Broadband Innovations Support Local Economies, New Startups
ORLANDO, FLA. -- Communities are seeing the effects of broadband development in their economies, said industry experts at the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) conference general session Tuesday. Kansas City, Kan., has seen an explosion of startups, and the city recently had its bond rating upgraded, said Derek Slater, Google policy manager. “We need 21st century metrics to measure the effectiveness of broadband in 21st century economy,” he said. “We need different measurement paradigms to see how broadband impacts the local economy.”
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Projects like Google Fiber in Kansas City can help to foster innovation in communities, said Angie Kronenberg, CompTel general counsel. “As more data and communications are moving over higher speeds, we need to think about how we can connect more buildings and residents,” she said. “We need to think about how projects can get more bang for the buck for the community.” Microsoft also supports low-cost open Internet networks to build communications infrastructure and the FCC’s upcoming incentive auction could help to increase the amount of spectrum, said Sharon Gillett, the company’s technology policy principal strategist. “The incentive auction is being used to raise money for FirstNet, and these auctions could provide a important value to the economy,” said Gillett, a Wireline Bureau chief under then-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.
The $7 billion needed to bring FirstNet to the entire country isn’t enough money to operate the network and make it sustainable in the long term, said Ed Reynolds, FirstNet board member. “We need to be a force multiplier for public safety,” he said in a keynote. “We need a push-to-talk solution and to maintain the network as a standard network rather than license network.” Four of seven NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grants suspended due to FirstNet will be able resume and become part of the FirstNet network, said Reynolds. FirstNet will work with existing wireless carriers and government assets to manage its network and will present its plans to the governors, he said. “States will have 90 days to decide whether they want to take FirstNet plans or develop their own network.”
Measuring the effectiveness for community networks depends on more than just speeds, said Slater. “We care about the quality of experience, and it also depends on interconnection agreements.” Google Fiber has created a measurement lab to determine what customers think of the company’s networks and help researchers determine what needs to be accomplished, he said. The “healthy ecosystem” of the independent Internet depends on innovation, which could be threatened by the net neutrality case in U.S. Court of Appeal for the D.C. Circuit, said Kronenberg. “We are worried that this may interrupt the founding principles of the Internet."
Verizon’s Voice Link service in Fire Island, N.Y. (CD Sept 17 p2) shows how people may not be completely onboard with the Internet Protocol transition, said Kronenberg, who was an aide to then-FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. “It became apparent that the local community was not happy with Voice Link as a substitute,” said Kronenberg. “This shows that could happen with wireless networks and what gets left behind with services that can only be provided over a TDM network.” The Fire Island case shows how there is a need to embrace technological diversity, said Gillett. “This example teaches us that we want to forward in our policies and not look backward.”