Access Doesn’t Mean People Can Afford Service

By Corey Hutchins | Wednesday, June 19, 2013

http://www.free-times.com/news/despite-plenty-of-broadband-internet-access-in-sc-is-third-lowest-in-us

South Carolina is one of the worst states in the nation in terms of Internet access in the home, according to numbers from a recent report released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The only states worse off in that regard are New Mexico and Mississippi (so there’s that old joke again). Out of 4.3 million people in South Carolina, more than 21 percent over the age of 3 don’t even have a computer in the home, much less one connected to the Internet, the figures show. Of those who have a home computer, 13.5 percent don’t have it hooked up to the Internet. 

But those embarrassing numbers don’t show the possibilities of broadband access in the state, says Connect South Carolina, a group that released its own data on Internet connectivity around the same time the U.S. Census numbers came out. 

The group’s numbers show 93 percent of all South Carolina households have potential access to fixed broadband service, mobile and satellite services.

“The vast majority of people, even in rural areas, have access to broadband speeds,” says Jessica Ditto, spokeswoman for Connected Nation, which maps broadband connectivity. 
Did that just give you whiplash? 

Ditto clarifies the seemingly-at-odds data by saying essentially that’s is all about semantics. 

“What the Census is reporting on is usage in the home or adoption,” Ditto says. “So it’s focused on how many people have computers that are connected to high-speed Internet at their house.” Her group’s numbers show whether such a house could potentially have an Internet-capable computer. 

The group’s research was conducted as part of a grant from the State Broadband Initiative program for South Carolina, which is funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The group collected the private data by contacting all known providers in the Palmetto State, according to Connect South Carolina. 

“Information on broadband service areas is collected from each provider through voluntary participation and is subject to confidentiality protections,” the group said in a statement. 
Connect South Carolina’s mission is to make sure everyone has access to high-speed Internet, to make sure they’re using it to benefit skills in the workplace and schools, and to make sure adoption is happening at a faster rate, according to Ditto. 

The takeaway: While too many South Carolinians lack computers or Internet in their homes, they’d likely have access to broadband if they had the technology to use it. 

But according to Khush Tata, chief information officer for the S.C. Technical College System, accessibility to broadband isn’t enough. It must be affordable, and there must be adoption of it, especially in the rural areas. Without that, it would be a like a state saying it has the best roads, but the tolls are $100. He also stresses that having an Internet-capable cell phone isn’t enough. It’s hard for someone to, say, apply for a job online from a phone. 

“The magic words here for me are ‘affordable’ and ‘access via a proper computer of some kind’ if they are to immerse themselves in meaningful online Internet activity,” Tata says. 

The new numbers on Internet access in South Carolina come four years after state officials quietly privatized a key state asset: a significant chunk of broadband spectrum that was formerly owned by the state. In October 2009, the S.C. Budget and Control Board quietly approved a $143 million contract that effectively leased out 95 percent of the state’s broadcast bandwidth — owned by the public for decades — to two little-known private telecommunications companies for the next 30 years. 

Those two companies are Clearwire Communications LLC, based in Kirkland, Wash., and Virginia-based DigitalBridge Communications Corp.

Free Times reached out to both of them for this story to see what they’ve been up to since acquiring the state’s broadband spectrum four years ago. DigitalBridge did not respond to phone inquiries to two different spokesmen, which is similar to how it handled questions the last time Free Times attempted to write about the company’s activities here in the summer of 2011. 
Clearwire left more questions than answers with its response to inquiries.

“Clearwire continues have spectrum, and operate some non-commercial sites in the South Carolina,” said Jeremy Pemble, speaking for the company in a rather disjointed email statement. “At this time, the company isn’t speculating or commenting about future build plans. Should that change we’ll be sure to let you know.”

Asked if he could speak about current sites in the state the company is involved in, Pemble said, “Sorry … we aren’t providing additional information about noncommercial sites at this time.” 
Asked what “noncommercial” meant, a different company spokesman, Chris Comes, replied.

“Non commercial use means not for the general public,” he said. “To reiterate, we are not providing additional information at this time.”

Tata of the technical college system says he hasn’t heard about the spectrum buildout in the state by either company or what they’re up to. 

“I haven’t heard anything in terms of an update for the wireless spectrum conversation that was going on,” he says. 

Phil Noble, founder of Envision SC, which promotes ubiquitous broadband, says the single largest challenge in South Carolina is the lack of a cohesive political leadership strategy toward broadband. 

“We’re just left with sort of catch as catch can,” he says. “We don’t have in this state a plan or a strong leader who’s pushing for ubiquitous broadband.” – See more at: http://www.free-times.com/news/despite-plenty-of-broadband-internet-access-in-sc-is-third-lowest-in-us#sthash.jNvcwvSb.dpuf

http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20130618/AIK0105/130619491

COLUMBIA — Legislators said on Monday that a tentative agreement could provide $800 million for road and bridge work across South Carolina without raising taxes.

A three-part compromise approved by a panel of House and Senate members would provide up to $141 million in state taxes toward infrastructure in the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The legislation said $50 million would go to the State Infrastructure Bank to fund major projects through borrowing. Up to $50 million from the current year’s surplus would go toward bridge repair. The proposal also transfers $41 million from the state sales tax on vehicles to the Department of Transportation for repairing secondary roads, representing half of the money that the tax – capped at $300 per vehicle – puts in the general fund.

Borrowing and federal highway matches could push the total to more than $798 million.

The Senate’s Republican and Democratic leaders agree the infrastructure compromise was critical for reaching an agreement on the overall budget for 2013-14.

Senate Minority Leader Nikki Setzler called it an unbelievable start toward addressing the state’s infrastructure needs.

“It’s certainly more than people conceived we could do in the first year and gives us momentum moving forward,” said Setzler, D-West Columbia.

Senate Majority Leader Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney, called it a bipartisan effort that helps all areas of the state by repairing rural roads and interstates while also providing construction jobs. He stressed it does so without raising taxes or fees, generally an unpopular idea in this deeply red state.

In her State of the State address, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley called funding infrastructure critical to the state’s economic development but promised to veto anything that raised the state’s 16-cents-per-gallon fuel tax, unchanged since 1987.

Her spokesman was noncommittal on Monday’s compromise.

“The governor has not hesitated to voice her strong support for strengthening infrastructure with funds we have available now,” said spokesman Rob Godfrey. “She is going to take a close look at the state budget as soon as the General Assembly sends it to her.”

Last year, the Department of Transportation estimated needing $1.5 billion yearly over the next 20 years just to bring state-maintained roads to “good” condition. Hoping to find a more palatable figure, a loose coalition of the state’s business leaders issued a report in January urging legislators to spend $6 billion over the next 10 to 15 years on the most critical projects.

The president and CEO of the state Trucking Association applauded the compromise.

“There has finally been an unavoidable realization that major attention is going to have to be paid to finding adequate funding for a highway system that’s in dire need of improvement, and this is a great first step,” said Rick Todd, whose group is part of the coalition. Legislative leaders found a way to provide substantial funding “without having to try to fight and force some tax fee increases, which is just politically not doable at this moment.”

The infrastructure compromise legislation requires approval by both the House and Senate, which return to the Statehouse on Tuesday for a special session.

A separate legislative panel continues to work on a compromise on the chambers’ separate $6.3 billion plan for state taxes.

Lawmakers hope to pass a budget this week. That would give time for Haley to issue her vetoes and the Legislature to deal with them before the 2013-14 fiscal year begins in two weeks.

Last year, a continuing resolution kept the government running over a five-day gap before the budget took effect.

Issues left unresolved from Friday’s meeting include whether to give state employees a 1 percent pay raise or cover increases in their health insurance premiums. Advocates for state employees said they’ll otherwise see a reduction in their paycheck because of a scheduled increase in their pension contributions.

http://www.wltx.com/news/article/239806/2/SC-GOP-Democratic-Chairs-Talk-Politics

9:21 PM, Jun 18, 2013   

Video: An Analytical Viewpoint of SC Politics

(WLTX) - Tuesday night invited in the new leaders of the state Democratic and Republican parties to talk about their vision and plans for their parties and the big 2014 elections coming up.

Matt Moore, the SC Republican Party Chairman, and Jaime Harrison, the SC Democratic Party Chairman, got their posts this year.

Both men represent a change or something new for their party.

To watch the full interview, click on the video above.

Harrison, 37, said he wants to create a “Democratic Dashboard” that will update activists on a quarterly basis on his fundraising progress. Harrison also said he wants to develop fundraising and voter-registration goals for party officers and state representatives in each county. Beyond building an infrastructure that can pave the way to electing more Democrats in South Carolina, Chairman Harrison wants to also change the way voters look at the Democratic Party. “There are a lot of particularly white voters in this state who think of the Democratic Party as just the black party. And my mission is to change that,” he said. “South Carolina isn’t a Republican state. It’s a conservative state. And there’s a difference.

http://mspoliticalpulse.com/2013/06/political-power-player-sc-democratic-party-chair-jamie-harrison/

State Democrats elected the Orangeburg native and attorney as their new chairman Saturday in an uncontested race. Harrison succeeds Dick Harpootlian, known for his “pithy and pungent comments,” as U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said in a video tribute.