{"id":1299,"date":"2009-02-11T16:05:57","date_gmt":"2009-02-11T21:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/?p=1299"},"modified":"2009-02-11T16:05:57","modified_gmt":"2009-02-11T21:05:57","slug":"sc-can-lead-the-nation-on-broadband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/2009\/02\/11\/sc-can-lead-the-nation-on-broadband\/","title":{"rendered":"SC can lead the nation on broadband"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rationale and strategy for universal Internet service<\/p>\n

By Brett Bursey<\/strong>
\nDirector, SC Progressive Network<\/a><\/p>\n

On April 15, South Carolina has to present a plan for the use of the state\u2019s educational broadcasting capability that will be \u201cexcess capacity\u201d due to the switch to digital broadcasting.<\/p>\n

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 free wireless Internet to all citizens. The 67 licenses owned by SC ETV \u2014 and the taxpayer-funded infrastructure \u2014 are paid for, so the capability for statewide, free Internet is in hand.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t have Internet access, or the skills and tools to take advantage of being online. Many rural communities don\u2019t have Internet access.<\/p>\n

The legislature created the Educational Broadband Service Commission to oversee what is referred to as the \u201ceducational broadband transition.\u201d The state plans to lease the broadcast spectrum to private telecommunications companies and put the estimated $5 to $8 million annual revenue in the general fund. The actual and future value of the spectrum is unknown.<\/p>\n

While we agree with the public\/private partnership leases, we submit that the state\u2019s 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 South Carolina\u2019s educational broadcast capabilities to:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Create a \u201clifeline broadband service\u201d 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 to the lease holders.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Establish a \u201cCitizens Trust\u201d that would use a percentage of the lease revenue to provide tools and training for citizens to access the Internet. Start with the quarter of a million children who can\u2019t afford lunch.<\/p>\n

South Carolina, through its already established Educational Broadcast capability, has the unique opportunity to lead the nation in closing the \u201cdigital divide.\u201d <\/p>\n

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 1970s puts our state ahead of Tennessee and other states that are now making major expenditures in educational broadband services. <\/p>\n

We need to wisely leverage our investment to the benefit of our citizens and our future. For more information on this issue and to find out how you can get involved, call 803-808-3384.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rationale and strategy for universal Internet service By Brett Bursey Director, SC Progressive Network On April 15, South Carolina has to present a plan for the use of the state\u2019s educational broadcasting capability that will be \u201cexcess capacity\u201d due … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-network-newsevents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1300,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1299\/revisions\/1300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scpronet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}