Broadband Research Findings Presented to the South Carolina Public Service Commission

Connected Nation’s Senior Stakeholder Relations Manager Corey Johns and Public Policy Director Raquel Noriega were in Columbia, South Carolina on December 2 to present a program review, research results, and a planning update at the South Carolina Public Service Commission Telecommunications Workshop.

The commissioners were provided with an overview of the state’s interactive broadband availability map, research findings about barriers to broadband adoption, and observations about South Carolina’s broadband landscape including advancement opportunities and projected 2011 Connect South Carolina program activities. Download the presentation here.

A key portion of the presentation was devoted to examining the 2010 South Carolina Statewide Broadband Inventory. This is the first broadband inventory in South Carolina to break out the data by both speed tiers and platforms. It provides policymakers with a unique perspective on the state’s broadband infrastructure and illustrates the progress South Carolina is making towards meeting the broadband adoption goals established on a national level.

For instance, the National Broadband Plan targets 4 Mbps for download speeds. This inventory shows that 89% of the South Carolina households served have a download speed of at least 10 Mbps.

In looking at the state’s platform comparisons, DSL is available to 88% of South Carolina households, and cable modem is available to 79% of these residents. However, fiber to the home is available to 1.3%.

These findings will be published in a larger study early next year.

For more information about what Connect South Carolina is doing to promote broadband adoption in South Carolina communities, visit http://www.connectsc.org/.

Broadband Lets You Take Advantage of the Holiday Sales Without Leaving Your Home

Why stand in line when you can shop online?

For more than half of the households surveyed in Connect South Carolina’s 2010 Residential Technology Assessment, shopping online may be the way to go to avoid the long lines on Black Friday. In a survey of 1,200 South Carolina adults, 52% reported that they use broadband to shop for goods or services online.

This number is very likely to go up as people realize the cost benefits of saving time and money while using a high-speed connection to do their holiday shopping.

Source: 2010 Connect South Carolina Residential Technology Assessment www.connectsc.org

Connect South Carolina Releases State’s First Residential Technology Assessment

Survey of South Carolina Households Demonstrates Need to Improve Adoption and Use of Broadband among Minority, Low-Income, and Rural Populations

Columbia, SC — Connect South Carolina has released the South Carolina 2010 Residential Technology Assessment, which presents the results of a survey of South Carolina households on their use of broadband and information technology. The survey shows that in many areas, South Carolinians trail the nation in terms of broadband adoption and use of information technology.

This report, which is now available at http://www.connectsc.org/mapping_&_research/residential_technology_assessment.php, is the first in a series of reports that Connect South Carolina will be issuing over the next four years to benchmark and track the state’s advancement in technology. The assessment, in which 1,200 South Carolina residents were surveyed, measures technology adoption and the awareness of available broadband service - tracking trends and various uses of technology among key demographics and population groups across the state.

“This statewide survey on broadband is the first of its kind in South Carolina – and it shows that a lot of work needs to be done to improve adoption and use of broadband and information technology in the state,” said Brian Mefford, CEO of Connect South Carolina’s nonprofit parent organization, Connected Nation. “Expanding the use and adoption of broadband will benefit South Carolina’s economy, education, and health of its citizens, and this survey is an important step forward in building awareness of these benefits.”

Here are some of the top benchmarks and findings:
• Across South Carolina, 62% of adults subscribe to home broadband service. By comparison, a recent survey conducted by the FCC found that 67% of all American households subscribe to broadband.
• In South Carolina, 42% of African Americans subscribe to broadband. This compares to a national average of 56% of African Americans subscribing to broadband in 2010 according to Pew.
• Only 46% of rural households subscribe to broadband service at home, significantly trailing the statewide average of 62%.
• Despite the benefits of home broadband adoption, there is still a marked awareness gap in South Carolina. While nearly eight of ten South Carolinians own a home computer, of those adults that do not subscribe to broadband, 42% believe they do not need it, and 8% of all South Carolina households have not even investigated whether broadband service is available where they live.
• Mobile broadband service (either via a laptop computer or cell phone/mobile device) is utilized by 29% of adults in South Carolina.

Connect South Carolina is a public-private partnership uniting local governments, businesses, and citizens in the goal of increasing broadband service in the state’s unserved and underserved areas.

As the state’s designee under the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) State Broadband Data and Development (SBDD) Grant Program, Connect South Carolina has been awarded approximately $4 million in Recovery Act funding to support the increase of the availability and use of high-speed Internet service in the state. The funding enables the state to collect data, promote broadband capacity, provider analysis and technical support for a period of five years.

Residents are encouraged to visit the website www.connectsc.org and take advantage of the resources available to provide feedback on their broadband needs, test their connectivity, and shop for local providers.

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SC gets millions to get more people online

From WPDE-TV - Online:

South Carolina will receive about $2.3 million to get more people online and at higher speeds.

Link to article

South Carolina Receiving $2.3 Million for Additional Broadband Mapping and Planning Initiatives

New Funding Will Increase the Scope of the Program And Facilitate Broadband Adoption Efforts

Columbia, SC — South Carolina will receive approximately $2.3 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to further implement broadband initiatives for a full five-year award period through Connect South Carolina, the designated entity for broadband mapping in the state.

The additional funding will allow mapping efforts under the State Broadband Data and Development (SBDD) program to continue for three additional years, while the initiative also focuses on projects that relate to broadband planning activities, such as the identification of barriers to the adoption of broadband and information technology services, the creation and facilitation of local technology planning teams, and the establishment of computer ownership and Internet access programs.

“Broadband is a vital tool for our students and workforce in today’s modern economy,” explains Brian Mefford, CEO of Connect South Carolina’s parent organization, Connected Nation. “This grant will allow Connect South Carolina to promote the investment of broadband in areas that have been overlooked and to create opportunities for increased broadband adoption where subscribership remains low. Through this collaborative, public-private effort, we will have the benefit of working across all sectors to advance South Carolina’s technological priorities and make sure its citizens can enjoy the full impact of a connected community.”

Connect South Carolina will continue to engage in broadband data collection activities that will capture complete and up-to-date datasets from the state’s broadband providers and will result in regularly-scheduled maintenance and further enhancements to South Carolina BroadbandStat, the state’s interactive broadband map.

The Connect South Carolina initiative released the state’s first interactive broadband map in May 2010, and this funding will enable the state to prioritize and track progress over a longer period of time. South Carolina’s BroadbandStat interactive mapping tool is now available at www.connectsc.org. The data represented there will also support the National Broadband Map scheduled to be unveiled by NTIA in February 2011.

To view a summary of the new grant project please visit: http://www2.ntia.doc.gov/grantee/connected-nation-south-carolina.

Download press release

Connected Nation Helps State Mapping Efforts

Lindsey Sutphin, Reporter-Researcher, BroadbandBreakfast.com

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2010 – As a part of an effort to make a comprehensive, national map, states are mapping broadband coverage and options available in their states.

Link to article

Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and South Carolina Provide Online Maps Showing Detailed Broadband Coverage

From ESRI press release:

The states of Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, and South Carolina are now providing easy-to-use maps that show in detail each state’s broadband coverage. The interactive, online maps are made possible by BroadbandStat, an application based on ESRI geographic information system (GIS) technology, and will help the states plan and improve high-speed Internet access for their residents and businesses. The BroadbandStat maps were funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and contribute to the comprehensive national broadband map that NTIA is required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to create and make publicly available by February 2011.

Read more of the press release

Connect South Carolina Releases New Broadband Coverage Maps for the Statewide Broadband Initiative

Initiative Launches New Interactive Mapping App on Connect South Carolina Website

Columbia, SC – Connect South Carolina has launched a powerful new broadband app in the effort to bring affordable, high-speed Internet to the entire state. Available on Connect South Carolina’s website, www.connectsc.org, BroadbandStat is the interactive state mapping resource that puts all the latest information on the broadband landscape directly at your fingertips. Connect South Carolina is a subsidiary of Connected Nation and operates as a nonprofit in the state of South Carolina.

Connect South Carolina has been able to gather and verify state-specific data on the availability, speed, location, and type of broadband services as well as the adoption and availability of broadband at community anchor institutions across the state. The meeting of this milestone is a result of a several-month long process of aggressive outreach to providers and community anchor institutions across the state, and extensive verification and validation of the data collected from these entities. These initial maps include data from 34 state providers, key findings include:

• 95.32% of South Carolina households have access to terrestrial fixed broadband service of at least 768 Kbps downstream and 200 Kbps upstream (excluding mobile and satellite services).
• 4.68% of South Carolina households are unserved by a terrestrial fixed broadband provider, representing approximately 72,000 unserved households that do not have access to a fixed wireless or wired broadband service offering (excluding mobile and satellite service).
• With mobile broadband service included, 99.70% or 1,529,333 South Carolina households have access to broadband service of at least 768 Kbps downstream and 200 Kbps upstream.

A public demonstration of the program’s new interactive mapping feature, BroadbandStat, was held via webinar on Friday to encourage citizen verification and to demonstrate the broadband expansion scenario building that can be achieved using the tool.

Connected Nation’s GIS team will continuously refine the maps as more data is gathered - relying upon citizen feedback as part of the validation process. Residents, businesses, and any interested party with knowledge of the state broadband landscape are asked to go to Connect South Carolina’s website to provide input that will be used to verify and ensure the highest level of accuracy for the broadband maps.

On Connectsc.org, those who do not currently have broadband access can add their name and address to a secure database of households that would like to subscribe if given the opportunity. The collected information supports the creation of the broadband inventory map that will assist in expanding broadband delivery to residents across the state.

“We are excited to offer this interactive app to the citizens of South Carolina. With this new website, citizens can play an active role in the validation of the data and more importantly, use it as a resource to search provider options and draw attention to the areas that remain unserved,” explains Brian Mefford, CEO of Connect South Carolina’s parent organization, Connected Nation. “The goal of our nonprofit organization is to expand broadband access to areas where it doesn’t exist and improve the quality of service in areas that are already served. South Carolina’s newly completed map is the first major step in this process.”

As the designated entity for broadband mapping and planning in the state of South Carolina, Connect South Carolina is a public-private partnership uniting local governments, businesses, and citizens in the goal of increasing broadband service in the state’s unserved and underserved areas.

In December 2009, Connect South Carolina was awarded $1.7 million in Recovery Act funding in an effort to increase the availability and use of high-speed Internet service in the state. The funding enables the state to collect data to develop and maintain a detailed map of existing broadband service over two years and conduct planning efforts for a period of five years.

These efforts are in compliance with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the State Broadband Data and Development grant program (SBDD). Ultimately, these data will populate the comprehensive, interactive, and searchable national broadband map that NTIA is required by the Recovery Act to create and make publicly available by February 17, 2011.



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About Connect South Carolina: Connect South Carolina is a subsidiary of Connected Nation and operates as a nonprofit in the state of South Carolina. The state of South Carolina is leading the initiative to increase broadband Internet access throughout South Carolina. Connect South Carolina was commissioned by the Governor’s Office to work with all broadband providers in the state of South Carolina to create detailed maps of broadband coverage in order to accurately pinpoint remaining gaps in broadband availability in South Carolina. www.connectsc.org.

States Use ESRI's BroadbandStat Application for Broadband Initiatives

From ESRI press release:

Ten U.S. states and one U.S. territory will soon launch comprehensive broadband mapping and planning initiatives based on ESRI's geographic information system (GIS) technology. They will use BroadbandStat, an application developed by ESRI and Connected Nation, to organize and display broadband service and related data on the Internet.

Link to full press release

Connected Nation Previews Interactive Broadband Mapping Tool at Technology Policy Exhibition in Washington, D.C.

From Connect South Carolina News

Connected Nation, in conjunction with ESRI, a market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, showcased its jointly developed new interactive mapping tool for viewing, analyzing, and validating broadband data at a technology policy exhibition on Capitol Hill.

At Tuesday’s technology policy kickoff reception, more than 100 people had the chance to view Connected Nation and ESRI’s BroadbandStat demonstration. Michael Ramage, Executive Director of Connected Tennessee, continued showcasing the technology well after the official end of the event.

Jon Gant, a professor at the University of Illinois at Champaign, stopped by to view the BroadbandStat demonstration on Tuesday.

Gant, who teaches GIS classes and has used GIS data from more than 20 years, was impressed by the easy, user-friendly interface of BroadbandStat.

“Look at how smooth the graphics transition from query to query,” he said, pointing to the screen of BroadbandStat. “And, the small things—like the menus—they are a lot better this way.”

From Connect South Carolina News

“This [GIS data] is really complicated stuff,” he said Tuesday after viewing BroadbandStat. “And, how you all use and represent this complicated data with this kind of interface is really interesting,” he said.

Jim Geringer, director of Policy and Public Sector Strategies at ESRI and former governor of Wyoming, was on hand on Tuesday, prior to his participation in a Wednesday’s panel discussion, “Transforming Government Through Technology: The Real, The Possible, The Surprising.”

“The common underpinning of all activities—economic, social or health—is people connecting with other people and that activity doesn’t happen without broadband,” he said. “You will never understand how much information is in the world until you can connect with broadband. Broadband mapping—or showing who is connecting and who is not—is just the first step.”
The Technology Policy Exhibition is a free, educational event that briefs lawmakers and staff, reporters, and representatives from government agencies and private sector organizations on cutting-edge Internet technologies. It is the largest technology exhibition on Capitol Hill. Yesterday’s event served as the official kickoff of today’s 6th Annual State of the Net Conference, hosted by ICAC at the Hyatt Regency, Capitol Hill