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Illinois Universal Broadband: Policy Paper

Submitted by Tropology on Thu, 10/28/2004 - 21:41. | |
Ed Feser and Timothy Green of UIUC were commissioned by Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn's Office of Rural Affairs to prepare broadband policy recommedations for the state.

The report, entitled "Illinois Online: Recommendations for Universal Broadband Access" is definitely required reading for CN folks.

In my view it's a great step, but will require political will to be enacted.

The paper takes a broad view on the topic. Our challenge should be to establish similar studies addressing e-literacy, e-government, and e-entrepreneurship or tech-incubation, to name a few examples in our domain. That is, we need to set a policy framework that ensures all have access, all have ability to make productive and creative use of the technologies, and that technologies are there to open government and community processes in a positive way.

You can access the link to Feser's paper below.

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Detail of the Feser report

Submitted by Tropology on Fri, 10/29/2004 - 23:38.
There's one fact that the report notes, which should be given some attention, as it has implications for the way the Illinois' Eliminate the Digital Divide programs funding will proceed in the future. Page 7 of the report notes that $5 million of the ($15 million) Eliminate the Digital Divide Infrastructure Fund was "recaptured" to meet other state government needs. ($30 million was established in two $15 million funds: CTC and Infrastructure...) There was a terrible budget deficit, we all know, so why should we be concerned? General Revenue funds should be distinguished from other funds established through other means, such as settlement agreements, penalties or voluntary contributions. The Digital Divide Funds should have been regarded as a trust and not as a remedy for budgetary woes. The funds were earmarked for specific purposes under agreements during/following the merger of SBC and Ameritech. In the future what incentive is there for the incumbent carriers or others to make voluntary payments into a fund that can be raided for other purposes? The fund was established with a specific public interest and NOT to be turned over to general revenue. The community technology sector, and those areas requiring investment in broadband infrastructure certainly need those funds, and will continue to have need of them. The digital divide hasnt been eliminated. Quality high speed Internet service isnt universal. It's for these reasons that the community technology movement is concerned where the money went, and concerned that we'll have investments in the communications infrastructure in Illinois and in our human capital after these funds are dispersed. The telecommunications legislation in Illinois is scheduled to sunset in the new year. We need to preserve funding for digital literacy and extending the broadband infrastructure. The funds established should be earmarked as a Trust, and unexpended funds should be managed to accumulate interest. Of course there is a lot more going on in the rewrite of the telecommunications legislation. We need to pay attention and ensure that commerce is truly fostered by the law makers. The Feser report is a great start, but Universal Access is only one aspect of a Technology plan for Illinois. What is the Governor's office doing? In the meanwhile, I'll pray that the Governor pays attention to the Lt. Governor's efforts.
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