Tag: "press center"

"Net Neutrality Has Rural Impact" : Mountain Talk And Mimi Pickering

Posted August 4, 2017 by lgonzalez

As the new administration’s FCC re-examines Network Neutrality rules, rural communities are wondering how any changes may affect areas in the U.S. that already have difficulties obtaining fast, affordable, reliable Internet service. In a recent Mountain Talk podcast, Mimi Pickering tackles the question by talking to several knowledgeable guests.

In addition to Christopher, Mimi talks with other guests who offer insight into why Network Neutrality is critical to rural areas as we move forward. Rural areas tend to feel impacts harder than urban areas. The show includes audio from past interviews, news reports, and events.

Making Connections News describes the show:

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) move to repeal Net Neutrality and classification of Broadband Internet as a Title II Telecommunications Service could have significant impact on rural America, where the digital divide is already the largest. 

In this edition of Mountain Talk, host Mimi Pickering explores potential impacts with economist Roberto Gallardo from Mississippi State University Extension Services and Christopher Mitchell, Director of Community Broadband Networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. 

We also hear from a 2015 interview with Edyael Casaperalta, representing the Rural Broadband Working Group of the National Rural Assembly, on the 2015 reclassification of Broadband as a Title II Telecommunications Service and its potential to reduce the digital divide, increase competition, and protect consumers. 

Finally, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn talks about her work on the FCC to increase access and affordability for people of color, low income, and rural communities. Her term at the FCC will soon end but she promises to continue to speak for those who are not typically represented and calls on all folks to make their voices heard at the FCC at every opportunity.

Christopher joins the interview at around 30 minutes into the show.

Ohio Valley ReSource Covers Appalachian Broadband Summit, Quotes Christopher

Posted July 18, 2017 by Nick

Ohio Valley ReSource - July 18, 2017

Country Connection: Rural Residents Ask FCC To Improve Internet Access

[Republished in WFPL, WKU - Western Kentucky Radio, West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WKMS Murray State Radio, WEKU FM]

Written by Benny Becker

More than two million people across the Ohio Valley live in areas that lack any option for fast and reliable internet service. This week some of them had a chance to tell a member of the Federal Communications Commission what that means for their work, studies, and everyday life.

The Appalachian Connectivity Summit in Marietta, Ohio, explored possible local solutions. But the event came during a week that also saw large internet providers suing to stop one way to connect more people to broadband service. ...

Net Gains

For more than a decade, Christopher Mitchell has been working on broadband expansion issues with the Minnesota-based Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Mitchell gave the connectivity summit’s keynote address, and Frontier got a mention in his talk.

Mitchell argued that too much of the federal money intended to expand rural internet access goes to large companies who’ve been building substandard networks... Read more

WAMU's 1A Show Covers Rural Connectivity With Christopher

Posted July 13, 2017 by lgonzalez

For an in-depth discussion about connectivity in rural America, Public Rado WAMU called our own Christopher Mitchell who joined host Joshua Johnson on the 1A show. The conversation covered a variety of topics from technical points to policy. If you missed it, you can listen now and get caught up.

Other guests included journalist Jennifer Levits, who often reports on tech matters, and Matt Larsen who is the founder and CEO of a fixed wireless ISP, Vistabeam. His company serves subscribers in rural areas.

Examining Rural Connectivity

What is the best way to get high-quality connectivity to rural America? In addition to discussing the challenges of bringing Internet access to America’s less populated regions, the panel touched on a recent proposal by Microsoft to use TV white spaces to bring Internet access to rural areas. Libraries and schools have experimented with white space technology in recent years. The low-frequency spectrum used to be reserved for television prior to digitization; now that it’s not being used for TV, it’s been freed up. White space spectrum, or TVWS, is less likely to be interrupted by trees or walls then traditional fixed wireless signals.

Microsoft announced this spring that it would partner with the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation (MBC), a Virginia broadband cooperative, on a pilot project using white spaces in Halifax and Charlotte Counties. The project will allow households with school kids to access their school's network from home by using TVWS.

During the interview, listeners emailed and tweeted questions to the show. In addition to the audio of the show, check out some of the comments at the 1A website. Worth the time!

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Covers the Rural-Urban Digital Divide

Posted July 11, 2017 by Nick

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - July 11, 2017

The digital divide between urban and rural areas remains, and some question government grants aimed at addressing it

Written by Rick Barrett

It’s getting easier to find high-speed internet service in rural Wisconsin, yet there are still places where a robust online connection is as elusive as the Hodag, a mythical creature that legend says prowls the Northwoods.

What’s more, critics of government grants aimed at boosting the service across the country say much of the money is being spent on internet speeds that are obsolete.

When the service providers focus on short-term profit, rather than building the best possible network, it’s not good for rural America, said Christopher Mitchell with the Institute for Local Self Reliance, a Minneapolis nonprofit that helps communities with internet access issues.

“I don’t blame the providers any more than I blame tigers when they maul humans. They are what they are. The problem is that government policy lets them do it,” Mitchell said.

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Read the full story here.

Municipal Broadband Networks Get Top Billing in Consumer Reports

Posted June 20, 2017 by Nick

Consumer Reports - June 20, 2017

Are City-Owned Municipal Broadband Networks Better?

Written by James K. Wilcox

Cable providers are among the least-loved companies in Consumer Reports surveys. Some of the biggest—such as Comcast and Spectrum—earn low scores in multiple categories, including value and customer service.

Unfortunately, consumers have few options. A 2015 White House study found that three out of four Americans had access to only one broadband provider offering speeds of at least 25 Mbps, the threshold for high-speed service recognized by the Federal Communications Commission.

One response to this problem is municipal broadband, in which towns and cities launch their own internet services to serve both residents and local businesses. But these networks can be controversial. Some have faced lawsuits from private providers, and about two dozen states have passed laws that discourage municipalities from acting.

Where Municipal Broadband Works Well

Most municipal broadband providers are too small to make it into Consumer Reports' ratings. One exception is EPB-Chattanooga, a municipal broadband provider in Tennessee that is one of the top-rated services.

EPB launched as a public power company back in 1935 and added its internet service about 15 years ago. According to MuniNetworks.org, a website that tracks municipal broadband deployments, it is one of more than 500 such networks in the U.S. run directly by a local government or in cooperation with a private company.

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Read the full story here.

ArsTechnica Sheds Light on Cable Lobby Restricting Research

Posted June 19, 2017 by Nick

ArsTechnica - June 19th, 2017

Cable lobby tries to stop state investigations into slow broadband speeds

Written by Jon Brodkin

Broadband industry lobby groups want to stop individual states from investigating the speed claims made by Internet service providers, and they are citing the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules in their effort to hinder the state-level actions.

The industry attempt to undercut state investigations comes a few months after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a lawsuit against Charter and its Time Warner Cable (TWC) subsidiary that claims the ISP defrauded and misled New Yorkers by promising Internet speeds the company knew it could not deliver.

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association and USTelecom, lobby groups for the cable and telecom industries, last month petitioned the Federal Communications Commission for a declaratory ruling that would help ISPs defend themselves against state-level investigations. The FCC should declare that advertisements of speeds "up to" a certain level of megabits per second are consistent with federal law as long as ISPs meet their disclosure obligations under the net neutrality rules, the groups said. There should be a national standard enforced by the FCC instead of a state-by-state "patchwork of inconsistent requirements," they argue. ...

Consumer advocacy groups urged the FCC to reject the petition, arguing that the commission doesn't have authority to preempt states in this matter and that the state investigations are important for protecting consumers. If the FCC "allow[s] providers to make unrealistic claims with an asterisk," then "services with vastly different peak performance characteristics may be advertised as equal with true differences in performance revealed only on a web page somewhere that... Read more

Georgia News Service Features Benefits of Cooperatives for Internet Access

Posted June 3, 2017 by Nick

Thomasville Times-Enterprise - June 3rd, 2017

EMCs could help fill broadband gaps

Written by Jill Nolin

ATLANTA — Electric cooperatives once turned on the lights in remote communities where power companies didn’t go because of the cost.  

State legislators are now asking whether these co-ops can do the same for broadband internet service, which continues to lag in some rural and even mid-sized communities. 

At least two of Georgia’s 41 not-for-profit electric membership corporations already offer fiber broadband service; at least one other, Central Georgia EMC in Jackson, is considering it. ...

Nationally, electric cooperatives are relatively new to fiber broadband, but their involvement is “growing enormously,” said Christopher Mitchell, director of community broadband networks at the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance. 

And in some states, such as Missouri, electric cooperatives have become significant factors in improving broadband access in the rural communities where members have embraced the service. There are as many as 50 such broadband projects across the country. 

“I think the number one barrier to EMCs is not the threat of failure,” Mitchell said. “It’s a kind of inertia to keep doing what they have been doing, and I think that’s changing more rapidly than I thought, candidly. 

“But I think that’s the number one reason why we don’t see a hundred or 200 of the EMCs in this right now, although I think we’ll be there in another year or two from the rate of escalation we’re seeing,” he added. 

Cost is major factor, too. Mitchell said EMCs would likely need financial assistance from state or federal governments to launch a network in a reasonable timeframe. 

“EMCs could slowly expand over 10 or 20 years, but I think many of those houses will not be occupied over 10 or 20 years if they do not have a higher quality of service,” he said.

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... Read more

Morning Consult Takes on Flawed UPenn Broadband Study

Posted June 1, 2017 by Nick

Morning Consult - June 1, 2017

Local Advocates Push Back on Municipal Broadband Funding Study

Written by Mariam Baksh

A University of Pennsylvania study questioning the financial viability of municipal-owned networks for high-speed internet access is drawing criticism from local activists.

The dispute over how best to fund broadband networks in cities has proved a vexing problem for federal decision-makers. And the Penn study casts doubt on some methods favored by local groups.

The study concluded that 11 out of 20 municipal broadband projects were “cash-flow negative” over the five years from 2010 to 2014. It cautioned local decision-makers to carefully examine the data before committing to bonds for constructing and operating their own high-speed fiber networks. ...

“They are using phantom costs,” said Christopher Mitchell in a phone interview with Morning Consult. Mitchell, who runs the broadband project for the Institute for Local Self Reliance, said the life of the fiber is up for debate. More importantly, he added, factoring that sort of depreciation is not appropriate for determining the prospect of the projects going forward.

In one high-profile case, the report predicted it would take 412 years for the municipal broadband project in Chattanooga, Tenn., to “turn positive.” But according to a report by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the city recently reported that it had already paid off its loans.

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Read the full story here.

Christopher Comments on North Carolina Broadband Access Map in State Scoop

Posted May 26, 2017 by Nick

State Scoop - May 26, 2017

Crowdsourced broadband mapping helps North Carolina clean its data

A new tool released by the state's technology agency is being used to refine coverage data reported by the FCC and open the way for new funding opportunities.

North Carolina's state technology agency launched a new tool for measuring broadband speeds across the state Wednesday as part of long-term infrastructure planning that could bring new connectivity to rural areas.

...

A fact sheet published by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance shows that North Carolina has a deeply stratified rural-urban divide when it comes to broadband. Christopher Mitchell, ILSR's director of community broadband networks, blames the state's regulations for the disparity.

"The state perversely discourages investment from local governments and cooperatives," Mitchell writes in a 2016 report summary.

A 1999 statute limits the ability of electric cooperatives access to capital for telecommunications, while a 2011 law limits the power of local governments build internet networks.

In an email to StateScoop, Mitchell said North Carolina is "far too focused on AT&T and Charter. It is a real shame."

Disputes over how to fund the state's rural broadband efforts have been an ongoing debate in recent years. A plan sketched by former Gov. Pat McCrory had theoretically positioned all residents in the state with connectivity by 2021. Mitchell argues that the state is ignoring some of its best options by depending on a private market that has thus far consistently failed to serve certain areas of the state.

"[There are] a lot of opportunities with [municipal networks] and co-ops but the Legislature seems unable to comprehend that the big... Read more

S&P Global Discusses Discredited Municipal Broadband Report

Posted May 26, 2017 by Nick

S&P Global Market Intelligence - May 26, 2017

Hard Data on Municipal Broadband Networks

Written by Sarah Barry James

There is a dearth of good data around municipal broadband networks, and the data that is available raises some tough questions.

A new study from University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Christopher Yoo and co-author Timothy Pfenninger, a law student, identified 88 municipal fiber projects across the country, 20 of which report the financial results of their broadband operations separately from the results of their electric power operations. Municipal broadband networks are owned and operated by localities, often in connection with the local utility.

...

Yet Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, argued that Yoo's study did not present an entirely accurate or up-to-date picture of U.S. municipal networks.

"When I looked at the 20 communities that he studied — and his methodology for picking those is totally reasonable and he did not cherry pick them — I was not surprised at his results because many of those networks are either in very small communities … and the others were often in the early years of a buildout during a period of deep recession," Mitchell said.

As an example, Mitchell pointed to Electric Power Board's municipal broadband network in Chattanooga, Tenn. — one of the five networks Yoo identified as having positive cash flow but at such a low level that it would take more than 100 years to recover project costs.

...

In fact, without the revenue generated by the fiber-optics business, EPB estimated it would have had to raise electric rates by 7% this year.

According to Mitchell, Yoo's study captured the Chattanooga network when it was still "small and growing," but misses "what's going to happen for the rest of the life of the network, which I think is the more important part."

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