The Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy

Implementing the Broadband Stimulus:
Maximizing Benefits and Monitoring Performance

February 19, 2009 from 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM
The National Press Club - 529 14th Street, NW

Topics to be discussed include:

• What are the goals of the broadband stimulus package?
• The devil will be in the implementation details: The all-important rules and regulations.
• Setting goals and measuring effectiveness of the stimulus: How will we know if the stimulus is working as planned?

The conference will be co-hosted by the Georgetown Center for  Business and Public Policy and the The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI).

Agenda

9:00- 9:20 SETTING THE STAGE: Introducing the Issues

• John Mayo – Professor, Georgetown University’s McDonough Business School and Executive Director, Georgetown Center for Business & Public Policy
• Eli Noam – Professor, Columbia Business School and Director, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information

9:20 – 9:50 THE BROADBAND STIMULUS PACKAGE

• Summary of the plan
  • How much is available and how will it be disbursed?
  • What is the reasoning for creation of statutory goals that include broadband?

Moderator: Robert C. Atkinson – Director of Policy Research, CITI
Blair Levin – Managing Director, Stifel Nicolaus
Jessica Rosenworcel – Senior Communications Counsel, Senate Commerce Committee

9:50 – 10:30 ECONOMIC AND POLICY ANALYSIS OF THE STIMULUS

• What are the expectations regarding the economic impact of the broadband aspects of the overall stimulus bill?
• Are there any relevant lessons from earlier US broadband acceleration efforts?
• What can learn from other nation’s broadband programs (i.e, Japan, Korea, Sweden)? 
• How might broadband stimulus programs affect:
  • Telecom and internet competition?
  • Applications and content? 
  • US telecom equipment suppliers?
• What are likely to be the most effective ways to stimulate:
  • Deployment in unserved/underserved areas?
  • Availability of higher speed services?
  • Adoption by consumers not currently using broadband?
• How will accelerating broadband deployment create US jobs? What kind? How many? How quickly?
• What are the job-creation and other multiplier effects benefits to the broader economy of:
  • Deployment of broadband to currently unserved areas?
  • Higher speed broadband to already served areas?
  • Adoption of broadband by new users?
    

Moderator: Linda Garcia – Director of the Communication, Culture and Technology Program, Georgetown University

Raul Katz – Director of Business Strategy Research, CITI
Robert D. Atkinson – Founder and President, ITIF
John Horrigan – Associate Director, Research, Pew Internet and American Life Project
Michel Guite – President, Vermont Telephone

10:30 Break

10:40 – 11:20 THE ALL-IMPORTANT RULES AND REGULATIONS: The Devil Will Be in the Implementation Details

• What key decisions in the implementation stage will affect the success or failure of the broadband component of the stimulus bill?
• What role should federal and state agencies play in implementing the legislation? 
• What are the timelines for the implementing agencies? Can the schedules be met? 
•  Are the statute’s broadband speed thresholds “most of the time” minimums, tested averages, designed “up to” speeds, or something else? 
•  What is an “underserved” or an “unserved” area for purposes of stimulus support? 
•  Will “open access” or “non-discrimination” be required and how will the requirement be enforced?
  
  Moderator: John Mayo - Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy
  
  Jon Peha – Chief Technologist, Federal Communications Commission
  Carolyn Brandon – Vice President, Policy, CTIA
  Larry Sarjeant – Vice President, Federal Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Qwest
  Rick Cimerman – Vice President, State Government Affairs, National Cable & Television Association
  

11:20 – 12:15 SETTING GOALS AND MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STIMULUS: How Will We Know If the Stimulus Is Working As Planned?

• What useful lessons have been learned from RUS loan programs and Universal Service Fund and past social contracts?
• How will the benefits of accelerated deployment be valued and measured?
• How will we judge the success or failure of the broadband stimulus after four years?
  • Numbers of additional homes servable and served?
  • Cost per additional home?
  • Prices for various broadband offerings?
    

Moderator: Andrew Kreig - Senior Fellow, Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, Brandeis University & former President, Wireless Communications Association International

Dave Burstein – Editor, DSL Prime
Robert Crandall – Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Len Waverman – Dean of the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary
Scott Wallsten – Senior Policy Fellow, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy and Vice President for Research and Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute
Lynne Holt – Public Utility Research Center (PURC), University of Florida

12:15 – 12:30 CONCLUSIONS

For a save the date flyer, please click here.

Register here.

More information is also available at the CITI website.