Meeting Minutes
Pat
announced that our timeline has been accelerated due to the Telecom Steering
Committee’s need to present the Governor with Legislation by November.
Our work will continue but it will be more of a parallel track than the
previous linear path.
The
subcommittee chairs gave progress reports:
Service Availability – Reggie Palmer
- A letter was sent along with a
PUC Protective Order to providers.
- Data has been slowly coming
back in.
- Possibly we need to send a letter
from the Governor’s Office or do something else to encourage companies to
provide the data, but for now the sub-committee will make another attempt
to contact the providers.
Jill Goldthwait reminded the Board of what is at
stake for the Committee. Right now Jackson Labs cannot compete for NIH
grants because they do not have the requisite bandwidth. Other research
hospitals are in the same predicament.
Technology and Delivery Mechanisms – Sam Elowitch
- Working on a matrix of
technologies currently deployed (or could be deployed)
- A narrative will be included,
putting the technologies in a context and describing which technologies
seem more suited for expansion of broadband availability in Maine and why
some do not.
- This resource is very close to completion
- The Subcommittee also
recommends that the State sponsor “demonstration projects”, after the map
is completed.
- This subcommittee is not going
to be able to answer the $/cost issues
Regulatory and Financial Assessment – Brian Paul
- Working on a matrix of the
regulatory environment
- A financial resource list and a
compilation of information on what other states are doing is also being
generated
- All three documents will be
ready soon
- The committee will not be able
to answer the economic impact questions
Other discussion items
- Ideas/technologies/solutions
that are not recommended should also be included in the final report along
with an explanation about why it was not recommended.
- Board members
should review list of possible solutions/recommendations that Pat handed
out and send comments to Pat by 10/12.
- More attention
needs to be paid to the distinction between residential users and
business/institution needs (e.g., MSLN)
- We should look
at ways of encouraging dark fiber deployment
- Could we put
in the bill title but continue to work on the details?
