[1st-mile-nm] Chattanooga Fiber - NY Times

[Richard Lowenberg]

The following article in today?s NY Times, is of interest for a few reasons.  
It highlights the Chattanooga open fiber project, which has been getting
attention since inception, a few years ago.   The fiber broadband services
network is also part of the same network infrastructure that supports ?smart
energy grid? capabilities.   In that way, it is similar to the recent RUS
awarded Kit Carson Electric Coop?s network expansion, here in NM.   The issue
that had my attention, is the high pricing of greater bandwidth, which will
probably be reduced over time, as the numbers of subscribers increase and as
more high-bandwidth content and applications become available.

However, it seems clear and concerning to me that (for the next ten years) the
pricing for increased (sometimes bundled) access to higher bandwidth networks,
will likely result in a new economic ?digital divide?, among the already
low-income, underserved populations of this state and of the country.   Lower
cost wireless, mobile networks will fill much of that gap, but more than
meeting the needs for greater access, our real challenge is to more equitably
and sustainably address the affordability of new high-bandwidth networks and
services.

I hope that some discussion of this matter on this list is not a bother to some.
  I simply urge that any follow-up discussion be productive and on-topic.
RL

---------

Fastest Net Service in U.S. Coming to Chattanooga

www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/technology/13broadband.html?src=me&ref=technology

In the global race to see who can offer the fastest Internet service, an
unlikely challenger has emerged: Chattanooga, Tenn.

The city-owned utility, EPB, plans to announce on Monday that by the end of this
year it will offer ultra-high-speed Internet service of up to one gigabit a
second. That is 200 times faster than the average broadband speed in America.

Only Hong Kong and a few other cities in the world offer such lightning-fast
service, and analysts say Chattanooga will be the first in the United States to
do so. ?This makes Chattanooga ? a midsized city in the South ? one of the
leading cities in the world in its digital capabilities,? said Ron
Littlefield, the city?s mayor.

There is one caveat: the highest-speed service will cost $350 a month, a price
that may appeal to some businesses but few households, even though the service
will be offered to all the 170,000 homes and businesses EPB serves.

?We don?t know how to price a gig,? said Harold DePriest, chief executive
of EPB. ?We?re experimenting. We?ll learn.?

Chattanooga?s effort is the byproduct of an aggressive high-tech economic
development plan in recent years, helped along by funds from the federal
economic stimulus program. But it comes at a time of increasing debate among
communities, countries and corporations about how best to pursue the next
generation of broadband, a technology seen as the gateway to a new wave of
Internet-based products and services.

The Obama administration presented its broadband strategy earlier this year and
set the goal of bringing broadband to 100 million American homes at download
speeds of at least 100 megabits a second ? a tenth of Chattanooga?s top
speed ? by 2020. The United States, according to studies, is a laggard among
developed nations in broadband adoption and service speeds.

Eric E. Schmidt, Google?s chief executive, and other leaders in technology and
government point to the trailing broadband performance as a danger to American
competitiveness that threatens to saddle the nation with an ?innovation
deficit? compared with other countries.

To help close the gap, Google pledged this year to supply service at one gigabit
a second to up to 500,000 people in the United States. The company says that
1,100 communities have applied, and Google will make its selection ? one
community, or a few ? this year.

In announcing the program, Google offered a glimpse of the benefits of
ultra-high-speed Internet service. ?Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic,
streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the Web and discussing a unique
condition with a specialist in New York,? its statement said. ?Or
downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five
minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world, while watching live
3-D video of a university lecture.?

Such visions of new high-speed services in health care, entertainment, education
and business are behind the ambitious national programs under way in countries
like Australia and South Korea. Already a leader in high-speed broadband, Korea
plans to offer one-gigabit-per-second service nationally by 2012.

Higher-speed Internet service, experts agree, is an important national goal, but
it is less clear whether moving quickly to very-high-speed service is worth the
cost. Much of the economic gain can be achieved, and consumer demand met, by
moving on a more measured path, they say.

Verizon, for example, has invested billions of dollars to upgrade much of its
network for fiber optic Internet service, at speeds of 15, 25 and 50 megabits
per second. Those speeds are three to 10 times standard broadband service; the
monthly charges are $50 for 15 megabits, $65 for 25 and $140 for 50. And the
vast majority of Verizon?s fiber optic Internet customers, analysts say,
choose the 15-megabit, $50-a-month service.

The demand for one-gigabit-per-second service could be minuscule, experts say.
?I can?t imagine a for-profit company doing what they are doing in
Chattanooga, because it?s so far ahead of where the market is,? said Robert
D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation,
a nonpartisan research group.

Even Mr. DePriest of EPB does not expect brisk demand for the one-gigabit
service anytime soon. So why offer it? ?The simple answer is because we
can,? he said.

And, Mr. DePriest said, it can be done at minimal additional expense, once fiber
optic cable is strung to homes and businesses, and the electronics for
ultra-high-speed Internet ? more than 100 megabits per second ? are in
place.

 ?The overriding consideration is that this is a real tool for economic
development for our community,? Mr. DePriest said. ?It is the basis for
creating the products and services of the Internet of the future. And it?s in
Chattanooga today.?

The utility started stringing fiber optics to homes about two years ago, and
began offering high-speed broadband a year ago. It supplies
30-megabits-per-second service for $58 a month, 50 megabits for $71 a month,
and 100 megabits for $140 a month (as of Monday, down from $175).

That service is now offered to 100,000 of the utility?s 170,000 customers, and
will be available to all of them by the end of the year. At present, 15,000
customers subscribe to at least one fiber optic service ? television,
Internet access or phone service. And 12,000 subscribe to the Internet service,
a strong sign-up rate in the first year, Mr. DePriest says.

The high-speed Internet service is piggybacked on top of the utility?s
smart-grid network, which was the reason for stringing the fiber optic cable to
homes in the first place. Smart grids are advanced electrical networks that can
improve energy efficiency, enable variable pricing based on the time of day,
and reduce disruptions. They require digital networks for two-way
communications, and computerized meters in homes.

EPB had already begun a smart-grid program before the Obama administration
included billions for grants for smart-grid projects in the economic stimulus
program in 2009. But the Chattanooga utility did win a $111 million grant from
the Energy Department, accelerating its smart-grid plan. The federal funds did
not go to subsidize the high-speed Internet service, Mr. DePriest said.

The customers for the fastest offering may be few, but Dr. James Busch will most
likely be one of them. He is one of 10 radiologists in a practice that reads and
interprets medical images from 14 hospitals and clinics in Tennessee and
Georgia. Those data-heavy medical images are shuttled over the Internet.

?The business model works because bandwidth is so available in Chattanooga,?
Dr. Busch said.

The bandwidth requirements for the practice will only grow, he said, and the
faster service to homes will help. ?Our docs will be able to read images from
home,? Dr. Busch said. ?That could change our practice.?


-- 
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

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.