On January 18th at a meeting with the US Conference of Mayors, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued the ?Gigabit City Challenge.?? Chairman Genachowski called for at least one gigabit community in every state by 2015, in order to ?accelerate the creation of a critical mass of markets and innovation hubs with ultra-fast Internet speeds.?? He said, ?If we build it, innovation will come.?? Quoting a Fiber to the Home Council report, the FCC asserted only 42 communities in 14 states have gigabit level speeds.
Speeds of one gigabit per second are about one hundred times faster than the average fixed high-speed Internet connection today. According to Akamai?s third quarter 2012 State of the Internet Report, the average connection speed in the US is 7.2 megabytes per second (Mbps), while the global world average speed is 2.8 Mbps.
For California, this challenge is music to our ears.? As an early adopter of innovative broadband policies in 2006, California is already the home of some of the fastest broadband speeds in the nation, at least according to Akamai?s State of the Internet Q2 2010 report.? At that time, of the top 10 US cities for fastest average broadband connection speeds, seven California cities ranked among them:? Monterey Park, Riverside, Oakland, Fairfield, Walnut Creek, Hayward and San Mateo.? But the FCC?s ambitious Gigabit City challenge would properly focus the great talent in our state on taking the next step forward to leverage our dominance in the Internet, App and Information Technology sectors.? It would greatly increase this State?s competitiveness and give us a strong advantage to import new companies to the State.
California technology and Internet companies, app and game developers, smart grid players, and the major Hollywood studios (just to name a few) would be keen to have higher bandwidth speeds in order to do business faster and develop cutting edge products and innovative Information Economy services.? Given the many drawbacks California companies face ? higher taxes, complex environmental laws, congested roadways, and a high cost of living ? bringing gigabit speed broadband to key California communities would be a strong glue to keep companies here.
Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco immediately jumped on the FCC Gigabit City challenge, issuing a supportive statement.? Mayor Lee is widely praised for his energetic focus and savvy in attracting and keeping technology and biotech companies in San Francisco.
It cannot be forgotten that when Google conducted its national contest to build its Google Fiber initiative, it choose Kansas City out of 1,100 applicants for its test bed, not its home state of California, to the chagrin of many leaders here.? A Google employee confessed at a conference that the major reason for not choosing a California city consisted of four letters:? C-E-Q-A (the California Environmental Quality Act), which was viewed as a significant impediment to the build schedule of this much ballyhooed project.
The FCC has announced workshops to share best practices and to set up a new online clearinghouse of best practices.? I urge state leaders from the Governor?s Office, the State Legislature, the CPUC and the California Technology Agency to attend those workshops to learn from other successful gigabit cities and develop a bold plan for California?s first Gigabit City.
What can California do to attract and develop a Gigabit City?
1.? Find a champion to focus the effort and explain to the public the economic benefits the project will bring to the community and the state. ?Much of that talent already resides on the California Broadband Council.
2.? Create a streamlined local and state permit processing for the project, with state and local building inspectors able to put the project at the top of its priority list to ensure a speedy build-out, similar to the process established in Kansas City for the Google Fiber project.
3.? Ensure CEQA environmental requirements are met but keep the project on track by minimizing unnecessary delays and frivolous appeals.
4. Leverage the CPUC?s California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to designate a part of the fund for the purpose of subsidizing a Gigabit City project, and ensuring broadband adoption and digital literacy projects are undertaken for its residents of all ages.
5. Leverage the middle mile broadband projects already under construction in California compliments of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) federal stimulus funds, and focus CASF grants to bring the fast speeds from those ARRA backbones into communities to anchor tenants like public safety entities, health care providers (for health information exchange, telemedicine and more), educational institutions and local government entities..
6.? Ensure that broadband is included in California urban planning discussions otherwise those communities will be left out of the economic benefits that come with broadband connectivity.? (The correlation between broadband expansion and economic growth are outlined in PPIC?s January 2010 piece entitled ?Does Broadband Boost Local Economic Development??.)
California?s leaders should take up the Gigabit City challenge to keep the Golden State at the forefront of the Information Age.
About Rachelle Chong
Rachelle Chong is a nationally known expert on telecommunications, broadband, wireless communications, cable, digital literacy, public safety communications, renewable energy and smart grid policy. She is a former Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission (Clinton appointee) and the California Public Utilities Commission (Schwarzenegger appointee). Prior to that, she has been Vice President, Government Affairs for Comcast California Region, Special Counsel for the CA Technology Agency, a partner at two international law firms (Graham & James and Coudert Brothers), and an entrepreneur. Rachelle is delighted to brush off her Journalism degree from Cal Berkeley, and serve as a columnist for Techwire, focusing on federal policies and the San Francisco and Silicon Valley tech/telecom beats.eric cantor eric cantor HGTV Sugar Bowl 2013 chick fil a chick fil a rose parade
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