Michael Becker's List: broadband

• company spokesman Shawn Beqaj in Purchase, N.Y
• The Bresnan proposal, one of a dozen applications to use stimulus funds in Montana to expand high-speed Internet services, had been blasted by small rural telephone companies and cooperatives in the state.
• They said the Bresnan network would be an unnecessary fiber-optic broadband system that duplicates systems already operated by the co-ops and other small firms, thus creating a government-funded competitor. Bresnan has noted that many of the co-ops use federal funds for their own financing.

• Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Montana’s Indian tribes, whose reservations would be served by the Bresnan network, supported the plan.

     
• Walter White Tail Feather, director of economic development for the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation
• Jay Preston, chief executive officer of Ronan Telephone Co.

• NTIA is the agency that rejected the Bresnan proposal and invited Bresnan and others to reapply.

     

    

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• Who will pay to operate this network, and what will its true economic impact be?

• They say the Bresnan network, financed by government money, will cut into their limited customer base and make it harder for all rural telecom providers to survive and still offer affordable service.

     
• Geoff Feiss of the Montana Telecommunications Association
• What comes after the construction is what concerns the other telecoms. The Bresnan network will need to build a customer base in rural Montana and somehow generate enough money not only to operate the network but also to extend “last-mile” service from the network hubs to homes and businesses in remote areas.
• Industry insiders say it’s hard to imagine that happening without Bresnan taking customers away from smaller urban areas served by existing telecom providers, which already rely on federal subsidies to help them exist and keep their rates affordable.
• Rob McDonald, spokes-man for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes on the Flathead Indian Reservation
• “They know if this happens, they’re going to lose their monopoly,” he said of the existing telecoms. “One of the great things about this Bresnan proposal was that we were actually asked, at the beginning, ‘Do you want this thing?’

• “If an area is unserved, prove it and spend the money on that,” said Feiss of MTA. “But don’t spend $70 million on an overbuild network that’s going to deprive investment from existing networks and leave behind collateral damage that we’ll never recover from.”

     

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• More than a dozen applicants are proposing projects in Montana, including Bresnan.

     
• Gov. Brian Schweitzer recommended most of the projects for funding, but said the Bresnan plan should be “top priority.” Rural telecoms also submitted letters to the agencies, objecting to the Bresnan plan.
• Jessica Schafer, a spokesman in Washington, D.C., for NTIA

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• Associations representing rural telephone cooperatives and companies in Montana paid just more than $10,000 to buy the ads in the state’s seven largest daily newspapers Tuesday and Wednesday, urging people to call federal and congressional offices to oppose funding the Bresnan project.

• “Bresnan’s request for federal broadband stimulus dollars to build a duplicate (broadband) network on top of Montana’s existing network is 100 percent waste,” the ad said.

     

• “It directly threatens our future,” said Geoff Feiss, general manager of the Montana Telephone Association.

     

• “This is clearly a reaction to protect their status as preferred, subsidized providers,” said Shawn Beqaj, vice president of communications for Bresnan in Purchase, N.Y.

     

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• Terry Freeser, operations man-ager for Elk River

• According to a recent study of Internet speeds sponsored by the telecom union Communication Workers of America, Montana ranked No. 50 out of 52 U.S. locations.

     

• "It's what's needed to bring rural Montana into the modern era of communication and for us to be technologically competitive," said Evan Barrett, chief business development officer for Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

     

• "It's an economic issue for all of us. If you're going to be able to attract new business, you have to have broadband."

     

• Members of the Public Service Commission criticized Qwest for not applying, but the company has countered that it is still evaluating the program.

     

  "The economic impacts of this form of communication are huge and I don't think we can afford to be left behind in the dirt on it," said Commissioner Ken Toole.
• Bonnie Lorang, general manager of the Montana Independent Telecommunications Systems

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• Pat Hogan, director of sales and engineering for 360networks
• William White Tail Feather, director of economic development for the Fort Peck Tribes
• Schweitzer's Office of Economic Development issued a "white paper" in August supporting the proposal and on Oct. 14, the governor wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce, urging it to "fully fund the entirety of the Bresnan Communications application."
• The Montana Public Service Commission, which regulates telephone service in Montana, wrote a similar letter Tuesday, saying the plan is "seriously flawed."
• Mike Kilgore, general manager of Nemont Telephone Cooperative
• Rick Stevens, general manager of Triangle Communications in Havre
• Shawn Beqaj, vice president of public affairs for Bresnan in Purchase, N.Y.

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• “Broadband is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. It affects everything from education, to employment, to health care, to government services and to democracy. It’s crucial.”

• “Broadband is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. It affects everything from education, to employment, to health care, to government services and to democracy. It’s crucial.” 

   
• “Broadband is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. It affects everything from education, to employment, to health care, to government services and to democracy. It’s crucial.”

  • Amalia Deloney, Center for Media and Justice

• “Broadband is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. It affects everything from education, to employment, to health care, to government services and to democracy. It’s crucial.” 

   
• “Broadband is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. It affects everything from education, to employment, to health care, to government services and to democracy. It’s crucial.”
• adding broadband service to the Universal Service Fund, which already helps make telephone service available and affordable for everyone, would be one way to lower Internet connection costs

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