Transcript Baller TATOA Keynote

TATOA Policy & Legal Track
Impact of Broadband Deployment
to Local Governments
October 24-25, 2013
Seabrook, Texas
Broadband and Economic Development:
Fact or Fiction
Jim Baller
Baller Herbst Law Group, PC
Washington, DC
(202) 833-5300
[email protected]
Growing List of Gigabit Service Providers
And many more ….
Economic Development is,
and has always been,
the Number #1 Driver of
Community Broadband Projects
But What is Economic Development?
“The purpose of local economic development is to build
up the economic capacity of a local area to improve its
economic future and the quality of life for all. It is a
process by which public, business and nongovernmental
sector partners work collectively to create better
conditions for economic growth and employment
generation.”
World Bank, http://bit.ly/S2Rtp4
Economic Development Strategies
Many strategies, endless variations:
• Government => Businesses/Institutions => Residents?
• Attract a few large employers, a larger number of smaller
employers, or a combination of both?
• Increase the profitability of local businesses, the number
or quality of local jobs, or some of each?
• Support of all local industries or target particular industries
– e.g., high-tech, health care, data centers, etc. ?
• Community or regional approaches?
Economic Development Tools
Economic Development Handbook 2013, http://goo.gl/2Lv4nM
• Tax incentives (property, Tax Increment Financing, TEDA, etc.)
• Loans, grants, loan guarantees, or other financial incentives
• Special districts of various kinds, empowerment zones
• Attractive low-cost sites or facilities
• Free or accelerated franchises, permits, other approvals
• Support workforce development and training
• Upgrade roads, sewers, power
• Use of purchasing power to create “anchor tenancy”
• Help aggregate demand
Strong Anecdotal Evidence That
Broadband => Economic Development
Anecdotal Evidence (See, e.g., Baller Herbst, ISLR, Broadband
Communities, Settles, NewCom websites)
• Huge and rapidly growing body of anecdotal evidence
(including effect of lack of advanced capabilities (e.g.,
Danville, VA)
• Advanced broadband capabilities now a critical factor in
site selection (See Site Selection Magazine)
• Economic development professionals starting to stress
importance of advanced broadband capabilities – 76% say
at least 100 Mbps necessary (See Settles surveys)
Harder to Quantify the Relationship
Between Broadband and Economic Development
• A broadband expert, an economic development specialist,
and a statistician …
• For fiber, it’s still very early – limited FTTH data base
• Circumstances vary widely
• Broadband only one of several critical factors (also skilled
work-force; costs of labor, energy, environmental
compliance, taxes; ease of doing business; proximity of
universities, lenders, clusters; attractiveness of community
to employees (e.g., quality of schools, things to do, etc.);
transportation (airports, highways, railroads, telecom) …
• Timing is crucial, for all concerned
What Can and Can’t We Say?
Formal Studies (collected at www.baller.com/econdev.html)
• We can say that there’s an association between broadband
and economic development
• We can’t say that $X of investment in broadband or FTTH will
yield Y units of economic development or Z jobs
• We can say that “generally, broadband adoption [>60%],
availability [>85%], and download speed [>10%] do have
meaningful impacts on growth rates of economic health
measures in non-metropolitan counties.” Whitacre, Gallardo,
and Strover, http://goo.gl/Ai5bJf
• We can’t say that this is also true for FTTH – no studies yet
What Else Can and Can’t We Say?
• We can say that broadband is responsible for 22.4% of all
new jobs – SNG, http://goo.gl/vczAYT
• We can’t say that this is true of FTTH – no studies yet
• We can say that FTTH annually enables at least 700,000
individuals working from home to add at least $40 billion to
the US economy – RVA, http://goo.gl/eGfRkG
• We can say that nearly 90% of part-time businesses (which
contribute $141B to the GDP and employ 6.6 million) use the
Internet extensively and 54% say they could not exist without
the Internet -- Internet Association, http://goo.gl/Ru4qwC
What More Can and Can’t We Say?
• We can say that FTTH is seen by nearly 80-90% of housing
shoppers as a prime new housing amenity -- RVA
• We can say that FTTH adds $5,337-$6,451 to housing values at
$300,000 – RVA
Thanks!