The California Broadband Council met Wednesday to discuss progress toward making broadband, with its "opportunities and services to constituents," available to 98 percent of Californians, state CIO Amy Tong said while opening the meeting.
Several participating departments presented.
Caltrans is responsible for consolidating a database of already available broadband assets and looking for ways to "dig smart," encouraging responsible encroachment and collaboration on transportation projects. Placing broadband conduits during Caltrans projects could increase access without increasing cost.
"I see this as a push-pull," where industry representatives can look at the data provided by Caltrans and contact a specifically trained "key point of contact" to assist in collaborative planning, said Caltrans division chief Chris Schmidt.
FirstNet offered an update of plans for California's use of the priority pre-emption for first responders if the state opts in to the AT&T public-private partnership with the federal government. Other benefits of the federal proposition were compared to local control. A final state plan will be delivered around Sept. 19. Twelve outreach meetings were held for 687 comments on the AT&T-offered plan. Most comments concerned a lack of coverage and interoperability of devices.
Concerns not addressed by the draft plan provided by AT&T included coverage, cost, public safety site construction, security, and access to critical systems.
Microsoft presented its pilot project of providing investment capital and training to encourage broadband on TV whitespace bands.
"People will ask what our motivation is," said Ryan Harkins, director of state affairs and public policy for Microsoft. "Partly, it's philanthropic. If you don't have broadband, you can't be our customer."
Merced County Fair CEO, Teresa Burrola, said the broadband plan needs to allow for broadband access at fairgrounds throughout the state. Merced was the site of a CalFire camp this summer, but there was no Wi-Fi available. The entire fairgrounds is usually used for events that have not have access in the past. Burrola mentioned the ability to add broadband infrastructure to the current maintenance projects coming this fiscal year.
Also speaking at Wednesday's hearing was Sunne Wright-McPeak, president and CEO of the nonprofit California Emerging Technology Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the development of broadband and other advanced communication services to underserved communities and populations. She announced a 3 percent increase in connectivity across the state, but noted that many users are still only on smartphones and don't have true broadband at home.
The regulatory analyst for the California Public Utilities Commission, Robert Osborn, said he would address the issues at a future meeting.
