Joint Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology – August 6, 2009
Posted on August 6th, 2009
Date & Time: Wednesday, August 6, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Location: Room 151, State Capitol
Agenda: http://tr.im/vKhA
10:08 am – Apparently I am not the only one having technology troubles today. Ironic isn’t it? The IT committee starting late due to technology troubles is kind of funny. Twitter is dead, access to ARKLEG is dead, so some of the links to agenda and attachments will have to be posted later.
10:12 am – Katie McLane Burns, the Chair and Manager of Governmental Relations for CenturyTel, Inc. is giving the update of activities of the Broadband Advisory Council. The highlight is probably the creation of the CyberInfrastructure Board and naming Broadband as Critical Infrastructure during the last legislative session.
10:16 am – Sam Walls, II, CEO of Arkansas Capital Corporation Group (ACCG) is providing an update about activities of Connect-Arkansas. As with most things these days, all funding discussions center around the ARRA (Stimulus) Act. If you are interested in learning more about Connect-Arkansas, then click here: http://www.connect-arkansas.org/
10:21 am – Rep. Rainey is asking if the the federal funding being provided have “rural priority.” Mr. Walls said that the funding is targeted for underserved and unserved areas.
10:23 am – Looking at a map provided by Connect Arkansas. 29% of the population has never used the internet. South and Northeast Arkansas have the lowest broadband usage patterns, while Northwest and Central Arkansas have the highest usage patterns.
10:30 am – Much of the areas that currently have broadband are in areas where consumers have a higher demand for the service, thereby making it a sensible investment to make the capital expenditure required to install the infrastructure.
10:32 am – The intent of current efforts are to assist in getting broadband to those areas where population density or demand cannot be cost justified. Those efforts are both from funding through grants and education to creating a customer demand.
10:42 am – The areas that are currently unserved by broadband also correlate to those areas where there is a higher percentage of students on free and reduced lunch.
10:46 am – Rep. Pennartz asked if every school has broadband access. Rep. Abernaty, chairman of the Education Committee, said that he believed that every school has broadband access.
10:59 am – The investing in Broadband technology is an important infrastructure investment but not one that we should turn into and on going subsidy. As perceptions change, and initial investments cause the cost of subscription to fall, the discretionary spending priorities will change and help the service to be self sustaining much as occured with the rural electrification program.
11:05 am – I am wondering if these public investments in internet access will lead to access providers having charges being regulated by the PSC (Public Service Commission) as occured for electrical providers.
11:09 am – Luke Duffield of River Valley Satellite is making comments about broadband provided by satellite.
11:24 am – There are alot of technology type questions from legislators going on right now. Not anything interesting from a policy stand point. Legislators sometimes need some technology training from the experts who are testifying.
11:29 am – Claire Bailey, Director of the Arkansas Department of Information Systems is currently discussion Fiscal Year 2010 Rate Adjustments.
11:35 am – Claire Bailey discussed how much money the schools saved from rate decreases. Rep. Pennartz made the point that would be $9 million in funds that need to be considered in the next budget. Nervous laughter ensued. I wonder which legislator will be the chump to jump up and start defending the surplus funds from being considered in the next budget? There is always one.
Filed under Uncategorized |
One Response to “Joint Committee on Advanced Communications and Information Technology – August 6, 2009”
-
Douglas Ward Says:
August 6th, 2009 at 12:56 pmI wish I had known about this meeting. The Connect Arkansas maps are vastly overstating the coverage area of fixed wireless service in my county, probably by something like 300%. I filled in the form at connect-arkansas.com to explain why their assumptions are wrong, and offering to help them do a survey to get an accurate map for my county, but they never responded or even acknowledged receiving the note.
One thing I am absolutely opposed to is using taxpayer money for broadband satellite connections. The service is overpriced and the speed is awful. What we need instead is fixed terrestrial wireless operating at lower frequencies which provide good range and get around the line-of-sight obstructions.
