Broadband Communities

MAY-JUN 2016

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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MAY/JUNE 2016 | www.broadbandcommunities.com | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | 75 Nevada, North Carolina, New Mexico and Virginia. REGULATION Te presence of laws that place restrictions or conditions on municipal (or other) ownership or operation of networks does not necessarily indicate a lack of availability, adoption, meaningful use or investment. However, restrictions and regulations can impact each of the other four dimensions of broadband that SNG measured. Regulation metrics included whether state restrictions limited municipal (or other) ownership or operation of a broadband network, whether such restrictions explicitly or by efect constituted a total or partial ban on municipal (or other) broadband ownership or operation, and whether regulations required a ballot initiative to overcome the limitation. Te evaluation of regulations did not consider whether one state's laws were more or less restrictive than another's, other than providing deductions for the categories listed above. OVERALL RANKING SNG consolidated and weighted these fve dimensions of broadband to arrive at one overall score for each participating state. Te dimensions and weighting are as follows: • Availability – 27.5 percent • Adoption – 12.5 percent • Meaningful use – 15 percent • Investment – 30 percent • Regulation – 15 percent Te research team discussed the weighting of dimensions at length. Availability was given a great deal of consideration, as it is the foundation for all broadband activity. Adoption and meaningful use are related, and the team thought these two dimensions together should equal availability in weight. Investment in broadband growth was originally considered at a slightly higher level relative to regulation. Ultimately, the team decided that the ability of regulation to stop broadband progress needed to be recognized and appropriately weighted. In addition, ranking investment too high could unfairly downgrade states that made signifcant investments in the past but are not currently investing. Table 4 shows the overall state scores and rankings. All except one of the top 21 states on the list have state broadband ofces. GOING FORWARD As shown in Table 5, two-thirds of surveyed states reported that new private investment was the most critical component for broadband growth. Tey also viewed training and public investment as critical components. Over the next 12 to 18 months, nearly a third (31 percent) of states surveyed expected to see more state investment in broadband, and only 6 percent expected to see less investment. Tree in fve states planned to at least maintain current broadband spending. Visit sngroup.com/states to see the full report, including rankings for each state along all fve dimensions. v Doug Adams is vice president for communications of Strategic Networks Group. Michael Curri is founder and president of Strategic Networks Group. Additional participants in this research study included Lori Sherwood, director of broadband development, Vantage Point Solutions; Gary Dunmore, vice president of client services, Strategic Networks Group; Monica Babine, senior associate, Washington State University; and Maria Alvarez-Stroud, director, Broadband & E-Commerce Education Center, University of Wisconsin Extension. For more information about this study, email states@sngroup.com or visit sngroup.com/states. Table 5: State ofcials saw private investment as a critical requirement for improving broadband. States that had dedicated broadband ofces were more likely than others to excel at broadband availability, adoption, meaningful use and investment in broadband expansion.

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