[1st-mile-nm] First in Broadband Mapping, North Carolina?s e-NC

[Richard Lowenberg]

The North Carolina initiative is of interest, as a possible broadband initiative
is being proposed in New Mexico.    Click on the e-NC web site and interactive
broadband mapping site, at the bottom of the article web site.
rl

http://broadbandcensus.com/blog/?p=515

First in Broadband Mapping, North Carolina?s e-NC Now Wants Faster Speeds
Broadband Census North Carolina
By Drew Clark, Editor, BroadbandCensus.com

This is the eighth of a series of articles surveying the state of broadband, and
broadband data, within each of the United States. Among the next profiles:
Colorado, California and Missouri.

August 22 ? In taking an inventory of North Carolina?s broadband assets, and
in its push to stimulate high-speed internet investment and adoption, the e-NC
Authority is arguably the most advanced effort of its kind in the nation.

Long before the current wave of interest in broadband data, North Carolina state
officials were at the forefront of mapping out broadband availability;
aggregating demand; educating the public about the benefits of broadband;
fostering local ?e-champions;? and providing hands-on training and access
to low-cost hardware, software and technical support.

Now, the state is attempting to push forward further, by encouraging
significantly faster connection speeds than are currently generally available
in North Carolina, or throughout the country. In a report commissioned by e-NC
and released in June, the agency called for faster broadband, a national
strategy and more transparent data from carriers.

The state?s extensive efforts to date include an interactive web site with
detailing geographic information systems (GIS) maps, annual reports, a
detailing parsing of Federal Communications Commission data ? as well as its
own data from broadband providers ? and concrete funding for digital
training, high-tech business incubation and better rural connectivity.

For Jane Smith Patterson, executive director of the e-NC authority, the
state?s central role is a matter of pride. ?We did the first mapping from
the data that we had? way back in 2001, Patterson said in an interview.

In the popular press, e-NC?s accomplishments have been somewhat eclipsed by
the extensive media focus on Connect Kentucky, and the model that Connected
Nation, Inc., has attempted to export to other states. Connected Nation is a
non-profit organization funded by telecommunications carriers and state grants.

?Connect Kentucky first talked with us, and didn?t credit us? for work
that e-NC had done, said Patterson. Not only was the North Carolina agency the
first to extensively map out broadband, it originated the idea for e-community
toolkits, and the concomitant effort to stimulate demand by talking up
broadband across the state in more than 137 forums, she said.

Back in 2001, e-NC was called the Rural Internet Access Authority, created as a
result of the Rural Prosperity Task Force chartered by the legislature. Among
the major recommendations were to create a new public-private entity (which
eventually became e-NC), to fund it through private-sector contributions, and
to invest in business and technology telecenters, said Patterson.

In 2003, the General Assembly expanded the agency?s focus beyond rural areas
and to distressed urban areas. It also called for e-NC ?to continue the
development and facilitation of a coordinated Internet access policy for the
citizens of North Carolina.?

Between 2001 and 2006, e-NC issued more than $2.7 million in grants to build
e-communities, including grants of about $5,000 a piece to ?e-champions? in
each of 85 rural counties. It later supplemented these grants. Also, e-NC
awarded more than $1.7 million in digital literacy training grants, of about
$20,000-$40,000 apiece to 28 communities across the state, and in 64 rural
counties, that had implemented local broadband strategies. It also established
135 public internet access points.

Among the most significant of e-NC?s accomplishments, according to Patterson,
is the creation of three ? and now a fourth ? business and tech
telecenters. The first three were funded by the sale of assets from MCNC, a
non-profit company created in 1980 as the Microelectronics Center of North
Carolina from a state grant. The fourth center was funded directly by the
state, said Patterson.

These centers ?get revenue and provide technical support to community
colleges, regional hospitals, and libraries because there is no one around?
that is providing them with the broadband that they need, said Patterson.
?What we tried to create were places that would be seen as technological
lighthouses that would show, ?look at what [broadband] can do for a region
that is distressed.??

The fruits of these centers are helping to build the case for faster broadband
? generally fiber-optic broadband ? in rural areas, said Patterson. They
are also encouraging major manufacturers to locate in the state. ?Communities
that have FTTH [fiber-to-the-home] networks are likely to attract
high-technology businesses and compete successfully in the emerging
knowledge-based global economy,? according to the June 2008 e-NC report,
written by attorneys Jim Baller and Casey Lide at the Baller Herbst Law Group.

North Carolina?s extensive interactive map has also allowed it to understand
the impact of broadband ? and the need to aggressively push beyond
conventional digital subscriber lines (DSL) and cable modem service. According
to the June 2008 report, two cooperatives in North Carolina are building FTTH
at 80 Megabits per second (Mbps) ? in rural areas.

?In contrast, the larger telephone companies, which are headquartered out of
state, typically extent DSL only to about 80 percent of the households in the
rural areas they serve,? read the report. And DSL and cable modem service
generally top off at around 3 Mbps to 5 Mbps, for download speeds. That is
about 20 times slower than fiber-optic wires.

Patterson said that she would like to see a state-wide goal of 80 Mbps to the
home. ?Even if you don?t get it, that is your goal, and you are always
pushing for that.?

?What would help tremendously is a national broadband policy,? she said.
?It is like saying, ?we are going to put a person on the moon,? and we
did ? and it paid huge dividends in terms of products and technology.? By
putting a 80 Mbps marker out there, Patterson said, the policy would say to
incumbents: ?We want every company out there to be building at this level,
and if you are not building at this level, than you are just not being
American.?


-- 
Richard Lowenberg
1st-Mile Institute
P.O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504
505-989-9110;   505-603-5200 cell
rl at 1st-mile.com  www.1st-mile.com

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