Faster broadband speeds linked to higher income levels, says Ericsson report

Faster broadband speeds linked to higher income levels, says Ericsson report

IMPACT 20/20 Taskforce for Broadband Conducting Business Study

The IMPACT 20/20 Taskforce for Broadband is in the process of studying the best practices of a handful of highly successful businesses in the northwest region of Minnesota.

Taskforce members hand selected a variety of businesses that had - in some way - demonstrated success in their implementation and use of broadband.

Plans are to release the full report before the end of the year.  Early findings indicate that the use of broadband and the many tools it affords, has had an enormous impact on business success, including increasing scope of market, gaining more customers, increasing profits, and increasing efficiency.

Stay tuned...

Rural Broadband Policy Group Highlights

The Rural Broadband Policy Group is a growing national coalition of rural broadband advocates that emerged from the 2008 convening of the National Rural Assembly. This coalition recognizes the need for improved access and use of broadband in rural America, and it is working with policy makers, advocates, and local leaders to promote solutions.

The goals of the Rural Broadband Policy Group are:

1. To articulate national broadband policies that provide opportunities for rural communities to participate fully in the nation's democracy, economy, culture, and society. 
2. And to spark national collaboration among rural broadband advocates. 

Here is a brief recap of highlights and  of a few of their activities in 2012 and a look at what is underway for 2013, as reported in a recent e-newsletter:

•  RVCC Rural Broadband Tales -- Collected stories from Conservation and Natural Resources Practitioners about why they need high-speed Internet and the challenges they face in getting access. Watch the video stories here. 

•  Victory against Telephone Deregulation -- They expanded their state-level advocacy and got serious about making sure that powerful telcos did not cut rural people's phone lines. Working in collaboration with a broad coalition of dozens of consumers, low-income, elderly, and rural advocates including AARP, The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Communications Workers of America (CWA), they engaged in extensive efforts across several states to defeat telephone deregulation bills. They defeated the harmful bills proposed in Kentucky and Ohio.

•  Blogging It Up! -- Rural Strategies' Summer Intern took it upon himself to share with his opinion about the value of a rural phone landline. Read blog here. Also, in collaboration with Media Literacy Project, they deconstructed a misleading AT&T add claiming they were serving rural Texas. Read here!

• True to our Rural Broadband Principle of prioritizing "Local Ownership and Investment in Community" they submitted comments to the California Public Utilities Commission encouraging them to open up the $50 million allocated in the California Advanced Services Fund to non-profits, municipalities, community organizations, co-ops, and local entities that can provide services to unserved areas and create local economic opportunities in rural.

For 2013, they are already planning webinars about the Impact of Telephone & Internet Deregulation on Rural Communities, comments to file at the FCC regarding AT&T's request to abandon rural telephone service, and more blogs about rural telehealth, the Internet & Conservation efforts, and what safety in an unreliable wireless world means for rural areas (especially when a natural disaster strikes). 

Governor's Taskforce on Broadband Releases Report and Recommendations

On September 14, 2012, the Governor's Task Force on Broadband released "Status Report and Policy Recommendations."  One of the State's goals is that "Universal access and high speed deployment as soon as possible, but no later than 2015 all state residents and businesses have access to broadband service that provides a minimum download speed of ten to twenty megabits per second and minimum upload speed of five to ten megabits per second."  

According to the report, very modest gains have been made in the last year. In October 2011, 57.4% of households had available broadband within the target speed range.  In April 2012, the percentage had increased to 59.92%.

The report contains a map showing  broadband service availability throughout the state, as well several recommendations.  Read more....

Rural and Wireless. Problem Solved?

Earlier earlier this month, Verizon announced its HomeFusion product, offering rural wireless Internet access faster than many urban residents have today and riding on the company's expanding 4G network. Is wireless the solution for connecting rural areas in Minnesota?  The answer is complicated.  Read more...

High-Speed Broadband and Agribusiness

Access to high-speed broadband is a critical component of the rural economy.

In 1910 “rural” was defined as “open countryside and any place with fewer than 2,500 people.”  The 2010 Census defined “urbanized areas” as places consisting of 50,000 or more people, and “urban clusters” as areas populated by at least 2,500 and less than 50,000 people.  Anything under that threshold is “rural.”

Ask the average person what they think of when they hear the word “rural” and they will tell you that they think of farms and farming, not population.  The idea of farming is often romanticized – evoking images of amber waves of grain, cows contentedly munching grass, and a lazily turning windmill.

While amber waves of grain still ripen in the fields and cows still graze on grass, today’s farm is a fast-paced, high-stakes business, not to mention one of the riskiest business endeavors that can be undertaken. Farmers need to use every tool in their arsenal to ensure that their bottom line is where it needs to be.

These days, one of the most critical tools for a farmer is high-speed broadband.  Most farmers are using broadband on a regular basis for their day-to-day operations.  On a typical day, a farmer might email a spreadsheet detailing crop statistics to his crop consultant, check the grain markets, do some commodities trading, download an equipment parts manual from the internet, and participate in an online auction to purchase a piece of machinery on the other side of the country.

And it’s not only farmers who need and benefit from high-speed broadband.  When one considers all the agribusinesses that support farming (and that farming supports), the need for, and resulting benefit of, high-speed access is enormous.  Agribusinesses include equipment dealers, equipment manufacturers, elevators, seed companies, fertilizer companies, trucking companies, crop sprayers, crop consultants, welding shops, tool and hardware stores, fuel companies, and food processors.

Titan Machinery is a prime example of the importance of broadband in rural areas, with 91 equipment stores and revenue of $1.3 billion.  These stores are scattered throughout a two-state area – most of them in rural communities.  High-speed broadband not only gives Titan staff the ability to communicate from store to store, it also gives them the ability to communicate with producers out in the field – in what are often very remote areas.  Imagine the following scenario:  a farmer is harvesting a high-value crop, but his combine breaks down.   With a crop that is dead-ripe and variable weather conditions that have the potential to harm it, every hour lost is costly.  With a wireless broadband connection, the producer can use his cell phone to take a picture of the broken part, attach it to an email, and send it to Titan instead of driving all the way to the repair shop and back.  The time savings can make a dramatic difference.  

Consider Border State Bank, a $25 million business, with banks in seven locations and a $350 million portfolio.  The bank relies heavily on broadband for its day-to-day operations, doing everything its urban counterparts do.  But some things are unique to a rural bank and will never be part of an urban bank’s business plan – things like having a banker who processes loans out of his tractor and pick-up truck while actively farming. This is precisely what Erik Heggedal, Ag Loan Banker for Border State Bank, did for a three-year stint.   

Consider the Fosston Tri-Coop Elevator, located in Fosston, MN, population 1,594 – a small town elevator with annual sales of $28 million.  Four years ago, they launched a website that offered a broad spectrum of marketing services, enabling farmers to market grain and virtually any commodity, and access international markets in real time.  The first day they launched the service they had about 600 hits on the website, and they continue to see hundreds of hits each day.  With wireless web access, a farmer can literally sell grain from the seat of his tractor.  

The challenge is that not all areas have adequate broadband service.  Many areas have less than adequate speed, while some have no service at all. In fact, within the 12-county area of Minnesota (defined as Economic Development Regions I and II) over 3,600 households are without any connection.

Rural areas are high-cost in terms of building out broadband infrastructure, but the risk is low in terms of the reward; this truly is an “if you build it, they will come” scenario.  The region needs to expand its current technology capabilities to allow for producer expansion, attraction of new agribusinesses, and retention of our current businesses.  This needs to be the mission of all of Minnesota as well as those who serve rural areas.

A small group of individuals, members of the IMPACT 20/20 Taskforce for Broadband, have decided to get serious about promoting adequate broadband speeds in Northwest Minnesota and eastern North Dakota.  Taskforce members believe that high-speed broadband is one of the most important components of the rural economy, now and into the future. 

The taskforce has set two goals: (1) all communities in the region of 500 residents or more will have business-grade broadband access of speeds greater than 20/10 (20 Mb download and 10 Mb upload) within five years; and (2) all residents of the region will have access to broadband speeds of 10/5 (10Mb download and 5 Mb upload) within the same time period. 

One of the main strategies of the IMPACT 20/20 Taskforce for Broadband has been reform of the Universal Service Fund (USF).  The taskforce submitted a reply comment to the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking late last spring, voicing their support for USF reform and emphasizing the importance of high-speed Internet access in rural areas.  On October 27, in the most significant policy step ever taken to connect all Americans to high-speed Internet, wherever they live, the FCC voted unanimously to comprehensively reform its Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation systems.  This is an important first step in expanding high-speed Internet access in high-cost rural areas.

For more information about IMPACT 20/20, visit www.impact2020.org.

Submitted by Mike St. Onge, Regional Manager for Titan Machinery and Michelle Landsverk, agricultural producer and President of Landsverk and Associates.  Mike is a member of the IMPACT 20/20 Taskforce for Broadband and Michelle is project coordinator for the initiative.

Governor Dayton Names Broadband Taskforce Members

Just this morning, Governor Dayton announced the formation of a task force on Broadband.  The task force is charged with developing policies to promote the expansion of broadband access in Minnesota. Dayton’s stated goal is “border-to-border” high-speed Internet and cell-phone access throughout Minnesota.


IMPACT 20/20 member, Dick Sjoberg, will serve on the Governor's task force, along with 14 others. 


Read more...