will study local economic development needs.

He said in 15 upcoming community forums throughout the four-county area, they will be asking residents about what they think community infrastructure priorities should be. That means they'll ask about access to high-speed Internet connectivity, Moore said.

Private investment often follows new infrastructure, he said.

"I think that's why broadband is such a great opportunity for businesspeople and entrepreneurs," he said. "It makes them able to compete globally."

Nancy Hoffman, economic development director for Benton County, said she hopes providers can fill gaps where businesses and residents aren't getting access or do not find it affordable. She said she is working with a Blandin Foundation strategic advisory board to get more broadband access.

The board recently applied for stimulus funding that could, if granted, make Benton County a demonstration community to use broadband in "new, creative ways," she said. The stimulus bill made $7.2 billion available for broadband initiatives.
Hoffman said some holes exist in Benton County, particularly far east and some places in the north part of the county.
More people need it, particularly businesses because it makes them more productive, she argued. "Productivity is everything," she said.

"People don't have access or very good access. A couple people (that Hoffman talked to) are Web designers and it slows them down quite a bit," she said. "Dial-up just doesn't do it anymore."

Fred Nolan, superintendent of Foley schools, said broadband has the potential to improve the way children learn, too.
He pointed to a report he received last week that showed success in a program tested from summer 2008 to December 2009 in seven Central Minnesota school districts, including Foley schools, as well as St. Cloud Technical and Community College. The program was called Moodle. It allowed teachers to interact with students and parents online at any time and any place.
Teachers created forums, homework assignment drop boxes, assessments and other tools for students to use. Administrators used it for teacher training and communication within and across districts.

Needless to say, Nolan is a big fan of high-speed Internet. Foley schools and Benton Cooperative Telephone Co. even teamed up to offer parents a $25 rebate on this year's school fees if their family signed up for broadband services.
He predicts more students will be taught online in the future.

"To me, it's like the railroads of the 1900s," he said. "This is the railroad of the 21st century."

Viability
Some challenges persist in getting more broadband Internet access to communities with gaps.
Nolan said even if Minnesota gets 100 percent access to high-speed Internet, that doesn't mean everyone will be able to afford it.

"It's a huge equity issue for rural Minnesota," he said.

That means even if more schools wanted to use high-speed Internet to replace classroom activity a couple days per week, they can't mandate it unless people can afford to use it, he said.

And funding could be an issue. Just like every organization facing budget concerns after fallout from a historic recession, money will be key in getting new initiatives going.

Benton County likely won't put up funding, Hoffman said.

"Especially now," she said. "It's not a good time because of budget cutbacks. It's hard to think of implementing something new."

King said it would cost about $160 million to get the kind of statewide coverage his task force is recommending. He said it would require public-private partnerships to pay for the access.

He thinks private investment will continue as it has in the past several years and is confident the state can reach goals recommended by the task force.

But Hoffman expressed doubt the task force could reach its aspiration of getting 100 percent high-speed Internet access in Minnesota by 2015. Despite potential hurdles, she predicted broadband access will become as essential and ubiquitous as electricity became.

"I think it can be done eventually," she said.

December 27, 2009
By The Associated Press (St. Paul Bureau)

ST. PAUL, Minn.--Minnesota is getting $1.7 million from the federal stimulus to map broadband Internet access and plan for service improvements.

The money comes from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

It will go to Connect Minnesota, a nonprofit collaboration between the state Department of Commerce and Connected Nation, a national nonprofit that promotes increased broadband access.

Connect Minnesota will use $1.2 million for mapping and data collection and another $500,000 for planning over five years. The group will feed the state mapping data into a national broadband map, set for release in 2011.

Connect Minnesota says it also plans to start a new mapping tool called BroadbandStat to help plan broadband expansions.

December 22, 2009

by Chris Newmarker
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

The federal government will spend $1.5 million in economic stimulus cash to map out access to broadband services in Minnesota, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration said Tuesday.

The money, which will be spent in Minnesota by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Connected Nation, is part of more than $27 million going to 14 states and Puerto Rico. Connected Nation is listed as the designated entity for three of those states.

The money, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is going toward collecting data to be used in a national broadband map that will publicly display the geographic areas where broadband service is available; the technology used to provide the service; and the speeds of the service. The map will also plot out broadband service availability at public schools, libraries, hospitals, colleges, universities and public buildings.

“Congress rightly recognized that increasing broadband access and adoption in communities being left behind in the 21st Century economy depends on better data collection and broadband planning,” Lawrence Strickling, the Commerce Department’s assistant secretary for communications and information and NTIA Administrator, said in a news release.

Awardees are required to contribute at least 20 percent non-federal matching funds toward project costs.

July 27, 2009
Connected Nation reportedly announced it will soon release Census Block level broadband data for the state of Minnesota in a downloadable format, as well as accessible via an interactive Web based mapping tool.

The agency, which is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, also announced that it will soon be releasing state wide maps of rural and remote areas in Tennessee, Ohio, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky.
Link to article

July 27, 2009
Connected Nation reportedly announced it will soon release Census Block level broadband data for the state of Minnesota in a downloadable format, as well as accessible via an interactive Web based mapping tool.

The agency, which is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, also announced that it will soon be releasing state wide maps of rural and remote areas in Tennessee, Ohio, Minnesota, Nevada, North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky. Link to article

July 27, 2009
In the Twin Cities, high-speed Internet access may be taken for granted. In Cook County, on the north shore of Lake Superior, such access would represent a virtual revolution.

“Broadband services are no longer just a nice thing to have, but rather a basic service, an integral part of the functioning of today’s homes and businesses,” said Danna MacKenzie, Cook County’s information systems director. “We are 110 miles from the nearest college or university, medical specialist, and many government services” – so instantaneous communication would be a vital improvement for health care, education and government service delivery systems. Link to Article

February 13, 2009
Minnesota’s invisible resource — its bandwidth — could drive economic growth as the state’s information technology infrastructure expands.
(Link to Article)

January 26, 2009
St. Paul, MN — There's a new map of Minnesota being prepared and you're invited to participate. It isn't a roadmap. It's a map of the state's broadband or high-speed Internet service. The new map will show where Internet service is poor or speeds are slow. (Link to Article)