While generally endorsing a long list of proposed last- mile broadband projects, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle urged the NTIA to be selective in funding efforts in his state. “I suggest that you give great weight to companies that are offering last mile proposals with ubiquitous coverage -- coverage of the areas both ‘in town’ (if needed) and in the rural areas surrounding the more populated municipalities,” he wrote. “Wisconsin does not need more providers just serving the county seats - it needs providers serving the entire counties.” Doyle singled out Hilbert Communications and OneProspect for proposing projects in generally rural counties that incorporate both fiber builds and wireless coverage. He also noted a project by the City of Madison to use a fiber backbone plus community wireless and one by the International Broadband Electric Communications to use broadband over power line technology to reach end users in several rural locations in conjunction with some electric cooperatives. The governor endorsed Marquette Adams Telephone Cooperative and Reedsburg Utility Commission proposals that extend fiber into areas adjacent to the telcos’ existing service areas. CCI Systems proposes to extend a fiber/coax hybrid network to certain communities in northern Wisconsin, he said. Doyle also noted middle-mile proposals that get the state’s backing have been proposed by the Wisconsin Department of Administration to extend fiber to an additional 82 educational facilities and 385 libraries that don’t have fiber, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents to create a Metropolitan Unified Fiber Network, a collaborative metro fiber network serving education, health, government and non-profit anchor institutions in the greater Madison metropolitan area, Central WI Communications d/b/a Solarus to connect on fiber rings a number of central Wisconsin communities and Kenosha County to build a system that will address public safety needs and backhaul opportunities with a combined fiber and wireless build-out proposal consistent with long range planning in southeast Wisconsin.

Hawaii recommended three broadband infrastructure projects to the NTIA. One, by the University of Hawaii, would connect the state’s K-12 public school system, statewide library system and its higher education system, all of which support the proposal. A second, by Gold Ivory, would link state and local emergency services providers in Maui, Kauai and Hawaii counties with a single secure broadband network dedicated to first responders, providing inter-island connectivity and operability, and adding coverage to remote areas. The project would link state and federal agencies and community-based services, creating 112 jobs and infusing $200 million into the state economy, Gov. Linda Lingle said. The project includes a 33 percent funding match of more than $85 million. A Hawaiian Telcom proposal to increase broadband service on the island of Hawaii could add 14 jobs and put $6.5 million into the state’s economy, Lingle said. The reviewers also recommended a public computer center proposal by the University of Hawaii that would create community technology hubs expected to add 85 jobs as well as additional indirect employment while pumping $28 million into the state economy, the governor said.

CHICAGO -- The need for a long-term and “holistic” commitment to spurring broadband is the most important lesson to be learned from international broadband comparisons, FCC broadband plan coordinator Blair Levin said at Supercomm Wednesday afternoon. “If this is just kind of a one-shot deal, five years from now it will just be like an infinite number of other things” that people talked a lot about but never accomplished, he said.

CHICAGO -- The need for a long-term and “holistic” commitment to spurring broadband is the most important lesson to be learned from international broadband comparisons, FCC broadband plan coordinator Blair Levin said at Supercomm Wednesday afternoon. “If this is just kind of a one-shot deal, five years from now it will just be like an infinite number of other things” that people talked a lot about but never accomplished, he said.

CHICAGO -- The FCC’s National Broadband Plan presents an opportunity to take on long-awaited revamps for the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation, said industry executives on a panel Thursday at Supercomm. But analysts said they were skeptical. “The realist in me doesn’t think it’s going to happen,” said Moody’s analyst Gerald Granovsky.

FCC commissioners gave little reason at Thursday’s meeting to believe that compromise is likely on net neutrality rules. The Democrats, led by Chairman Julius Genachowski, enthusiastically endorsed a rulemaking notice, which was published by the commission in near-record time. Republican Commissioners Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker, as expected, dissented on the substance of the notice. Genachowski had lobbied the two Republicans to endorse the notice, at least in part, or at least not criticize it sharply at the meeting.

FCC commissioners gave little reason at Thursday’s meeting to believe that compromise is likely on net neutrality rules. The Democrats, led by Chairman Julius Genachowski, enthusiastically endorsed a rulemaking notice, which was published by the commission in near-record time. Republican Commissioners Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker, as expected, dissented on the substance of the notice. Genachowski had lobbied the two Republicans to endorse the notice, at least in part, or at least not criticize it sharply at the meeting.

CHICAGO -- The need for a long-term and “holistic” commitment to spurring broadband is the most important lesson to be learned from international broadband comparisons, FCC broadband plan coordinator Blair Levin said at Supercomm Wednesday afternoon. “If this is just kind of a one-shot deal, five years from now it will just be like an infinite number of other things” that people talked a lot about but never accomplished, he said.

CHICAGO - Network neutrality rules could slow or “halt” progress toward a fully connected world, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said in a keynote speech Wednesday at Supercomm. “While this future is imminent, it is not inevitable, and the decisions we make today - as an industry and as a country - will determine whether the benefits of these transformational networks will be felt sooner or much, much later.”

CenturyLink representatives discussed the need for Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation “reform” in meetings with National Broadband Plan coordinator Blair Levin, Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett and others at the FCC, according to an ex parte letter. “In each of the meetings, we discussed CenturyLink’s business and experiences with the economics of delivering service in areas with low population densities,” the company said. “In particular, we discussed the need for second mile and middle mile support in unserved areas in order to fulfill the goal for universal broadband availability.”