[1st-mile-nm] Microsoft TechSpark Rural Broadband 'White Space' Initiative

[Richard Lowenberg]

NM is not on the list of 12 states to be included in the coming year.   
RL

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Microsoft TechSpark Puts a Full Court Press on Rural Broadband
10/6/17 by Joan Engebretson

http://www.telecompetitor.com/microsoft-techspark-puts-a-full-court-press-on-rural-broadband/

The Microsoft TechSpark initiative, which kicked off in Fargo, North 
Dakota late yesterday, aims to use technology to boost local economies 
outside the country’s major metropolitan areas. The five-faceted program 
will include deployment of the Airband fixed wireless technology that 
Microsoft has been promoting, as well as digital skills training for 
high schools and community colleges, cloud services for local 
non-profits and digital transformation initiatives for local businesses.

The company also is planning TechSpark initiatives for Northeast 
Wisconsin and areas of four other states, including Virginia, Texas, 
Wyoming and Washington.

“The rapid transformation of our economy is driven in part by the 
pervasive use of new technology that is creating both challenges and 
opportunities for communities across the country . . .” said Microsoft 
CEO Brad Smith in a blog post about TechSpark. “While we see these 
challenges across the country, they can be especially acute in rural 
communities and in less urban areas where populations are more widely 
spread, sometimes making it more expensive to scale programs and 
services.”

Microsoft aims to “learn more about regional challenges and how 
technology can help better contribute to local economic growth, with a 
plan to share our learnings more broadly,” Smith wrote.

Rural Airband’s Role
The Microsoft Rural Airband Initiative, announced in July, is a key 
element of an ambitious Microsoft proposal to bring broadband to 
unserved areas of the U.S. within five years. Airband is a fixed 
wireless technology that operates on an unlicensed basis in vacant TV 
broadcast spectrum known as white spaces.

According to a Microsoft white paper about Airband, 
https://msblob.blob.core.windows.net/ncmedia/2017/07/Rural-Broadband-Strategy-Microsoft-Whitepaper-FINAL-7-10-17.pdf
the company plans to launch TV white spaces projects through 
partnerships in 12 states at the rate of one project per month over a 
12-month period. Partners will include a wide range of entities “from 
major fixed-line operators to nationwide and regional mobile operators, 
rural cooperatives and wireless internet service providers.”

The white paper includes a map showing the 12 states Microsoft has 
targeted, which includes the six states slated for TechSpark.

The other four elements of Microsoft TechSpark include:

Digital transformation initiatives for local businesses. Microsoft will 
assist companies to help them develop digital technology advances to 
“reinvent their business processes, deepen their connections to 
customers, empower their employees and transform their products” with 
the goal of fostering business growth.

Digital skills and computer science education for high schools. 
Microsoft will provide cash grants, technology, curriculum and resources 
to nonprofits and will partner with schools on this. The company’s 
Technology Education and Literacy in Schools Program is designed as a 
program that schools can sustain after Microsoft’s involvement.

Career pathways through community college education. This initiative 
will focus on enabling people to acquire the skills to obtain jobs that 
require less than a traditional four-year college degree and will help 
them in the job search.

Support for non-profits. Microsoft Philanthropies will increase its 
financial and technology support for non-profit groups in TechSpark 
areas. The company noted that it has donated more than $1 billion in 
cloud services to more than 90,000 nonprofits since early 2016.



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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
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