Partnerships & Rural Broadband Needs

Transcription

1 WEBINAR SERIES January 10, 2017 Partnerships & Rural Broadband Brought to you by:

2 SPEAKERS MODERATOR: John Windhausen, SHLB Coalition Joanne Hovis, CTC Technology & Energy Christopher Mitchell, Institute for Local Self- Reliance Mark O Connor, Carlson Wireless Partnerships & Rural Broadband

3 SOCIAL #Grow2Gig #RuralBB Partnerships & Rural Broadband

4 Partnerships & Rural Broadband Joanne Hovis President, CTC Technology & Energy Partnerships & Rural Broadband

5 The factors driving rural concerns about broadband Outmigration is the key concern Every parameter for community viability and stability is impacted by loss of population The solution is to retain (and ideally, attract, population) so that Young people can stay College students can return after school Retirees can return to after careers (And, in some fortunate resort areas, residents of other areas can purchase second homes and tourists can visit) What enables this retention and attraction? Homework Home schooling Home business/telework Broadband is a necessary element of every one of these Partnerships & Rural Broadband

6 The brutal economics of rural broadband Business viability is a function of two factors: Costs this is particularly challenging in rural areas because of lack of density (eg, per home capex in Pikeville, KY is 9x that in Lexington, KY) Revenues also challenging in rural areas, because of small scale of customer base, though average revenues per user may be comparable to or better than in metro areas, depending on income levels and competition Absent some significant form of subsidy (capex, opex, or both), rural broadband is not viable Thus, we have the High Cost Fund, the Connect America Fund, state rural broadband funding, and so on These are programs targeted to rural areas different economics, thus different rules for the most part Partnerships & Rural Broadband

7 Include broadband in any federal or state infrastructure effort Federal and state efforts should enable localities to improve the economics locally for private investors interested in broadband 1. Federal programs that focus on tax-related strategies must set aside some component for rural (and low income) areas Generally-applicable tax benefits will not change the distribution of private investment, which flows to areas that promise the highest returns 2. Tax benefits must be saleable and transferable, to let public and non-profit entities to bring in case by selling tax credits (eg New Market Tax Credits) 3. Enable P3s so localities improve attractiveness by putting skin in the game In a P3, the public partner effectively guarantees some private partner revenues in return for turnkey financing, construction, operations Either an explicit guarantee or a government availability payment 4. Allow use of tax-exempt municipal bonds (currently not allowable for P3s) Partnerships & Rural Broadband

8 The combined impact of state, local, and federal A targeted, saleable tax credit (reducing capex) + Tax exempt muni bonds (reducing opex) + P3 local skin in the game (guaranteeing some revenues) = Dramatic improvement in the economics of rural broadband Partnerships & Rural Broadband

9 Partnerships & Rural Broadband Chris Mitchell Director, Community Broadband Networks Institute for Local Self-Reliance Partnerships & Rural Broadband

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11 Quo Connectus? Anchors vs. Entire Community Business Model Concerns Local vs. Absentee Profit vs. Nonprofit Tax Credits Partnerships & Rural Broadband

12 Cooperatives Telephone Co-ops Electric Co-ops and EMCs Partnerships & Rural Broadband

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15 Thank you Christopher Mitchell Sign up for a once-per-week digest of Community Network News at MuniNetworks.org

16 Partnerships & Rural Broadband Mark O Connor Senior Vice President, Carlson Wireless Partnerships & Rural Broadband

17 Connectingthe Next Billion Mark O Connor, SVP moconnor@carlsonwireless.com Copyright 2015 Carlson Wireless Technologies Inc. 17

18 What is TV White Space Wireless Technology? The transition of Television from Analog to Digital in the U.S. and around the world has opened up significant amounts of low-band unused spectrum known as TV White Spaces (TVWS). In the U.S.: 470 to 698 MHz; 6 MHz channels. TVWS spectrum is unlicensed, free and uncongested. No FCC auctions and no FCC licenses/regulatory approvals to operate. TVWS offers superior signal propagation characteristics to reach users in remote, rural and rugged locations. Signal penetrations trees, walls, foliage and bends over hills. Delivers broadband signals to non-line-of-sight (NLOS) locations for long distances (10 to 15 km) from a single antenna/base station. For rural and NLOS deployments, TVWS is an affordable alternative to fiber, DSL, microwave and satellite technologies. Avoids costs and delays of fiber builds: no trenching or local regulatory approvals and no environmental issues Copyright 2015 Carlson Wireless Technologies Inc. 18

19 TV WHITE SPACE: Ideal Spectrum for Affordable Broadband Penetrates walls, trees, foliage; bends over hills to reach customers 10+ km away. Robust broadband throughput. Carlson s Gen 3 delivers 24 Mbps to end users, with 72 Mbps from Base Station. Much lower CapEx than fiber / DSL / WiMAX in low-population areas. Copyright 2015 Carlson Wireless Technologies Inc. 19

20 Relative complexity Relative complexity/cost & cost per subscriber (%) (%) Technology Solution vs. Population Density Sparsely populated CRC.CA graph of complexity vs. density TVWS Mobile broadband Satellite Rural ADSL Cable modem b Suburban Optical fiber Urban Dense urban , , , 000 Population density density (per km 2 ) Courtesy: Gerald Chouinard: gerald.chouinard@crc.ca Copyright 2015 Carlson Wireless Technologies Inc. 20

21 A Comparison of Spectrum Impairments Antenna aperture Ground wave reach Relative complexity/cost (%) Ionospheric reflection Outdoor/indoor attenuation % bandwidth Industrial noise Sweet Spot UHF TV Foliage absorption Filter selectivity Cosmic noise Rain fade Frequency (GHz) Noise Figure Phase noise Courtesy: Gerald Chouinard: gerald.chouinard@crc.ca Copyright 2015 Carlson Wireless Technologies Inc. 21

22 The Problem with Existing Wireless Before 2014, line-of-sight microwave was the only authorized part of the spectrum that could transmit sizable bandwidth. TV White Space can transmit at broadband speed. Microwave can t propagate through terrain or foliage obstructions. TV White Space does. The next best spectrum 900 MHz has been consumed by the electric meter industry. Fixed LTE is much more expensive and cannot penetrate NLOS nearly as well as TVWS. Higher frequencies are congested. TV White Space is open. Copyright 2015 Carlson Wireless Technologies Inc. 22

23 Carlson Wireless TVWS Deployments: Six Examples Thurman, NY Municipally-owned network in Adirondack Mountains Manhattan, KS Library/Gigabit Libraries Network TVWS/Wi-Fi access to four remote locations Cape Town, S.A. Carlson/Google trial providing broadband to ten schools, operating since 2013 Cal.net - Commercial ISP deployment in rural CA, operating since 2013 Peru, IN Police video monitoring of forested public park Alaska Railroad Network operating positive train control, spanning 461 miles of track Copyright 2015 Carlson Wireless Technologies Inc. 23

24 TV White Spaces Technology: Broadband Internet Access and More Copyright 2015 Carlson Wireless Technologies Inc. 24

25 Partnerships & Rural Broadband John Windhausen Executive Director, SHLB Coalition Partnerships & Rural Broadband

26 SHLB s American Broadband Connectivity (ABC) Proposal GOAL: to ensure that every American community has affordable, highcapacity broadband connectivity to the Internet through its community anchor institutions (CAIs) First, local communities would conduct a needs assessment and identify the gaps in broadband coverage. Second, the federal government would make available a variety of financial instruments to incentivize the most cost-effective and market-based investment strategies to fill those gaps in coverage. Dig once deployment strategies Low-interest and subsidized bonds Low-interest loans Tax credits Direct funding for both up-front capital costs and (in the highest cost regions) operational expenses Partnerships & Rural Broadband

27 Thank You!