Connected Tennessee Final Grant Report Page|8send the permanent link to another user, who will then get the same display in the interactive map setting; adding a date display to the

Connected Tennessee Final Grant Report Page|8


I. BROADBAND ACCESS IN TENNESSEE

Mapping

Since 2007, Connected Tennessee has researched and mapped growth and gaps in Tennessee broadband access in accordance with the Department of Commerce and Federal Communications Commission broadband definitional changes. This project was originally funded for two years of data collection and five years of broadband planning activities. In September of 2010, this project was amended to extend data collection activities for an additional three years and to identify and implement best practices. The first submission of mapping data under the State Broadband Data and Development grant program represented 77% provider participation in Tennessee. In each subsequent submission, staff was able to increase provider participation in the voluntary program. The final data update, submitted in October 2014, included datasets for 98.82% of the provider community. Eighty-two (82) participating providers were represented with 2 additional providers whose coverage area was estimated. This dataset was further used to evaluate the broadband landscape across Tennessee by comparing availability and speed tier(s) against that of the data collected by the program since 2009. Based on the October 2014 data, 96.49% of households statewide have access to fixed broadband at speeds of at least 768 kilobits per second (Kbps) download/200 Kbps upload. In fact, 11,500 more households have access to fixed broadband services of 3 megabits per second (Mbps) download/768 Kbps upload now

than 3 years ago. This data was submitted twice a year. In June 2010, the program launched its first online, interactive mapping tool for viewing and validating broadband data, BroadbandStat. The interactive mapping application, featured on the program website, allowed consumers to locate their residence and identify providers that offer Internet service to that location. Internet service areas were depicted based on the latest data collected and prepared for submission to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). In an effort to provide further broadband mapping analysis tools, the program introduced a new mapping application called My ConnectViewTM on April 2, 2012. Compared to BroadbandStat, the interactive map featured more interactive data layers, additional tools to explore data, and the ability to create, print, and share custom maps. Additional enhancements to the application were made in 2013, including upgrading the server to ArcGIS for Server 10.1; adding a button to create permanent links allowed users to develop a customized display with various data layers turned on with a specific zoom level and then send the permanent link to another user, who will then get the same display in the interactive map setting; adding a date display to the legend to inform the user of the current nature of the broadband data; and enhancing the featured pop-up windows to allow users to scroll through multiple record selections.

http://www.connectedtn.org/mapping/_interactive_map_interface/?q=map

http://www.connectedtn.org/mapping/_interactive_map_interface/?q=map


Users can select data layers that they wish to view on the map display. Data layers are broken down into three main sections: access, adoption, and use. These sections contain broadband coverage information, the density of unserved households, maximum advertised download speeds, links to adoption programs, and Community Anchor Institutions (CAI). CAIs are trusted resources for broadband connectivity to citizens that are unserved or

underserved at their homes. Connected Tennessee realized that CAI connectivity was an important component of the state’s overall connectivity, and over the course of the grant, captured CAI connectivity data through direct outreach, surveys, and partnerships with statewide organizations. The program received information for 52% of identified CAI (percentage based on submitted download speeds).

CAI Type Identified

CAI Type of

Connectivity Download

Speed Upload Speed

K-12 Schools 2,290 1,121 1,119 1,117

Libraries 319 280 282 282

Healthcare 883 214 213 213

Public Safety 756 142 121 121

Higher Ed Institutions 398 176 177 126

Other Government 1,287 1,112 1,090 1,089

Other Non-Government 164 126 124 124

Total 6,097 3,171 3,126 3,072

Both applications have been housed in highly available, monitored, and managed environments with a focus on being multi-functional and user-friendly. To date the program’s interactive map, My ConnectViewTM, has received 14,646 visits, and has served as a way to encourage and solicit consumer feedback.


Consumer feedback has played an important role in the data collection project. In addition to consumer e-mails received via the interactive map, the project has received 1,802 broadband inquiries over the life of the grant. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) staff and Engineering and Technical Services (ETS) staff utilized the inquiries for verification purposes by overlaying the feedback with the broadband availability information collected through the program. As a result of consumer feedback, Connected Tennessee has provided the consumer with broadband service options available to him/her, analyzed areas of unmet broadband demand, and improved the accuracy of the state maps. The data composed by Connected Tennessee is also submitted for additional analysis and use in the National Broadband Map, the first searchable inventory of broadband services across the country. The National Broadband Map is released and maintained by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in collaboration with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and in partnership with 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia.

The Broadband Availability Gap in Tennessee

Tennessee’s 2014 broadband landscape demonstrates strong growth in infrastructure and deployment. Since October 2011, 32,303 additional households have gained access to broadband service statewide at speeds of 768 Kbps download/200 Kbps upload.

As of October 2014, 93.46% of Tennessee households had broadband access at 3 Mbps download/768 Kbps upload and 11,500 fewer households were unserved by this speed than in 2011 (excluding mobile wireless and satellite services). Further, rural broadband availability at 3 Mbps download/768 Kbps upload increased from 87.61% in 2011 to 88.54% in 2014.

http://broadbandmap.gov/


The state has also shown increased access and competition among the higher broadband speed tiers:

In addition to the above speed and provider details, since 2011, broadband service at 50 Mbps download/1.5 Mbps upload has increased 6.68 percentage points, and service at 100 Mbps download/1.5 Mbps upload has increased 39.88 percentage points (both excluding mobile wireless and satellite services). Further, the number of fiber broadband providers increased from 10 in 2011 to 17 in 2014.

Households Served by Speed Tier Number of Facilities-Based Broadband Providers

4+ Providers

3 Providers

2 Providers

1 Provider

Unserved

3 Mbps/768 Kbps 47,686 381,603 1,413,911 487,318 163,033

3 Mbps/768 Kbps (Percent) 1.91% 15.30% 56.70% 19.54% 6.54%

10 Mbps/1.5 Mbps 6,393 228,805 1,202,406 752,106 303,843

10 Mbps/1.5 Mbps (Percent) 0.26% 9.18% 48.22% 30.16% 12.19%

25 Mbps/3 Mbps 442 14,197 422,213 1,634,260 422,440

25 Mbps/3 Mbps (Percent) 0.02% 0.57% 16.93% 65.54% 16.94%


Despite this positive progress, significant gaps persist in Tennessee, particularly throughout rural regions. Further, broadband availability and competition in Tennessee decreases as speeds increase.

As Internet and web applications continue to develop, along with the number of connected devices in a typical household or business, there is an increasing need for faster, more robust broadband speeds. The National Broadband Plan, released in 2010, recommended a national broadband speed target for households and small businesses of 4 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload. The National Broadband Plan also recommended that the FCC reassess this target every four years. As such, in January 2015, the FCC adjusted the definition of “advanced broadband” to 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload. In adopting this target, the FCC found that 17 percent of the U.S. population did not have access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps broadband, but, when available, consumers were subscribing to broadband at these higher speeds. The FCC also determined that over half of rural Americans did have not access to 25 Mbps down/3 Mbps up connectivity. Broadband availability in Tennessee follows a similar pattern. According to the most recent Connected Tennessee data, 83.06% of households in Tennessee have access to 25 Mbps download/3 Mbps upload broadband networks. However, 422,440 households continue to be marginalized with broadband speeds below this national benchmark. The vast majority of the areas in Tennessee without access are located in rural regions of the state.

http://www.connectednation.org/sites/default/files/bb_pp/policy_brief_on_new_fcc_broadband_definition_final.pdf


Broadband access, and the applications it supports, is a transformative technology that is having an immediate and comprehensive impact on virtually every sector of the Tennessee economy, every level of the government, and overall social welfare. Tennessee residents and businesses are becoming increasingly reliant and dependent upon this technology. However, communities and vulnerable populations without such access are unable to take full advantage of the benefits of technology and are at risk of being further isolated by the digital divide. Ongoing infrastructure assessments and state policy that promote widespread availability would be instrumental to achieving equitable, ubiquitous access. Efforts to bridge the broadband availability gap in Tennessee need to continue, especially as consumers, businesses, and policymakers seek ever-increasing broadband speeds. Tennessee should continue to track and monitor broadband availability and infrastructure in the state at various speed and quality levels. The FCC has begun collecting data on the availability of retail fixed and mobile broadband, with plans to publish those findings twice annually. However, while that data will be useful, the FCC will not directly map infrastructure facilities and will not necessarily provide information on various speed tiers and network technologies. Instead, the FCC will collect data only relating to the retail maximum offered speed for residential and business fixed broadband services. For mobile broadband services, the FCC will only collect “minimum advertised” speed, portions of which might not be publicly released. In rural areas, the FCC data will only be collected at the census block level.1

1 Modernizing the FCC Form 477 Data Program, Federal Communications Commission, WC Docket No. 11-10, Report and Order,

28 FCC Red 9887, 2013. The FCC was to have started collecting this data on October 1, 2014, but the FCC suspended that data collection due to difficulties with its electronic filing Interface. See Form 477 Filing Interface Remains Closed as Technical


Over the last seven years, Connected Tennessee has mapped broadband infrastructure in a manner that allows for the matching of broadband infrastructure to state institutional needs. Because the FCC will only collect advertised retail service availability, even if that data were to be made available to Tennessee, it would not support those important state needs for infrastructure planning and economic development. In addition, with regard to retail broadband availability, the Connected Tennessee project collected multiple speed tiers for both fixed and mobile technology and independently validates those capabilities. In rural areas, Connected Tennessee collected broadband retail service availability at a sub-census block level, which is more granular than the current FCC data process, and regularly processes inquiries from citizens, communities, and providers on service availability. This type of hands-on, local engagement allows for and encourages solutions-driven collaboration between providers and communities.

Connect America Fund Implications for Tennessee

As the previous maps identify, Tennessee has made a significant impact in broadband availability over the last five years; however, opportunities remain to improve access to advanced broadband speeds and ensure that all Tennessee businesses, governments, and residents have equitable connectivity. Connected Tennessee has used the broadband infrastructure information it has collected and validated to work directly with communities and providers to solve access gaps in their communities. One important example is the overwhelming effort many Tennessee communities made to participate in an FCC experimental program that would provide direct funding for network upgrades.

Improvements are Implemented, Federal Communications Commission, Wireline Competition Bureau, WC Docket No. 11-10, Public Notice, DA 14·1458, Oct. 2014.


In January 2014 the FCC created the Rural Broadband Experiment program (RBE). The launch of the program marked the first time that the FCC had considered investing a portion of its $4 billion per year telecommunications network subsidy program into an application-based, competitive bidding framework. Part of the Connect America Fund (CAF), the Rural Broadband Experiment program sought to determine how the FCC could allocate broadband network subsidies to rural communities in a cost-effective way. Eligible areas for the RBE program were defined as any area without access to fixed broadband at the 3 Mbps download/768 Kbps upload speed. In those areas within the service territories of larger, price cap local telephone companies (AT&T, CenturyLink, Frontier), the FCC sought projects that would serve entire census tracts that include unserved census blocks. In early 2014, the FCC solicited “expressions of interest” from providers, communities, institutions, and public-private partnerships regarding their ideas and proposals on how they could use CAF subsidies to support broadband infrastructure build-out in currently unserved areas. The FCC received nearly 1,000 expressions of interest from applicants across the country, 37 of which were from Tennessee. In December 2014, the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau announced the provisional winners including broadband projects in 25 states and Puerto Rico. There were three categories of RBE projects that received provisional awards – 19 projects building networks capable of 100 Mbps download/25 Mbps upload; 12 projects building networks capable of 10 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload in eligible unserved areas; and 9 projects building networks capable of 10 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload in extremely high, unserved cost areas. In 2011, Connected Nation launched the Connected Community Engagement Program to equip communities with the knowledge and tools required to build their own bridges across the digital divide. Connected facilitates multi-stakeholder collaboration, resulting in the efficient use of local resources and shared ownership in solutions to bridge this divide. Using the Connected Community Engagement Program as a springboard, teams in Tennessee recognized the opportunity to pursue technology acceleration in a way that was specific to their community. Rutherford County, for example, held its kick-off meeting at Eagleville City Hall in June 2014 with 16 stakeholders in attendance from various sectors: business and industry, healthcare, government, emergency management/911, library, and non-profits. At the meeting, the group discussed Rutherford County Government’s participation and assistance in the development of a grant application to the Federal Communications Commission for funds to support extension of broadband Internet to unserved and underserved areas of the


county. Based on SBI data, Rutherford County’s team was able to confirm it has four census blocks in the Eagleville area that qualify for the FCC grant. The Rutherford County expression of interest addressed four areas – education, economy, emergency services, and healthcare – that would benefit from the extension of affordable/reliable broadband Internet service. The team also chose to reach out to area providers with the assistance on Connected Tennessee in order to provide FCC application information and to encourage expansion in the Eagleville area.

Validation

Provider engagement and validation are essential to gathering meaningful, accurate data regarding Tennessee’s broadband ecosystem. Over the past seven years, Connected Tennessee has developed strong relationships with commercial and residential broadband providers across Tennessee to collect the extensive datasets that populate the state broadband maps. To ensure its accuracy, Connected Tennessee validates all data received from participating providers. Connected Tennessee’s validation process is informed with, among other methods, broadband inquiries provided by consumers and local stakeholders. In areas of the state in which providers are unable to supply broadband data, Connected Tennessee employs several techniques to estimate the service territory. Connected Tennessee uses this data to build consumer awareness regarding service options available in their area and encourage provider infrastructure build-out in localities without coverage.


Tennessee Validation Stories

Nankipoo, Tennessee In 2009, the Lauderdale County community of Nankipoo opened the first Community Computer Center funded in Tennessee under the USDA Community Connect Program. A $246,448 grant was awarded to Pinnacle Ventures, LLC to extend wireless Internet access services into this rural west Tennessee community.

The Community Connect Grant program is designed to supplement the cost of building Internet access infrastructure into rural areas that have no wireline high speed broadband Internet services. In addition to broadband access, the grant provides for two years of funding to operate a local Community Computer which provides computers and Internet access to Nankipoo area residents, along with on-site help with Internet questions and other computer-related training.

Connected Tennessee provided area maps showing broadband availability and demand in order to assist Pinnacle Ventures, LLC of Dyersburg, Tennessee, its partners West Tennessee Communications and ECS Internet Services and Technology, Inc. of Brentwood, Tennessee with the application. This grant established a new wireless broadband service in Nankipoo and over 30 new customers in the area enrolled in the new service in the first few weeks which was more than they had projected for the first year.


Tatumville, Tennessee In July 2011, Connected Tennessee conducted extensive field validation and desktop research when residents in Tatumville (Newbern County) expressed interest in obtaining broadband services. These expressions of interest were received by Connected Tennessee via a broadband inquiry portal on the website. Wireless engineers with Connected Tennessee created propagation models from various known tower and/or water tank locations which seemed ideal to serve as wireless transmit locations. These propagation studies were then overlaid under the broadband inquiries. The findings were presented and reviewed with a local fixed wireless provider (ECSIS) who was then able to identify the areas with highest density of requests and thereby build a network that began serving many of the residents of the county. Hardeman County, Tennessee In November 2012, Connected Tennessee conducted extensive field validation and desktop research when Hardeman County residents expressed interest in obtaining broadband services. These expressions of interest were received by Connected Tennessee via a broadband inquiry portal on the website. Wireless engineers with Connected Tennessee created propagation models from various known tower and/or water tank locations which seemed ideal to serve as wireless transmit locations. These propagation studies were then overlaid under the broadband inquiries. The findings were presented and reviewed with a local fixed wireless provider (Capshaw Enterprises) who was then able to identify the areas with highest density of requests and thereby build a network that began serving many of the residents of the county.


Capshaw Enterprises tower site in Hardeman County

Broadband Inquiries overlaid on propagation studies (Hardeman) Hohenwald, Tennessee In October 2012, Connected Tennessee conducted extensive field validation and desktop research when residents in Hohenwald (Lewis County) expressed interest in obtaining broadband services. These expressions of interest were received by Connected Tennessee via a broadband inquiry portal on the website. Wireless engineers with Connected Tennessee created propagation models from various known tower and/or water tank locations which seemed ideal to serve as wireless transmit locations. These propagation studies were then overlaid under the broadband inquiries. The findings were presented and reviewed with a local fixed wireless provider (JTM Broadband) who was then able to identify the areas with highest density of requests and build a network that began serving many of the residents of the county.


Propagation Study at new JTM Broadband tower in Hohenwald area

Detailed, accurate broadband data enables more than informed decision making. Connected Tennessee’s mapping and validation helps bring broadband to rural areas of the state and eliminates the connectivity gap. Connected Tennessee validates all data received from participating providers. Testing was completed against 79 companies out of 85 viable providers totaling 92.94% within the state. Connected Tennessee developed on-the-ground validation processes that it implemented in an effort to reach the most accurate depiction of broadband technology data available. ETS staff traveled an estimated 19,343 miles for the purpose of conducting field verifications in Tennessee. Staff utilized a variety of resources for validation support such as provider coverage maps, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) databases, volunteered provider data submissions, and broadband inquiries.


In some instances providers were unable or unwilling to participate in the voluntary data submission process. In such instances, program staff completed a process by which, desktop research into the public sources of data combined with in-field techniques listed above, and sound engineering practices, were used to estimate the coverage area for these providers. This methodology was presented as a best practice to the FCC in June 2011.

For further information on Connected Tennessee’s validation processes, see Appendix 5.

Documents

Connected Tennessee Final Grant Report Page|8send the permanent link to another user, who will then get the same display in the interactive map setting; adding a date display to the