By Katharine Grayson, Minneapolis-St.Paul Business Journal
“LightSquared, a high-speed wireless broadband startup backed by hedge fund Harbinger Capital, expects to expand its network into Minneapolis next year.
The company announced in July that it would debut its 4G wireless system in Baltimore, Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas beginning next year. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the company also plans to enter the Chicago and Minneapolis markets in 2011.”
By Ann Treacy, Blandin on Broadband
“Senator Klobuchar’s Broadband Summit was a far cry from the Public FCC Hearing last week. There were a lot more suits today, although about 250 people as opposed to 700 last week. There were a number of the same people – but certainly not a complete overlap by any means. I recognized more faces today, which means these were people who have been involved with and/or have been following broadband for a while.”
By Justin Horwath, TIME
“It’s not often that the faces behind the federal government show up at places like South High School in the Corcoran neighborhood of Minneapolis, one of the city’s poorest and most racially diverse sections. Especially to talk about the Internet, of all things. But this is where the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held its first public hearing on Net neutrality, the idea that all legal online data should be treated equally by service providers.”
By Matthew Lasar, Ars Technica
“I believe that net neutrality is the First Amendment issue of our time,” declared Democratic Senator Al Franken at Thursday’s public hearing on the Internet, held in his home state of Minnesota.
“Unless it’s freedom of religion,” he added, “which, until last week, I thought we had kind of worked out.”
The UpTake has an archived copy of last weeks town hall FCC hearing, at which Ann Treacy took some great notes.
“U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) today announced $23,666,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for three broadband projects in Minnesota: Sjoberg’s, Inc. ($866k), Carver County ($6m) and Enventis Telecom (HickoryTech $16.8m).
The funds, administered by the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, will expand broadband access and adoption to areas of Minnesota that are currently underserved.”
By Ann Treacy, Blandin on Broadband
“Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the funding of 126 new Recovery Act broadband infrastructure projects that will create jobs and provide rural residents in 38 states and Native American tribal areas access to improved service. Here are the five projects in Minnesota: Wikstrom Telephone Company, Woodstock Telephone Company, Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, Arvig Telephone Company; Winnebago Cooperative Telecom Association.”
By Tom Cherveny, West Central Tribune
“Folks living outside of Appleton are on the verge of being able to do what their neighbors living outside of smaller towns like Cerro Gordo or Chokio already take for granted.
They will be able to replace the scratch, screech and pings of dial-up Internet access with instant broadband access.”
By Ann Treacy, Blandin on Broadband
“In Minnesota, the 9 counties that are defined as unserved: Cass, Clay, Clearwater, Grant, Hubbard, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman and Wilkin. All are in NW Minnesota. It includes 1,45,100 people; 85 percent represent rural housing.
This list is quite different from the list of counties that appeared to be “least served” according to the Broadband Task Force Report published last November. The Task Force included a table that listed counties by “percentage of broadband availability” using data provided by ConnectMN and using the 200 kbps as the definition of broadband. Here were the 9 counties with the lowest percentage: Cook, Pine, Kanabec, Aitkin, Mahnomen, Wabasha, Jackson, Redwood and Morrison.”
Via News Release
“Charter Business is introducing Extreme Power, with speeds up to 75 Mbps, and Mega Power, with up to 40 Mbps speeds, now available to businesses in coverage areas within Minnesota.
Charter Business continues to offer Basic Power, Super Power and Turbo Power Internet speeds for new and existing customers. Recognizing that many businesses also need network connectivity across multiple locations, Charter Business offers the added flexibility of Charter Business Ethernet to seamlessly and cost-effectively connect multiple offices. Charter Business also offers Optical Ethernet, a private networking service with speeds from 10 Mbps to 100 Gbps, and Fiber Internet services, which offer dedicated Internet access from 5 Mbps to 1 Gbps+.”
By Ann Treacy, Blandin Foundation
“Appointing: Commerce; Compensation: Expenses; Vacancies: 15 Members
Advise and assist the commissioner on progress in achieving state highspeed broadband goals and assist in annual report to legislature regarding same. The task force will have a maximum of 15 members representing both Metro and Greater Minnesota with preference to demonstrated user expertise from the areas of health care, k-12 education, higher education, libraries, local government or private residential, or, from a provider’s perspective representing telephone, cable, wireless, or union. Meetings will be held on a monthly basis at the MN Dept of Commerce.”
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Peter Fleck / networks
Peter Fleck, aka "pfhyper" is a web developer and Internet Activist seeking highspeed, neutral broadband for all. Also the editor of a hyperlocal news blog for the Minneapolis Seward Neighborhood.
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