Minnesota broadband task force lays out deployment plan
The Minnesota broadband task force issued a new report that outlines a path to expand broadband throughout the entire state. The goal: download speeds of 10-20 Mbps and upload speeds of 5-10 Mbps available to all Minnesotans by 2015.
The proposal, entitled "Minnesota's Ultra High-Speed Broadband Report" could be a benchmark for a national broadband plan and would lift Minnesota's ranking from 24th in broadband access to the top five.
CWA state council chair Tim Lovaasen is part of the 23 person Minnesota task force that issued the report. The report took a year to compile and examined the "state's rural areas as well as its 59-square mile Wi-Fi network in Minneapolis, one of the few successful Wi-Fi municipal networks in the U.S."
Rick King, Chief of Technology Officer for Thomson Reuters Legal, comments on the potential boon of increased broadband access:
"Broadband Internet is the next generation of economic and quality-of-life infrastructure investment, like rural electrification and highways were for previous generations. Studies have shown that every $1 invested in broadband expansion creates at least $10 in economic growth."
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