Broadband Communities

JAN-FEB 2014

BROADBAND COMMUNITIES is the leading source of information on digital and broadband technologies for buildings and communities. Our editorial aims to accelerate the deployment of Fiber-To-The-Home and Fiber-To-The-Premises.

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FUN FIBER FACTS: Jane Patterson - The Networking of North Carolina P resident Obama announced in his State of the Union speech in January that he wants to see 15,000 schools connected to broadband. Tat's great! But it is not an easy task. Look at North Carolina to see how far we have come on connectivity to schools – in the number connected and in the cost efciency. After more than 20 years of efort, North Carolina has its 2,700 public schools, its 16 public universities, 22 of its 37 private universities, and all of its community colleges on the North Carolina Research and Education Network, along with 100 health sites with connectivity funded through the FCC's Federal Rural Health Project. As we move more to personal health monitoring at home, this fber based technology and distributed networks will enable better and less expensive health care. North Carolina is the tenth most populous state, with more than 9.8 million inhabitants. Many of its counties are closer to capitals in fve bordering states than to their own capital in Raleigh. From Manteo to Murphy it is more than 700 highway miles to cross the state. Only Texas has more citizens living in rural areas. In the early 1990s we were paying about $2,000 a month for a T1 (1.5 Mbps) through our nonproft carrier, MCNC – more in rural areas, less in cities. So the cost was about $1,000 to $2,000 a meg. Statewide, we are now down to $3.50 a meg and some carriers charge as little as $1.50 a month in urban areas. Tat is pretty good for our state. How did it happen in North Carolina? A lot of folks and institutions have collaborated to make that happen over a long period. It was also a personal odyssey for me. Above: Jane Patterson President Te View Forward – Go Forward Above right: All Rural Broadband sessions drew big crowds at the 2013 Summit. Tey are sure to do so again for this year's event. Jane will be conducting a panel and an in-depth workshop at the Summit. BBC_Gatefold PagesDIGITALONLY_Jan14.indd 5 2/6/14 10:21 AM

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