Home > Summary of BTOP Meetings

Summary Of BTOP Meetings

Summary of BTOP Public Meetings

The public meetings hosted by NTIA and RUS represented a great process in the gathering of unique and differentiating ideas and concepts from public input. Numerous associations, service providers, IT managers, CIO’s, and lobbyist’s posed comments and questions to a diverse group of panelist’s over the two week period.
 

The positives far out weigh the negatives and here is a summary of both.

The Positives

All of the roundtable/panel discussions were very informative and there was a consistent theme that was voiced by moderators, panelists, audience members and webinar participants. This theme was centered around “what is best for the American people”… not Rural markets, not Rural ISP’s, not National Organizations, but the American people.

As a result of this premise it was evident during the meetings that broadband services affect everyone’s lives. It has changed the way we communicate, conduct business, obtain information, buy and sell, and interact socially.

The NTIA and RUS should build off of this public exclamation and not only address underserved, unserved, vulnerable or rural populations but the needs of all American people and businesses. It is extremely short sighted to take a small market segment, throw money at it, and hope to solve the problem. And in doing this it will anger other market segments that have been vulnerable to large incumbent Telecom and Cable companies business practices and will be receiving inferior service to what will be offered to “vulnerable” populations.

It is inevitable that these “under served” markets will have the broadband services that they need in the future just through the natural evolution of technology and services and the quickened pace of deployment of these technologies over the last decade. What the NTIA and RUS can do at this point is look at the big picture and develop sustainable programs that address the needs of Urban, Suburban and Rural markets right now, enabling lateral growth within the next decade and decades to come.

It is also evident from these meetings that the American people are demanding broadband services that improve quality of life and applications that are sensible. More specifically, TeleMedicine, Department of Energy Smart Grids/Load Control, Remote Monitoring and Reporting Applications, Home Based Power Stations, Distance Learning, etc.

All of these applications can only be supported and sustained through public education and implementation in all Urban, Suburban and Rural markets. Low cost, high speed fixed, nomadic (and mobile) broadband wireless will play an integral role.

The Negatives

In many instances moderators, audience members, teleconference and web participants posed comments and questions that were unable to be addressed simply because the answers were unknown at that point… which is fine. This is the reason that the NTIA and RUS initiated these public meetings.

Many of the unanswered comments and questions were due to the noticeably absent representatives from the FCC. As outlined previously in this summary “acting” FCC Chair Michael Copps made his opening remarks at the first March 10 meeting, which basically voiced what the American people and constituents within the audience/web broadcast wanted to hear, but were totally contradictory related to past FCC rule changes and actions that truly affected the future of broadband within the United States. He was also part of this decision making process.

A good example of this contradictory behavior was the unanimous vote by the FCC and Congress to approve the 2.5GHz spectrum consolidation between Sprint and Clearwire that was confirmed on Election Day 2008 (see history). Knowing that the new White House administration was going to address broadband initiatives, and shake things up at the FCC, this was the final blow by Kevin Martin to make his mark and push his own agenda in the support of large incumbent Telecom and Cable companies.

And during this two week Q&A the NTIA and RUS made many references that pertained to “working with the FCC” so it will be interesting to monitor that progress especially based upon past FCC rule changes and decisions that will affect every American and the way we communicate and conduct business.

The questions here are:
“Why had the new FCC Administration not taken office prior to these discussions?” “Where is Julius Genachowski?” (Appointed as new FCC Chairman by President Obama)
“What are the goals of the new FCC Administration and how will they fix past Administrations mismanagement?”

It seems that the FCC has been given a pass with large incumbent Telecom and Cable companies latched onto their coat tails and is probably intentional based upon their lack of presence during these meetings.

One other potentially cumbersome undertaking that presented during these meetings are the undaunted tasks of the NTIA and RUS to deal with the overwhelming number of applications and funding requests anticipated from the thousands of potential applicants that will be lining up to receive funding from BTOP. If the NTIA and RUS plan on following the application and subsequently flawed processes of the past we will all be in for a nightmare.

There are too many “national” associations, non-profits and for-profit organizations that will be requesting monies from NTIA and RUS and it will be next to impossible to monitor and provide the transparency desired if the NTIA and RUS are to funnel down funding through these organizations. That is not to say that these organizations are not pivotal to driving successful and sustainable broadband initiatives but their role needs to be limited. The applications and request for monies need to come from the ground up rather than from the top down or else there will be too many “hands in the till”. 

BTOP Meetings - Session Analysis
While all the sessions were informative let us focus on one session that stood out and offered unique perspectives during the two weeks of meetings held by NTIA and RUS.

Session 3 - Innovative Programs to Encourage Sustainable Adoption of Broadband Service and Expanding Public Computer Center Capacity
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/meetings.html

The panelists were:
• Jonathan D. Linkous, CEO, American Telemedicine Association
• Emily Sheketoff, Executive Director, Washington Office, American Library Association
• Jim Hermes, Senior Legislative Associate, American Association for Community Colleges
• Erin Duncan, Federal Lobbyist, National Education Association
• Hank Kenchington, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Development, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, US Department of Energy
• Jason Goldrnan, Counsel, Telecommunications & E-Commerce, US Chamber of Commerce
• Rey Ramsey, Chairman and CEO, One Economy, Corp.

This is quite a diverse group and this session was more spirited than others. This session was also very distinguishing because of the Organizations represented and their potential roles in fulfilling BTOP initiatives. Two of these Organizations were represented by a Lobbyist and a “Senior Legislative Associate” (Lobbyist)… the rest by more credible representatives that offered true and concise direction for BTOP. This is symbolic of what the NTIA and RUS are up against in allocating grants and loans that best suit the needs of the American people in Urban, Suburban and Rural markets. The role of GSA Public/Private partnerships will greatly reduce the burden placed upon the NTIA and RUS in determining the needs of each GSA market.

American Telemedicine Association
Needs: – Video based conferencing between health clinics and the home, two-way communication of patient wearable monitors, monitoring of ICU’s by remote specialists, short term leasing of equipment and services due to changing technologies, coordinating functions between health care providers, service providers, ISP’s, ONC, HRSA and review teams to offer best quality of care.
Proposed ATA Solution: Coordination of functions between health care providers, service providers, ISP’s, ONC, HRSA and review teams to offer best quality of care. Has numerous funding resources through existing ARRA Health Care programs.
Summary: Presented very unique and differentiating applications that should be available to every citizen that needs them. Addressed reduce cost modeling, convenience, increases in productivity. With proper public education, Telemedicine capabilities and applications will be a part of our daily lives, for those that need it. This involves participation of every level of Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities.
Overall Rating: **** (4 of 5)
Direct BTOP Funding: Needs to be coordinated with Department of Health and Human Services, Office of National Coordination for Health and Information Technology (ONC), the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), and local Health Officials part of the GSA Public/Private partnerships.

The American Library Association
Needs: Higher bandwidth (speeds), increased computer capacity, driving traffic.
Proposed ALA Solution: “Fiber to the Library”
Summary: While increased speeds are a necessity for Libraries it is also a necessity for all American households and businesses. Fiber will definitely become an instrument for backhaul supporting new GSA broadband wireless infrastructures, but will be used to benefit each community as a whole. Libraries will fall under basic or enhanced “Business Class” broadband services to accommodate their bandwidth needs.
 

As for computer capacity, there are seven (7, listed on the ALA website) other ARRA programs (besides BTOP) that can address actual computer center improvements and hardware needs. BTOP is responsible for “broadband”, not hardware and additions to existing edifices.

What Public Libraries need are programs to drive traffic to their facilities. This will be accomplished by overall GSA Public/Private partnership initiatives, of which local Library constituents will be a part and encouraging local (and national) distance learning and employer outreach programs and other programs autonomous to their local community outreach.
Overall Rating: *** (3 of 5)
Direct BTOP Funding: Administration, monitoring, transparency only. Majority of available funding should go to local GSA Public/Private partnership broadband initiatives.

American Association for Community Colleges
Needs: (Same as ALA) Higher bandwidth, increased computer center capacity, driving traffic
Proposed AACC Solution: Using broadband as a value-added approach to spur economic growth, growth of local businesses, distance education linked to high speed inter-state networks and research intuitions.
Summary: As with the ALA, the AACC needs encompass the desires of each community as a whole. Spurring broadband growth within Urban, Suburban and Rural markets is a given. This will be accomplished by establishing GSA Public/Private partnerships, of which Community Colleges, School Boards, etc. will be a part of.
Overall Rating: ** (2 of 5)
Direct BTOP Funding: Administration, monitoring, transparency only. Majority of available funding should go to local GSA Public/Private partnership broadband initiatives.

The National Education Association
Needs: “Connect as many schools and communities as possible”
Proposed NEA Solution: 10MB/Sec access to (W)ISP per 1000 students and staff, 100MB/Sec inter-connectivity between School Systems.
Summary: This presentation was embarrassing. This Lobbyist had nothing to contribute and was basically a waste of space on a very diverse panel. For such a large organization it was very surprising to have a Lobbyist representing their constituency.Again, GSA Public/Private partnerships will address the needs of their School Systems and can report directly to the NEA. One thing that this representative failed to mention was the fact that each student or staff member can take their ubiquitous high speed broadband wireless access account with them from home to school and vice versa.
Overall Rating: * (1 of 5)
Direct BTOP Funding: Administration, monitoring, transparency only. Majority of available funding should go to local GSA Public/Private partnership broadband initiatives.

US Department of Energy
Needs: Public education/incentives, smart grid technologies, peak demand/load control, load shedding, local (home) storage of energy, two-way communications (home to grid), time-of-use pricing schedules, management of loads to accommodate plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Proposed DOE Solution: The DOE has $4.5B from ARRA programs (separate from BTOP) to improve upon and implement their needs.
Summary: This Representative was right on top of things to come. Smart grids, peak load control and shedding, selling and using power stored at the home, and efficient use of assets… all of which will require two-way communication (Fixed Broadband Wireless) from the home (or business) back to the grid or application services provided by Electric Utilities. BTOP should explore broadband/energy rebate scheduling for homeowners and energy tax credits for service providers participating in these programs.
Overall Rating: **** (4 of 5)
Direct BTOP Funding: Coordination with State Energy Offices and possible matching funds, broadband rebate scheduling, broadband tax credits, and fixed broadband wireless to the home.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Needs: – NTIA and RUS to address the needs of all the American people and the need for broadband initiatives that bring about the greatest economic impact.
Proposed USCC Solution: “Establishment of Public/Private partnerships that leverage resources within and across every community for effective technology expansion”.
Summary: Broadband to expand and transform every sector of the U.S. economy. Basically reiterated the needs for sustainable broadband adoption at the County and Local levels to bolster economic growth.
Overall Rating: *** (3 of 5)
Direct BTOP Funding: Administration, monitoring, transparency only. Majority of available funding should go to local GSA Public/Private partnership broadband initiatives of which Local Chambers of Commerce will be a part.

One Economy Corporation
Needs: Creating a “culture of use” to improve lives. Making sure that technologies are “available, affordable, and adopted (the three A’s)” to all Americans, Affordable Housing Contractors to incorporate network infrastructure access into new construction.
Proposed OEC Solution: Public awareness and education, affordable internet access & hardware, relevant content, maximize impact for low-income, poverty level households.
Summary: Leader in providing Digital Access, Inclusion and Literacy for low-income, poverty level households within the U.S. and around the World. The most important “meter” in gauging sustainable broadband adoption is in the home. Affordable housing contractors need to incorporate networked applications. Emphasized using technology to improve the social and economic aspects of everyone’s lives and transcending the barriers of the 21st century by reversing trends, reduced crime, leading to better socio-economic scales.
Overall rating: ***** (5 of 5)
Direct BTOP Funding: BTOP should make every effort to support organizations like One-Economy and establish specific funding programs that directly incentivize service provider implementation of these programs. This will have a positive affect on communities as a whole. BTOP could use additional broadband provider tax credits or outline revenue share incentives to provide for sustainable Digital Access, Inclusion & Literacy programs for low-income, impoverished individuals and households.

A summary of all 18 public meetings, transcribed text and video archives can be found at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/meetings.html.

Public comments and web form submissions addressing BTOP initiatives can be found at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/comments.cfm.

Go to Document Conclusion