Maine's 2005 Broadband Access Infrastructure Board recommended:

1. Providing incentives and funding for broadband infrastructure, noting that the USDA/RUS low-interest loan programs are available but little used in Maine; increasing the awareness of these programs and using state funds to help meet the USDA/RUS 20% match requirements; Creating a new low-interest loan program of its own for broadband investment; and using a mix of tax credits and direct state funding, possibly funded through a bond issuance.

2. Allowing broadband providers to access state towers, facilities, and rights-of-way.

3. Bifurcating the Maine Universal Service Fund (MUSF) into two parts: one section to provide high-cost support for rural incumbent telecommunications companies, and the other to provide funding for cellular tower construction, direct broadband facility construction, and debt service on broadband development bonds.

4. Increasing demand for broadband services through public service announcements, telecommuting programs, enhanced government services available online (perhaps at a discounted rate), and other methods.

5. Providing state grant funding for broadband technology demonstration projects in unserved or underserved areas; developing an RFP process to enable all providers and technologies to participate; creating a Citizens’ Advisory Board that, with assistance from the PUC and the Broadband Development Authority, would develop a list of projects that would be eligible for funding, either in whole or to fill gaps.

6. Creating a Broadband Development Authority that would have rulemaking authority and access to a professional staff. It would be independent of competitive providers of broadband services and would monitor broadband deployment in Maine, as well as maintain and publicize information on broadband availability, demand, and funding mechanisms.

In 2006, Maine created the ConnectME Authority to expand broadband and cellular infrastructure throughout Maine. The statute authorizes the ConnectME to assess every communications service provider an annual fee not to exceed 0.25% of revenue received or collected for all communications services provided in the state by the provider. Maine will use up to $500,000 annually for at least two years to accelerate private investment in communication services including wireless, broadband, cellular, and satellite infrastructure especially in underserved areas.

The ConnectME Authority awarded its first seven grants to expand broadband and mobile communications services to unserved and underserved areas in Maine on October 31, 2007. A total of more than $787,000 has been awarded to the recipients, expanding services to an estimated 14,400 residents. Grant projects are to be completed within one year of receiving the funding. Created under the Connect ME legislation, the Authority contains five members representing the public and private sphere.

Separately, the Maine PUC recently announced an agreement with Verizon to make high‐speed Internet access available to almost 35,000 Mainers who now lack DSL broadband service. The stipulated agreement identifies specific locations where new DSL will become available, increasing to 70% the proportion of Verizon Maine landline customers who will have the option of high‐speed access to the Internet. Under the agreement Verizon will complete that build‐out, using all‐new equipment, within six months.

Maryland established the Rural Broadband Coordination Board and Rural Broadband Assistance Fund in July 2006. The board is charged with assisting in the deployment of middle mile broadband communication infrastructure in Maryland’s rural and underserved areas and cooperating with public, private and nonprofit entities to establish broadband communication services. The Rural Broadband Assistance Fund in the Department of Business and Economic Development consists of money appropriated in the state budget, federal money allocated or granted to the fund, and money from other sources accepted for the benefit of the fund. The fund may be used only for planning, construction, and maintenance of broadband communication services in rural areas. The legislation authorizes $4 million per year in funding for fiscal years 2008 and 2009.

The legislation also requires the Department of Transportation to allow the use of any state right‐of‐way for the installation of broadband communication infrastructure provided by nonprofit telecommunications services providers in rural and underserved areas of the state without imposition of any charge for the use of the right‐of‐way.                     

http://masstech.org/broadband/resources.html

Michigan provides regional planning grants for local communities, encourages regional initiatives to link or leverage their local strategies to the statewide backbone initiative, and encourages communities to identify and remove existing barriers to new telecommunications investment. Michigan established a Broadband Development Authority in part to help localities create viable broadband strategies.                  

The Minnesota-based Blandin Foundation's "Get Broadband" community grant program, supports education and outreach efforts aimed at bringing the benefits of broadband to rural households and businesses. Communities are eligible for funding of up to $25,000 if the community matches the amount of the grant funding. Get Broadband has received $250,000 from the state government.                  

MISSISSIPPI                   

MISSOURI                       

MONTANA                        

NEBRASKA                       

NEVADA                         

NEW HAMPSHIRE                  

NEW JERSEY                     

NEW MEXICO                     

North Carolina: In August 2000, the North Carolina General Assembly created the Rural Internet Access Authority, which was replaced in 2003 by the e-NC Authority. Recently, North Carolina extended the work of e-NC for five years from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2011. The e‐NC originally focused only on rural areas of the state, but now works on developing Internet connectivity in all economically distressed areas. The e-NC originally sought to ensure that 100% of the state had broadband Internet access within three years. The e-NC is a state authority but it is housed in a nonprofit organization, the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. The e-NC is a hybrid organization that benefits from funding and collaborating with private entities, nonprofits, national, state and local governments, telecommunications companies, small Internet service providers, universities, think tanks, and others. Since inception, e-NC has issued grants, advocated policies, and conducted research on broadband issues. It awarded $30 million in connectivity grants primarily to counties and to specific government institutions such as libraries, consortia, and private enterprise. All work with e-NC is a unified effort to improve North Carolina’s connectivity. E-NC has received funding from the North Carolina state government, various foundations, and corporations.             

NORTH DAKOTA                   

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS       

An executive order establishing the Ohio Broadband Council and the Broadband Ohio Network directs the council to coordinate efforts to extend access to the Broadband Ohio Network to every county in Ohio. The order also allows public and private entities to tap into the Broadband Ohio Network—all with a goal of expanding access to high-speed Internet service to all 88 counties, including parts of the state that presently do not have such service.                     

Rhode Island's H 7120 proposes to create an "Innovation Center" to encourage the development and implementation of technology infrastructure for use throughout the state.  The Center would study technology within the state and recommend strategies for encouraging technology partnerships among state government, local government, private business, and institutions of higher education.                

South Carolina: The South Carolina Legislature passed a bill in February 2003 deregulating broadband service in the state. The new law now exempts the incumbent telephone company from having to share its high-speed network with competitors. As a result of the legislation, BellSouth has promised to spend $10 million to expand its broadband network statewide.              

SOUTH DAKOTA                   

TENNESSEE                      

TEXAS                         

UTAH                           

Vermont's Telecommunications Authority was created by the Vermont Legislature in the spring of 2007 and recently hired an executive director. Its goals are to ensure Vermonters have:

• Affordable broadband to every Vermont household by 2010, capable of delivering speeds of at least 1.5 megabytes per second.

• Cellular service in every community and along main routes by 2010

• Mobile broadband, Wi-Fi or equivalent in every community by 2010

The authority serves as a bridge between public-sector efforts and private sector investments, intends to share in—but not eliminate—the financial risk of these projects, provides a longer-term investment horizon, and supports projects that can become self-sustaining over time. The state can provide the authority with its moral obligation of up to $40 million in bonds to back projects in the first year of construction and possibly more if needed and sustainable. The initial target is to leverage more than $200 million in private sector investment with the state’s backing. Repayment of borrowing for the projects will be based on revenues generated from leasing access to the infrastructure, such as fiber-optic networks and space on towers, or the revenues from services provided over the network. The value of the assets controlled or created by the authority will also help to secure the value of any bonds.

The authority will work to reduce the amount of time and review required for lower-impact wireless facilities in wireless permitting processes at the state and local level.

The Vermont Public Service Board in 2006 allowed Verizon to set rates in excess of its costs in exchange for a commitment to expand broadband availability from 56% of its Vermont lines in 2005 to 65% of its Vermont lines by 2007, 75% by 2008, 77% by 2009, and 80% by 2010. The commitment requires Verizon to expand an unregulated service, broadband Internet access, in areas that it did not find sufficient market motivation to serve prior to the commitment.

Vermont's Broadband Grant Program, which provides grants in increments of up to $50,000, has granted $550,000 over the past three years. The program favors projects that bring last-mile connectivity to unserved areas of Vermont. Grants are issued to towns where the private market is unlikely to provide broadband services.                    

VIRGIN ISLANDS                 

In 2005, Virginia became the first state to use tobacco settlement funds to build open-access broadband network. The Southside Regional Broadband Initiative (previously called the Regional Backbone/Roots of Progress) is using $12 million in state funds to build a 700-mile fiber-optic network connecting five cities, 20 counties and 56 industrial parks in southern Virginia. The purpose of this investment is to ignite commerce and economic growth in the region by allowing communities to more effectively compete for new jobs, attract technology-based industry and retain skilled labor.

Also, in June 2007, the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative (MBC), in conjunction with the Virginia Tobacco Commission (VTC), awarded five projects to private sector broadband providers to test various approaches for enabling broadband expansion in rural markets. The VTC provided $1 million in 50% matching capital funds to encourage private sector telecommunications companies to invest in infrastructure to serve the last mile. As a result of this program, over 7,000 households and businesses will have access to advanced high-speed Internet services provided by private sector telecom companies.                

WASHINGTON                     

West Virginia's legislature passed the ETOPIA bill, Senate Bill 748, but the Governor vetoed it.  If enacted, the bill would have created a think-tank to explore best-practices for creating public-private broadband partnerships. The bill would have given county and municipal governments authority to create public-private partnerships to provide cable, telecommunications, wireless and broadband Internet network services. The state would issue bonds to initially fund the technology infrastructure. The long-term goal for ETOPIA legislation is for the infrastructure to become a revenue stream and not be maintained by state tax dollars.               

WISCONSIN                      

WYOMING                        

California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Vermont have bodies to focus on broadband.

Set a goal for broadband adoption/availability: California, Kentucky, Maine, New York, North Carolina, and Vermont.

Creation of a new body focusing on broadband: California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Vermont.

Funding broadband access with grants or low‐interest loans: California, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Vermont.

Regulatory bargains: telephone companies have been required to deploy greater broadband in return for reduced regulatory requirements: California, Illinois, Maine, and Vermont.

Streamlining uses of rights-of‐way (both state and municipal): California, Maine, and Maryland.

Public-private cooperation: California, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Mapping of broadband facilities: California and Kentucky.

E-awareness: educating communities of the importance and/or availability of broadband to increase adoption: California, Maine, New York, and North Carolina.

Tax credits for investments in broadband facilities: California, Wisconsin and Idaho.

Focus on extending middle-mile fiber connectivity: Maryland, Ohio, and Virginia.