SRPC Moves Forward with Regional Broadband Plan

SRPC first became involved with the UNH Broadband Center Of Excellence (BCOE) during the process of conducting a focus interview with founder Rouzbeh Yassini, and two colleagues from the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory.  These interviews were designed to gauge current use, and future needs of and for broadband in various professional sectors. SRPC had another opportunity to engage with the UNH BCOE recently as we were invited to their event officially launching the organization (see SRPC’s previous blog post for a more in depth summary of the conference which was held on October 1, 2013-https://straffordrpcnh.gov/magazine/broadband-center-of-excellence-conference/).

As part of our implementation effort for the Strafford Regional Broadband Plan we have been exploring the application of broadband to address current and future uses, needs, and barriers. One idea is to foster the continued growth of the relationship between SRPC and the BCOE. This relationship would be beneficial moving forward as we share the same goal for the advancement of broadband as critical national infrastructure. The BCOE addresses this goal in their recent publication titled Broadband 2020, Achieving Ubiquity (http://unhbcoe.org/sites/unhbcoe.org/files/bcoe_broadband_2020_final.pdf). This document looks at the concept of ubiquity through: availability of services, adoption of broadband services, affordability, performance (including speed and type of applications being used), ease of use, services, and the goal for expanded broadband application and implementation by 2020. SRPC will be addressing similar concepts in our Regional Broadband Plan that support the BCOE’s innovative and informative resource.