Idaho may gain state broadband office

The second meeting of the broadband task force, held in Twin Falls on July 17, focused on the internet infrastructure Idaho already has. But it isn’t clear how many Idaho citizens lack broadband internet, and presentations during this meeting contradicted presentations during the first meeting, in June.

One committee recommendation could be for Idaho to establish a “state broadband office,” said committee representative Mike Kennedy, president of Intermax Networks, a Coeur d’Alene internet provider.

“Many states are looking toward this as a way to coordinate and interface with the different sectors of the economy and intergovernmental resources,” he said. “It could make sense and may not need to be a large dollar item, but again that’s just an example of the type of things that seem common but aren’t yet in practice here in Idaho.”

A presentation from the Idaho Broadband Cable Association cited a study it had commissioned from Cable Labs, finding more than 99% of Idaho’s population and housing units have available fixed broadband service of 25 megabit per second (Mbps) download speed and 3 Mbps upload speed, or higher. In fact, more than 80% of Idaho’s population had at least 100 Mbps downstream speeds available and 65% had gigabit broadband service (at least 940 Mbps) available, the study found.

The information in the presentation is Federal Communications Commission data from December 2017, which studies availability only down to the census tract level. Detractors have said that, particularly in Idaho’s rural areas where census tracts are large, just a few residents per tract may actually have such access.

In contrast, a presentation by Microsoft during last month’s meeting measured the download speeds Idahoans actually used. It found that, based on how people download Windows updates, 1.1 million Idahoans don’t use the internet at broadband speeds.

“I did not think the 99% number was legitimate, and the way it was being measured was not entirely comprehensible to me,” Kennedy said. “It was greeted with skepticism, particularly for those out in the hinterlands and rural areas that aren’t that robust.”

Another study, which looked just at broadband access from cell phones, found that Idaho overall had 17 Mbps average download speed. That ranked it in the middle of the states and higher than Montana, which ranked last in the country, said Sage Singleton, outreach manager with Let’s Talk, the online comparison site that conducted the study.

Kennedy acknowledged that measuring broadband internet access is hard.

“I do not mean to be critical of anyone offering ideas, thoughts or their measurements,” he said. “Each in its own way could be considered legitimate depending on how you define broadband and where you are in the state. It is not easy to articulate or educate on all of the permutations and technical obstacles to clearly measure speeds even for those of us in the industry.”

A number of Idaho cities, including Ammon, Sandpoint, Mountain Home, Emmett, McCall and Idaho Falls, are providing broadband internet access to citizens on their own. Representatives from the cities also made presentations, Kennedy said.

“Their experiences are varied, with some working hard to go ‘all-in’ on providing fiber everywhere (Ammon), and others using partnerships with the private sector to extend their networks,” he said. “Ammon has the unique model of having gone down the road of getting judicial confirmation to provide service in the areas. It was an interesting and diverse perspective.”

The port of Lewiston presented information on how it was installing dark fiber – extra fiber cable to have for the future – to provide broadband internet for its residents, Kennedy said.

Another discussion concerned transmission and right-of-way options with infrastructure companies such as Rocky Mountain Power, Idaho Power, Avista and the Idaho Transportation Department.

“Many felt like there is a real possibility for more work with ITD in handling the often expensive and problematic ‘middle mile’ connections around the state,” Kennedy said.