Universal Internet Access in SC
South Carolina’s opportunity to lead the nation… The rationale and strategy for Free E-SC
Because South Carolina is the only state that owns all the educational broadcasting licenses, we have the unique opportunity to be the first state to provide universal wireless Internet to all citizens. The 67 licenses owned by SC ETV — and the taxpayer-funded infrastructure — are paid for, so the capability for statewide, free Internet is in hand.
Universal access to the Internet would be the single most significant thing we could do – at no cost to taxpayers – to improve educational, health care and employment opportunities for all South Carolinians; regardless of income or geographic location. Over 250,000 SC school children qualify for free lunches. Many of them also don’t have Internet access, or the skills and tools to take advantage of being on line. Many rural communities don’t have Internet access that would improve their educational, health and employment opportunities.
The nationwide switch to digital broadcasting has made much of the broadcasting spectrum “excess capacity” because digital signals take up much less bandwidth than analog. South Carolina must submit plans to the Federal Communications Commission by April 15, 2009, to use the excess capacity of the licenses — or lose them. The legislature created the Educational Broadband Service Commission to oversee what is referred to as the “educational broadband transition.” The state plans to lease the broadcast spectrum to private telecommunications companies, or public/private partnerships and put the estimated $5 to $8 million annual revenue in the general fund. The actual and future value of the spectrum is unknown.
While we agree with the public/private partnership leases, we submit that the state’s priority concerns may not be reflected in the terms of the leases or the use of the revenue.
We call on the Commission, the Joint Bond Review Committee and the Budget and Control Board to use SC’s educational broadcast capabilities to:
• Create a “lifeline broadband service” that would provide a free universal access tier of Internet service for all citizens. This service would be at a level below subscription services and would introduce scores of thousands of new consumers to the Internet. These new users would provide a source of new customers for expanded subscription services.
• Establish a “Citizens Trust” that would use a percentage of the lease revenue to provide tools and training for citizens to access the Internet.
South Carolina, through its already established Educational Broadcast capability, has the unique opportunity to lead the nation in closing the “digital divide.” The state of Tennessee recently contracted with AT&T for a $600 million upgrade of its broadband network for schools and governments. The investment South Carolina started making in the 1970’s puts our state ahead of Tennessee and other states that are now making major expenditures in educational broadband services. We need to wisely leverage our investment to the benefit of our citizens and our future.
South Carolina can create a new paradigm for a public/private partnership around the leveraging of its EBS spectrum. This could usher in a new relationship with the private sector that returns money to the state’s coffers and fosters a smarter and better educated citizenry that can compete in a global and increasingly digital world.
