Genachowski’s Challenge: Build At Least One Gigabit Community Per State by 2015

"We can’t rest on our laurels,” Genachowski told a roomful of mayors Friday in Washington. “The rest of the world isn’t standing still. ... We're in a flat, global economy -- Tom Friedman is right."

Communities around the U.S. have come to realize the value of broadband, Genachowski said, describing his past visits to the conference and initial confusion from some officials there. But that confusion is over. He said mayors understand broadband’s virtues, affecting education, health and job creation, and should move toward thinking in terms of achieving gigabit speeds and with more momentum. He cited examples of such networks being rolled out in Kansas City, Kan., and Mo., and Chattanooga, Tenn. “We need to get to a critical mass of gigabit communities in this country,” he said. “Let’s move forward together with this Gigabit City challenge.”

"I definitely would like to think it’s feasible,” Fiber-to-the-Home Council Americas President Heather Burnett Gold told us of Genachowski’s goal. There are many ways that communities can reach these gigabit speeds, she said, describing different models -- from municipally owned networks to cooperatives to the Google Fiber model in Kansas City. Some fiber-to-the-home networks may be able to upgrade speeds as well, she said. “Every model has its pluses and models,” she said, saying the challenge isn’t so much about reaching a critical mass as matching models to community needs. Any model can work depending on those, she said.

Mayors were receptive, in comments after the speech. Mayor Frank Ortis of Pembroke Pines, Fla., referred to work happening in his state with the Connect2Compete group of cable ISPs providing inexpensive broadband to low-income households. “You can’t participate in our economy if you don’t have access to the Internet,” Genachowski said, crediting the public-private partnership behind what’s also called C2C. He described the FCC’s efforts to pave the way for “super Wi-Fi.”

Other mayors mentioned potential for barriers to these networks, built into local laws and regulations. One longstanding controversy has revolved around the question of whether municipalities should be able to build their own networks and under what terms -- a possibility that has attracted opposition from some telcos and the American Legislative Exchange Council (CD Dec 11 p7). Mayor Robert Reichert of Macon, Ga., called for achieving the “right balance” between public and private efforts, in remarks after Genachowski left: “It ought to be a public private partnership, but I'd hate to see the public sector closed out.” Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed agreed, saying he wants to find out “the appropriate countermeasures” communities may need.

"We have to look at any obstacles mayors are experiencing to slow that [broadband process] down,” Genachowski said in response to some concerns, declining to discuss specific obstacles. He said the FCC is inviting discussion of such potential barriers at workshops and an online clearinghouse intended to collect best practices on cutting costs and upping speeds to broadband networks. The FCC hopes to work with the mayors on its clearinghouse, he added. The workshops will pull together individuals in what the FCC in a news release (http://xrl.us/bobd4n) called members of the “gigabit community ecosystem -- including broadband providers, and state and municipal leaders.”

The Fiber-to-the-Home Council is planning its own set of initiatives and events this year that will complement the FCC’s challenge, Gold said. It offers an online community toolkit that’s “very valuable” in establishing such networks, with information about requests for proposal and other elements associated with moving them forward, she said. The council has a busy schedule with more in the works on this “big focus,” she said.

Genachowski’s call coincided with Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) revealing details of his state’s investment in broadband and that Evanston is now poised to feature gigabit speeds. Illinois started its Gigabit Communities Challenge last year, and in October chose Gigabit Squared and OnLight Aurora as winners of $3 million in grants (CD Oct 17 p10). Quinn revealed on Friday that the city of Evanston and Northwestern University will receive $1 million as part of the initiative to “to help the city become an Illinois Gigabit Community, bringing ultra-high speed Internet to one of the nation’s top universities and the surrounding area, home to more than 160 start-ups,” according to his office (http://xrl.us/bobdt2). It said the money will “help connect fiber optic gigabit Internet service from downtown Chicago to Northwestern University, which will then place more than 400 access points in locations throughout campus and in surrounding Evanston.”