Broadband rollout to take longer than expected

Like a large photo getting downloaded over a dial-up connection, Internet users with the need for speed in the lower Hudson Valley can go pour a cup of coffee ”“ it will be a while longer yet before the federal government gets a rural broadband strategy in place.
In an 80-page report released last week in accordance with the 2008 federal farm bill, the Federal Communications Commission published a preliminary outline on how to promote rural broadband deployment.

Whereas some had hoped the report would lay out concrete initiatives to fund the rollout of broadband in the countryside, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps instead termed the study a “down payment” on a larger, national broadband plan due early next year as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Copps said the national broadband plan would likely be the largest project the FCC has ever taken on, likening it to the historical rollouts of the postal service, railroads, electrical infrastructure and highway systems. The FCC is also seeking comment on better ways to track industry statistics, required by the 2008 Broadband Data Improvement Act.

The rural broadband report, if short on novel strategies and long on reiterating previous studies, nevertheless gave hints about the technical and market challenges that will be addressed next February. The FCC emphasized tight working relationships between various state agencies already addressing the problem, and noted the expense of creating “middle-mile” signal transfer hubs in rural areas to steer the Internet to “last mile” jump-off points into homes and businesses.

New York has already been working on its own broadband plan, issuing a 24-page report last month. Formed in December 2007, the New York State Council for Universal Broadband is developing strategies to ensure all residents have access to affordable, high-speed Internet services.

Last year, the council mapped broadband availability across the state, and is coordinating $7.5 million being awarded in New York this year to improve broadband access. Some 50 organizations applied for grants, with winning projects including:
$1.3 million for a system to deliver broadband over power lines in Onondaga County;
$400,000 to construct a dozen towers equipped to provide wireless broadband in Tompkins County;
$800,000 to provide a year of free broadband access to residents in Bronx County; and
$150,000 to support the design of a fiber-optic loop in Columbia County.

“We are very pleased with the initial response we received from this first round of broadband grant applications,” said Melodie Mayberry-Stewart, chief information officer of the state of New York, in a prepared statement. “Particularly striking was the level of local matching funds, the innovation of many of the proposals, and the broad nature of some of the proposed collaborations.”

As part of a national study of 230,000 Internet connections administered by the Communications Workers of America union last year, Rockland County had the highest average broadband bandwidth in New York with Westchester County ranking third. Despite its vast rural areas, however, New York had the fourth best broadband speeds in the Northeast behind New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Despite the federal government committing $7.2 billion in funding for broadband as a result of the economic stimulus, the Telecommunications Industry Association predicts spending will drop 27 percent this year for access gear that brings broadband to homes, and will decline another two years after that. TIA attributed much of the drop to Verizon Communications Inc. completing its initial fiber-to-the-home initiative, over which it offers its FiOS high-speed Internet and television service. Verizon”™s White Plains research facility performed much of the high-tech development of FiOS.