Winning the Race for Universal Broadband

By Morag Lucey

Every few years the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) issues its “global broadband rankings" for the world’s nations. Unfortunately, for a leading industrial country, the U.S. tends to rank far down the list of those doing a good job providing broadband access to its citizens. But that situation soon may take a turn for the better.

In his State of the Union address in February, President Obama proposed the country’s first-ever nationwide wireless broadband network. Offering minimum speeds of 4 Mbps, the new wireless network would reach 98 percent of the U.S. populace within five years. Among the many to benefit would be the 40 percent of rural citizens and 30 percent of urban dwellers currently without any Internet access.

A few weeks later, the Federal Communications Commission held public hearings on reforming the Universal Service Fund. The FCC would like the Fund, which for years has supported rural dial tone as well as lifeline service for the poor and elderly, to take on a new dimension: delivery of universal broadband, not just voice.

Why all the fuss over broadband when the nation and indeed the world are gripped by urgent issues such as unemployment, rising national debt, slow economic growth and a stagnant housing market? Simply put – because improved broadband access might just help right those problems, and in some places already has done so.

In a recent example of how technology beats policy to the punch, some communities and local municipalities are moving ahead on their own, investing in broadband options that exceed the ambitions of government programs.

Technology Leaving Policy in the Dust

Since 2005, the 300 residents of Ten Sleep, Wyo., have benefited from a 20 Mbps fiber optic network paid for by their municipal phone co-op. Described as “smoking fast" by the co-op’s manager, the fiber network has opened up unique job opportunities in Ten Sleep, so named in the 19^th century because it was a 10 days’ horseback ride from the next town.

One national firm, Eleutian, is now hiring Ten Sleep locals to teach English to Asians via live video chat carried over the local fiber network. Apparently what’s smoking fast in the minds of Washington policymakers is smoking slow in Ten Sleep. In a recent Business Week story, an Eleutian official said that the government’s proposed 4Mbps wireless service – only a fifth as fast as Ten Sleep’s fiber network – “wouldn’t have helped us."

Ten Sleep isn’t alone in taking broadband matters into its own hands. Networks funded by local co-ops are popping up across the U.S. in states as diverse as Virginia, Minnesota and Utah, using a mix of fiber optic and satellite technologies.

These small, local ventures could be joined one day by another player: Google. Earlier this year the Internet search giant announced it would choose one lucky city as the site of an advanced fiber network. Some 1,100 cities got in line and filed applications for the Google network. Kansas City, Kan., won.  

Who’s to say that similar alternative networks might not spring up some day in small, out-of-the-way rural hamlets? After all, data centers requiring huge amounts of bandwidth now tend to gravitate to rural America, as is happening in tiny burgs such as Lebanon, Va., and The Dalles, Ore.

It isn’t necessary to wait for a deep-pocketed benefactor willing to build a fiber network. If the average citizen, wherever he or she may live, wants broadband, all they have to do is look up to hook up. WildBlue, a Convergys customer for nearly a decade, already provides high-speed Internet access via satellite to almost every corner of the U.S.

Undoubtedly, universal service reform and a new national wireless broadband network could benefit many communities. Just don’t be surprised if other technologies get there first. It’s possible that by the time policy change reaches rural America, ITU researchers will already be on hand admiring the local broadband infrastructure and raising the country’s marks on high-speed Internet access.

Morag Lucey is Global Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for Convergys’ Smart Revenue Solutions for the telecoms, cable, satellite, broadband, and utilities markets. Convergys solutions can help service providers meet the billing and customer care needs of the retail, enterprise, and wholesale sectors.