Technology
“… we have found significant increases in local economic activity attributable to broadband. In fact, the increase in local GDP is more than ten-fold the value of the investments in broadband infrastructure.” – Strategic Network Group (1)
Broadband refers to services or facilities that allow users or devices to send and receive digital data over the Internet at high speeds (faster than 768 kilobits per second). With regard to broadband adoption per capita, the United States, as of December, 2008, ranked 15th among the thirty (30) member nations that comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In efforts to address this issue, Congress recently tasked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with developing a national broadband strategy, and the FCC is currently in the process of accepting proposals from interested parties. The FCC will present its strategy to Congress in early 2010.
Broadband is important to a community’s economic development plan because it offers many advantages:
- On-line degree completion
- Immediate access to job postings
- Disabled citizens have access to advanced telecommunications technologies and services
- Citizens can pay bills, register cars, buy licenses, pay parking tickets, etc. on line
- Children in rural or isolated areas can access the same knowledge base children in affluent areas use
- Seniors can take advantage of remote health monitoring technologies and live independent lives
- Business owners have the ability to sell goods world-wide
- Public Safety Networks can utilize IP-based voice and data communication during emergencies such as hurricanes, floods, terrorist attacks, etc. without loss of communication
Many cities already offer free Internet use in downtown areas. Spokane, Washington, for instance, offers its citizens a “SpokaneHotZone.” The zone, a hundred (100) block area in the downtown core, offers two hours free Internet access per day. The city invested in a wireless network to encourage innovation and drive economic growth.
In addition to economic growth, broadband is also important to education. Universities utilize broadband as they offer on-line classes and educate students. The Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI) is a state-of-the-art fiber optics network that runs through Louisiana and Mississippi and connects Louisiana and Mississippi research universities not only to each other, but also to the National LambdaRail, which is a 12,000 mile nationwide advanced optical network infrastructure that supports many of the world’s most demanding scientific and network research projects.
Some of the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative’s goals are to:
- Empower the postsecondary education research community to leverage the LONI infrastructure in association with the National LambdaRail network
- Utilize LONI infrastructure to form collaborative relationships with business, contribute to science, and create jobs
- Increase the economic benefits of high speed and grid computing as shared resources in Louisiana
- Increase computing resource support to all postsecondary institutions
- Create a comprehensive bandwidth strategy for higher education in collaboration with state agencies, and bandwidth providers
Access to high-speed Broadband will enable individuals and businesses in both urban and rural settings to successfully participate and compete in today’s global economy. For communities, broadband access is one tool that can help sustain economic viability, because when companies and individuals thrive—so do their communities.
Reference / Further Reading:
FCC Steers Perilous Course to National Broadband: Net Neutrality Among Key Debates
Horrigan, John. Home Broadband Adoption 2009, Jun 17, 2009
Pew Internet and American Life Project, Home Broadband Adoption 2009
Windhausen,John. Big Broadband Connectivity in the United States, Educause