According to BroadbandCensus.com, Vice President Biden recently kicked off his "Rural Broadband Tour," and on July 1 visited Wattsburg, PA, where he informed the town hall attendees that according to his numbers, while only about 50% of the area residents already had broadband access, the local school system was blazing the digital trail will full Internet 2 connectivity to other school systems and universities.
Of course, being a politician, the Vice President tossed words about a little carelessly, promising that expanded broadband access will equip students with "21st century skills" -- whatever that means. Could mean knowing how to breathe in a more and more polluted atmosphere, or could mean how to survive on low-lying islands with sea levels rising meters at a time. Sounds good though.
But we shall assume that he refers to the skills needed to not only access, but to use the Internet both as a research tool, and as a gainful source of employment.
The Vice President later stressed the latter in an address at Seneca High School near Erie, PA, pointing out that "to help maintain the character of rural communities, without having to change them, you need a terminal that connects and can allow people to stay in their towns, and create thousands of new broadband enabled jobs."
Given that, the lay of the land does not have to change to function fully in a new economy, for, as he told his audience, "farmers are the smartest people I know," and will surely avail themselves of the new technology as it becomes available to them.
NOFA Announcement
On the same day the Vice President kicked off his tour, officials from the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service, and the National Telecommunication and Information Administration detailed the just released Notice of Funds Available (NOFA) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is now available at broadbandusa.gov.
New Definitions
Apart from outlining the application for funding criteria--which are outlined on the broadbandusa site, the announcement also contains the much-awaited government definitions for broadband, unserved, and underserved, as these terms apply to the government's effort to provide ubiquitous broadband service across the country.
In that context, broadband is defined as a two-way service that advertises speeds of 768 kilobits per second (kbps) down and 200 kbps up. While higher speeds are certainly desirable, abiding by this definition will allow economical deployment throughout the country, said a senior NTIA official.
An unserved area is one or more Census Blocks where less than 10 percent of the households have access to facilities-based broadband.
An underserved area is primarily defined as one where less than 50 percent of households have access to facilities-based terrestrial broadband.
Mr. Biden, in addressing Pennsylvania citizens, told them that they "cannot function," and "that a nation cannot compete, without access. Ubiquitous access for farmers and schools is no longer a luxury, but something everyone deserves, and everyone needs.
"This is an issue of equal opportunity," Mr. Biden went on to say. "The world is changing all around us."
It's good to see the administration following through on its promises.
