EuroWire November 2019

Transatlantic cable

The 2015-2016 decline in spending coincided with a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) move in 2015 to impose common carrier regulatory classi cation on broadband providers. Mr Brogan believes the question, with respect to the impact of regulation, is what investment would have been over the long term under di erent regulatory scenarios, if relevant factors remained constant. These factors include competition, nancial market developments, product cycles, government mandates and taxes. USTelecom’s analysis of 2017 broadband deployment data demonstrates the bene ts of broadband capital investment. The data shows more Americans with access to increasing broadband speeds, and the gap between rural and urban broadband availability continuing to narrow. At the end of 2017, nearly 99 per cent of American homes had access to a xed broadband network; 93 per cent had xed broadband available at speeds of 25/3 megabits per second (Mbps); and at least one mobile broadband network using 4G or higher was available to 99.8 per cent of American homes. At the same point, 86 per cent of Americans had a choice of at least two wired broadband networks at any speed; 56 per cent had a choice of at least two wired broadband providers at 25/3 Mbps; and 98 per cent of Americans had a choice of three or more mobile broadband providers. USTelecom’s analysis of the FCC deployment data shows the bene ts of competitive investment in the form of increasing speeds and upgraded networks. At the end of 2017, 88 per cent of US homes had xed broadband available at 100/10 Mbps – up by 18 per cent in the year – with FTTH ( bre to the home) reaching 31 per cent of US homes. The narrowing gap between urban and rural broadband deployment appears to be a bene t of private investment incentives, combined with targeted government support for broadband deployment in economically challenged rural areas. Mr Brogan believes that broadband investment remains critical to modernising the nation’s network infrastructure, concluding: “While progress is strong and ongoing, the need to upgrade networks is constant. Moreover, signi cant challenges remain in eliminating rural broadband gaps. It will be necessary to maintain a policy environment that encourages greater investment to meet ever-growing demand for data usage as well as the need to expand networks further into currently unserved areas.”

Energy

A growing energy industry for California There are opportunities for the Golden State that will utilise its natural assets while addressing its energy challenge. Having handed itself the goal of running on 100 per cent zero-carbon energy by 2045, California will need to use land previously dedicated to agriculture and horticulture to produce electricity. A new report from the Nature Conservancy, “Power of Place: Land conservation and clean energy pathways for California”, estimates an area of at least 1.6 million acres will need to be given over to solar panels and wind turbines. Ambitious? Perhaps. But water scarcity is an issue for the state, with groundwater levels dropping. For 50 years, California has been taking more water out of the ground than lters back into aquifers, and a state law demands water regulators nd a way to prevent the looming drought. According to a study by the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), farmers need to stop irrigating at least half a million acres, and that land could be used for renewable energy. Nathanael Johnson, writing for grist.org on 6 th August [“Low on water, California farmers turn to solar farming”], looked at farmers who are already turning to energy production over foodstu s. “California farmers have already begun embracing solar panels,” he wrote. “For some grower operations, installing a small number of solar panels has been a way to save on energy bills. A few years ago the Bowles Farming Company, near Los Banos, California, put up solar panels on four acres to partially o set the electricity needed for a new drip-irrigation system. Derek Azevedo, the executive vice president of Bowles, said the solar investment has paid o , and the company is planning on more panels.” However, the Nature Conservancy cautions of a negative impact on native ora and fauna: unless new solar operations are carefully sited, miles of panels will destroy wildlife habitat as well as take viable farmland out of production. Mr Johnson cited other enterprises that are taking these concerns seriously: “Maricopa Orchards, at the southern end of the Central Valley, is putting up 4,000 acres of solar panels, and setting aside 2,000 acres of habitat for kit foxes and burrowing owls, as environmental mitigation.”

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November 2019