New Modes of Collaboration and Partnering is Required to Realize Broadband Society

Pic from elantisystems.com

Current telco players lack the appropriate mindset (to partner and collaborate), the innovative structures (to implement new services) and knowledge, expertise and credibility (for specific industry services e.g. telemedicine, home security) ... They really should rethink the way they operate, collaborate and innovate.

This is basically what the findings say in a report from the Yankee Group, written by Benoit Felten and Vince Vittore.


"Broadband service providers need to get past their current mindset of doing everything themselves and consider the advantages of partnering with innovative service developers and offering broadband services on a wholesale basis, according to Yankee Group senior analyst Benoit Felten."

What often is murmered in the government space, Yankee analists are saying it outloud: incumbents are regarding FTTH as a threat, while there are big opportunities, although not within the direct realm of telco network operators.

"Fiber to the home is a threat to incumbents because it risks displacing their network monopoly, but it's also an opportunity for all players to redefine the paradigm of services offered."

Isn't it that IP converged FTTH networks enable a truly ubigituous platform to collaborate, communicate and share anytime, anywhere and any media?

Pic from dailywireless.org

"The increase in demand for bandwidth is pressuring telcos to deliver ever more broadband capacity, yet many are making dangerous technology bets that will haunt them for years. Yankee Group believes a truly next-generation fixed access network in mature markets means fiber to the home (FTTH). Our vision for ubiquitous connectivity and the collision of communications, Internet, media, mobility and machine, creating the Anywhere Network™, dictates an IP data highway into every home to support advanced applications. Our view is that for broadband to be a game-changer, fiber must be delivered as close as possible to the home to overcome the current limitations of the copper network."

Source: TelephonyOnLine; Report Yankee Group "Fiber to the World: A State of the Union Report on FTTH"

Excellent piece of work. Probably not to the liking of some gorillas ...

Broadband's Economic Power Derives From Reach And Speed

Pic from Time

For the generations to come a nationwide broadband network will spur innovation, productivity, growth and collaboration.

Cisco's CEO, John Chambers, wrote an article for the Mercury News over the weekend: "It's time to broadband our economy. The time to act is now. Doing so will not only help stabilize and stimulate a recovery but create the foundation for long-term prosperity and competitiveness."

Broadband has to be pervasive. And broadband has to have speed. As behavior is dictated by Internet speeds.

"Broadband's economic power derives from two sources. The first is reach — how many people are using broadband at work, at home and in the community. The second is speed — the speeds of the connection determine the impact it has on user behavior. We are all aware of how little things have changed over the years when it comes to broadband rankings for the United States. We continue to fall behind."

Source: John Chambers at Mercury Newsweek

Is Broadband For All Really Going To Work?

We need it. No discussion there. The new 21st Century digital infrastructure should be built on super fast broadband networks, likely to be fiber optics.

Broadband, in whatever form, is what we need to spur the economy and consolidate our information society. All around the world pretty much consensus on this one. National governments are looking into national broadband networks, strategies, stimulus plans and policies, with new vigour and an immediate sense of urgency. So far so good.

Big questions are now; How and Who (the What is a bit a religious one, to my taste, so skipped for another post or platform)?

Apart from these obvious questions, there are other ones which are on the long term equally as big: How do we increase adoption, particularly for the less fortunate? Do we really think that people who are struggling to make a living, want to spend 50 USD per month, or more, for a high speed broadband connection - Bridging The Social Broadband Gap? And if so, do these people and families have appropriate personal computers available? And if they have a fast connection and even faster pc, do they have the skills to make the most of it? - Well, I agree with you, it will come in time, however, this reasoning is a bit about putting the carriage before the horse, as we say in The Netherlands.

Our children are willing and capable of adopting very quickly, but, in our ageing society, there is a growing group who are not over-enthousiastic about using pc's and internet. In this digital context it starts with the age of 40 and beyond, with a huge gap in comparison to the Net generation. We need to learn a new way of thinking and getting around things, as our kids are particularly 'switched' different and better equipped and developed to meet the challenge - read 'Grown Up Digital' by Don Tapscott.

And there are also the 'uneducated' who have no experience and skills to assimilate quickly to the new standards of our 21st Century society: the so-called digital illiterate, even in the inner city.

Pic from dailywireless.org

And of course there are the geography underprivileged: the underserved in rural areas. What about them?

So, all these rather obvious challenges we need to face simultanously, with building open, pervasive, community broadband networks as a good start. Again, who is going to pay for this, to whom and to what effect - e.g. time to implement? - Information Technology And Innovation Foundation presented a US report on Jan 7th 2009 which contains interesting answers to these questions. Source: Ars Technica

I am afraid that the gorillas will benefit most of the current developments: "Tax breaks for companies that increase Internet speed or create new networks are likely to go to existing large players". Source: BusinessWeek (7 Jan 2009)

And that is not a good thing ... Well, good for the specific industry, not good for society at large as we envisage it.

US$1 Trillion Economic Stimulus For A Better America - The Time Is Now To Invest In Broadband

This week Obama laid out his plan for a huge economic stimulus package. The stimulus package could cost close to US$1 trillion.

The president-elect called the economic situation in the U.S. a "crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime."

The stimulus package comprises:
* broadband roll-out to unserved and underserved areas;
* internet-based smart energy grid;
* computers for schools;
* medical records to be computerized within five years;
* rebuilding physical infrastructure such as roads and bridges;
* 21st-century classrooms, laboratories and libraries.

On the very latter the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation awards $6.9 million in grants to Connected Nation and the American Library Association to help launch pilot broadband initiative in seven states. Perfect timing ...

It seemds that as the economic crisis in the U.S. deepens, visits to public libraries are up across the country. Many libraries in states across the country are reporting that online services are in high demand, especially for job seekers, students, and people who do not have Internet access elsewhere.

Source: ITWorld

A Historical Perspective - The Essential Role Of Consumer-owned Electric Utilities in Developing The National Broadband Infrastructure

Are we at a turning point of new national broadband strategies and policies to create truly pervasive 21st Century digital network with Broadband For All in 2009? Or will the gorillas just be fed again ...

More than 14 years ago James Baller delivered a speech at the American Public Power Association Annual Telecommunications Conference in Nashville Tennessee (Nov 31st 1994).

He ends his speech with the following:

" ... consumer-owned electric utilities should be encouraged not to stop after taking care of their own utility-specific communications needs, because community benefits of improved communications do not end with the utility. Tremendous opportunities also exist for consumer-owned power systems to participate in the development of the information superhighway. Consumer-owned electric utilities are part of the local government and share the objectives and aims of the community -- quality service delivered economically. Melding the needs of different parts of a city can occur through pursuit of publicly-owned communications facilities. Such facilities can supply common benefits shared by police and fire departments, water and sewer operations, public health programs and other public functions. It can allow the creation of a burglar/fire/health emergency system and provide direct communications to citizens. It knits together city services.

The Administration, Congress and state governments should not impede, but should in fact induce, consumer-owned power systems to develop their own local communications infrastructure. They should do everything possible to encourage elected and appointed officials in communities that have such systems to seize the opportunity to bring this technology home to their local citizens. This would dramatically accelerate the pace of making the benefits of the Age of Information available to all concerned at an affordable price.

Conclusion


In the film The Magnificent Seven, a town that has been pillaged each year by brigands puts its fate into the hands of seven outlaws. These former villains become ennobled by the prospect of doing good and drive off the brigands, once and for all. While this theme may work well in the movies, there is little reason to believe that entrusting the future of the information superhighway to cable and telephone giants will ensure a similar happy ending. The Administration and Congress should hedge their bets by encouraging electric utilities, particularly consumer-owned power systems, to become actively involved."

Source: James Baller, The Baller Herbst Law Group

10bn Investment Creates 510.000 Jobs in US

An interesting ratio of 20k USD investment in broadband networks results in one new job ...

A new report from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, suggests that government fiscal stimulus, directed toward improving the broadband infrastructure, can go a long way toward boosting communications-related jobs. According to the report from the ITIF, a nonpartisan think tank, "a stimulus package that spurs or supports $10 billion of investment in one year in broadband networks will support approximately 510,000 new U.S. jobs for a year."

These jobs start with the people needed to install the fiber-optic cable. But the largest number of added employment comes from businesses that create new products and services using the improved capabilities of the communications network—what the ITIF calls "network effects." These might include, for example, new online education and training services that require high-capacity broadband.

ITIF: "In the report, “The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America,” ITIF provides a detailed analysis and estimate of the short-term jobs impacts of spurring investment in three critical digital networks: broadband networks, the smart grid (making the electric distribution system intelligent) and health IT, and outlines policy steps to spur this investment."

Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

30bn Investment Creates 900.000 Jobs In US

"IBMs CEO Samuel Palmisano advised the Obama transition team last month that 30-billion dollar in government investments in expanding broadband access, computerising healthcare records and improving the electrical grid could create over 900,000 jobs in the US," The Wall Street Journal said.

Mr. Palmisano said in his presentation that more than half the projected jobs would come from small businesses. Much of the projected jobs growth in the calculations comes from so-called "network effects." For example, more than half the jobs growth from the broadband investment reflects projected increased economic activity from the creation of new services the investments would make possible.

It looks like as if the projections above are coming from IBM, but it seems to come from a report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. ITIF is a non-partisan research and educational institute – a think tank – whose mission is to formulate and promote public policies to advance technological innovation and productivity internationally, in Washington, and in the states. Recognizing the vital role of technology in ensuring American prosperity, ITIF focuses on innovation, productivity, and digital economy issues.

Source: The Wall Street Journal; ITIF

Why We Need It?

Why we need super fast broadband pervasive networks? It's the children, stupid!

Our kids, the next generation workforce, are 'wired' differently (e.g. multi-taks/multi-switch easily), use technology but do not see it as such, have greater collaboration skills and are completely digitalized. Makes you really think ... And Don Tapscott provides some insights on basis of a in-depth, multi-million dollar survey, talking about the 'Net Generation'.

Don Tapscott, author of 'Wikinomics' and recently of 'Grown Up Digital' explains the gap between his and this next generation, and the consequences of not meeting the apparant challenges of bridging the gap.

Ellie interviews Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital

"Poised to transform every social institution, the Net Generation is reshaping the form and functions of school, work, and even democracy. Simply put, the wave of youth, aged 12-30, the first truly global generation, is impacting all institutions. Particularly, employers, instructors, parents, marketers and political leaders are finding it necessary to adapt to the changing social fabric due to this generation’s unique characteristics."

Source: Grown Up Digital

Why Now?

Below quotes from Tom Evslin @ Seeking Alpha on anti-cycle investments in new infrastructures to support the economy. Have heard them before but his concise words are 'right on the money'.


"Rural electrification and the Eisenhower Defense Highway System (the Interstates) made us the country we are today. Both involved subsidies meaning that urban areas (which were already electrified and already had highways) subsidized the buildout to the rest of the country. Both the urban areas and the rural areas benefitted."

"When we rebuild highways and bridges (as we must and will), we just get back to where we should have been. When we build a communication infrastructure which is both universal and the best in the world, we build a path to the future. By the way, when we rebuild the roads it would be dumb not to make them smart roads with mobile communication everywhere available; when we rebuild our electrical grid, it's got to be a smart grid with photons of information guiding the use of electrons of energy."

"Government investments ought to be made counter cyclically both because they're cheaper then and because they cushion the pain of private contraction. Clearly, this is such a time."

Source: Seeking Alpha

Investments To Build The Digital 21st Century Infrastructure With Super Fast Broadband

It is apparant that government leaders find the time ripe to invest in current and new infrastructures to support 21st century economy and society. A kind of New Deal, as in the late thirties. Barack Obama, in his weekly YouTube address, and Gordon Brown, see below, find it important to invest in new jobs, smart and green energy, infrastructure (old & new), education and healthcare.

01/03/09: President-elect Obama's Weekly Address


The UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has spoken exclusively to The Observer (Guardian) about new plans to help create 100,000 jobs through investment, including a rough statement of financial support for development of next generation superfast broadband networks.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seen in his front room at his home in Scotland. North Queensferry, Fife, Scotland. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
Brown suggested infrastructure such as high-speed broadband could be the modern equivalent of FDR's programme: "When we talk about the roads and the bridges and the railways that were built in previous times - and those were anti-recession measures taken to help people through difficult times - you could [by comparison] talk about the digital infrastructure and that form of communications revolution at a period when we want to stimulate the economy. It's a very important thing."

Source: ISPReview