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On June 26 2015, the Brookings Institution presented Maximizing the benefits of broadband in Washington DC. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler spoke, and then sat down with Blair Levin, former Executive Director of the National Broadband Plan, for a discussion. Video is below.
Today, Wednesday November 12 2014, the American Enterprise Institute hosted ‘Reforming Lifeline for the broadband era‘ a panel discussing reform of the FCC’s ifeline, a $1.8 billion-a-year program that helps provide baseline Internet services to low-income individuals. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn delivered a keynote. Panel: Jessica Gonzalez, National Hispanic Media Coalition; Hank Hultquist, AT&T; Blair Levin, Brookings Institution; Scott Wallsten, Technology Policy Institute. Moderator: Jeffrey Eisenach, AEI. Video is below:
On June 11 2014 the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program hosted a panel Getting Serious on the Net Neutrality Debate tackling questions: How do we assure an open Internet that gives the consumer access to all content while also giving the customer high quality of service for the content they do want? Who should bear what costs? What will foster investment, innovation, choice, and freedom on the Internet? What are the long term solutions? Speakers: Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president – external and legislative affairs, AT&T; Anna-Maria Kovacs, visiting senior policy scholar, Georgetown University Center for Business and Public Policy; Blair Levin, Fellow, Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program; Chris Libertelli, vice president – Global Government Relations, Netflix; and Tim Wu, professor of law, Columbia Law School. Moderator was Charles Firestone, executive director, Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program. It was streamed live via YouTube. Video is below.
On June 10 2014 the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy hosted “The Internet and Communications Regulation: Â A Policy and Technology Symposium,” a panel to discuss the technical and economic background of current issues related to the Internet. Speakers: Blair Levin, Communications and Society Fellow, The Aspen Institute; Patrick Gilmore, Chief Technology Officer, Markley Group; Brent Olson, Vice President of Public Policy, AT&T; Robert D. Atkinson, President, The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation; Jeffrey Campbell, Vice President, Cisco Government Affairs; with moderation by Larry Downes, Senior Industry and Innovation Fellow and Project Director, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. The group discussed the technical and economic background of the internet, since knowing how and why the internet works is crucial to gaining an understanding of current issues and policy options. Video is below:
When many of us first logged onto the Internet, having a megabit connection seemed impossible. Today, network speeds a thousand times faster are both possible and affordable and broadband networks drive productivity and economic growth. In January, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the Gigabit City Challenge to have at least one gigabit network in all 50 states by 2015. Currently, there are 13 gigabit city networks in various phases of operation, allowing innovators to develop next-generation applications. How are they using these networks? How will businesses, governments, and schools leverage them to increase job growth, innovation and productivity? What will it take for these local projects to grow and meet the challenge?
On Wednesday, January 30 2013 the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy hosted a discussion Regulation and the IP Transition: Laying a Predicate for Growth at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Speakers included Blair Levin, and AT&T Policy SVP James Viccone. Video is below. No captions/transcript.
Description: Broadband technologies power the country’s digital infrastructure and have become essential platforms for 21st century communications and commerce. One of the most important economic and policy issues facing the new administration is whether U.S. regulation of broadband platforms will help or hinder the kind of innovation, investment, competition and economic growth the country needs for economic prosperity. This event will explore whether moving from a network of switches to an all IP environment is necessary, and how regulators might create the right incentives for private investment. Presentation: John Mayo, Professor, McDonough School of Business (slides) Panel:
James W. Cicconi, Senior Executive Vice President, External and Legislative Affairs, AT&T
Jennifer Fritzsche, Managing Director, Wells Fargo Securities
Blair Levin, Fellow, Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program/Executive Director Gig.U Moderator: Carolyn Brandon, McDonough School of Business Twitter: #evofreg
As it prepared the 2010 National Broadband Plan the FCC commissioned The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) to write a report summarizing the state of broadband development in the USA. The report, entitled Broadband in America was delivered in November 2009. Now, in July 2011 CITI has issued a follow-up – Broadband in America – 2nd Edition. The 176 page document, which includes plenty of meaty research, maps the explosive growth of wireless service in the interim period plus other developments including:
Advances in DSL, including ‘bonding’, will lead to speeds of up to 30mbps on copper.
AT&T and Verizon aim to provide 50 million homes with 10 Mb/s wire line by 2013.
Verizon expects to have 94% of the country covered by LTE – 10-12mbps – by 2013.
AT&T, Verizon, and Quest currently have 5.3m FTTH subscribers, but there are another 770 FTTH ISPs collectively serving another 1.9m premises.
When AT&T & Verizon finish deploying FIOS & U-Verse they will reach 40% of US households.
DOCSIS 3.0 deployment is patchy.
Broadband adoption will reach saturation at around 70% in 2014 with a split of 39% cable to 31% telco.
12% of U.S. households still use dial-up and 19% don’t use the Internet at all.
Prices for wire line are expected to increase 2%/yr, and wireless up to 4%/yr.
Investment runs at about $33b/yr, increasingly on wireless.
Less than 50% of backbone capacity is being used.
The latter half of the report is taken up by guest essays, including
Sharply contrasting views from Blair Levin and Eli Noam on the wire line vs wireless issue.
Raul Katz gives detailed figures on the economic impact of rural broadband.
D. Linda Garcia and Tarkan Rosenberg give a history lesson on the role of rural co-operatives in rolling out universal phone service, and then expound on the “diffusion model” as a means of getting through to that last 30% of holdouts.
Bruce Lincoln gives a practical blueprint for such a diffusion model with his “Advancing Community Broadband” scheme, involving setting up wi-fi networks, plus telework/telehealth centers, in low-income neighborhoods.
Earlier today the New America Foundation and GigaOm hosted a discussion Two Perspectives on the National Broadband Plan between Craig Settles, a broadband industry analyst, and Blair Levin, chief architect of the National Broadband Plan, on the plan’s merits. This follows an earlier exchange of views in GigaOm [Settles|Levin| Settles|Levin] in December. Moderators are Wall Street Journal’s Amy Schatz and GigaOM’s Stacey Higginbotham. A recording is available here or below. It runs 1h20m.
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