Puerto Rico Telecom Conference 2011

The New Future
By Wil Payton, Communications Specialist, Connected Nation

Things are gearing up for the Puerto Rico Telecom Conference 2011 that is being hosted by the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce (PRCC) on November 9 in San Juan.

This event is designed to provide opportunities for exchanging ideas about how telecommunications technologies, greater Internet access, and online information flow can help companies to communicate, transact and innovate.

The conference will provide a unique opportunity to share insights and ideas with colleagues and peers, and network with visionaries, including expert speakers, key stakeholders, and business leaders redefining the digital world. Some 300 executives and entrepreneurs from the telecom and technology sector will attend the conference.

One conference session of broad scope is Broadband Innovation and Expansion in Puerto Rico. It will be moderated by Juan Aguayo-Leal, Industrias Puertorriqueñas de PRIDCO. Invited panelist include: Sandra E. Torres López, Esq., President of the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board, Juan Eugenio Rodriguez, Puerto Rico Chief Information Officer, and Oscar Jiménez, President of INTECO.

The subject during the lunch session will be Puerto Rico in Obama’s Broadband Plan and the invited keynote speaker is Anna M. Gómez, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Deputy Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce.

To register click here.

Making Universal Service Truly “Universal”

By Tom Koutsky, Chief Policy Counsel, Connected Nation

This month the Federal Communications Commission is poised – at last – to take a strong and definitive step forward in shifting the nation’s complex subsidy system for telephone service to one that directly supports broadband. Reforming this system is important, as there are significant differences in broadband availability across the country. Undertaking that reform is difficult and complex – as one would expect with any $8.7 billion per year subsidy program.
But as a society, we cannot not lose sight of the gaping broadband adoption and utilization gap.

As Connected Nation’s Consumer Broadband Adoption Trends report shows, more than 1/3 of Americans have not adopted broadband. Wide swaths of our society are at risk of being left behind – an Internet underclass that could have a longstanding, significant, and detrimental economic and social impact.
Even a sample of these gaps is startling:

• 31.6 million rural residents do not subscribe to broadband – more than the population of Texas and Wisconsin combined.
• Only 38% of low-income households in Iowa have broadband at home.
• Only 15% of low-income seniors in Nevada subscribe to broadband.
• 17 million children don’t broadband at home, 7.6 million of them in low-income households.
• Barely half of Hispanic households (51%) subscribe to broadband.
• 15.4 million adults say that the lack of digital skills is the reason they don’t subscribe to broadband.
• Our study also shows that the barriers to broadband adoption are complex – cost is important, but so are digital skills, training, and awareness.

To achieve truly “universal” broadband, our society needs to do more than make sure that broadband networks are available – we need to make sure that adoption and use is universal as well. While networks are expensive to build, building them may in fact be the easy part – cracking the code on making sure all Americans use this technology is the key to unlocking the economic and social value of those networks.

To meet this challenge, last week Connected Nation was pleased and proud to have joined with the FCC, private companies, and other noted non-profits in the Connect To Compete initiative, which will promote digital literacy efforts nationwide.

And yesterday, Connected Nation, with the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and One Economy, have endorsed an innovative approach to broadband adoption suggested by Aspen Institute Fellow Blair Levin, leader of the National Broadband Plan effort. Because the nation’s adoption and use challenge is multifaceted, this proposal would provide federal support to a myriad of both large and small-scale public-private adoption programs. Support for public-private adoption programs would be awarded through a competitive application and review process, similar to the Department of Education’s Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation (i3) grant programs.

These adoption programs can and should work in concert with subsidies for building networks. A low adoption rate directly affects the economics of broadband deployment.

One example is Puerto Rico, where we are working directly with the government and stakeholders in their broadband strategic plan. Forty percent of Puerto Rico households are below the poverty line, and the overall household broadband adoption rate is only 31%, less than half of the national average. Does anybody doubt that these low adoption numbers help account for the fact that broadband availability in Puerto Rico, at even the most basic of speeds, is far, far behind every state? And since it’s so obvious, wouldn’t it be foolish to subsidize network construction in Puerto Rico without establishing a comprehensive broadband adoption and training program at the same time?

The pattern applies across the country. Low adoption rates are partly responsible for lagging investment in broadband capacity. As such, promoting adoption should be an integral part of the FCC’s strategy to ensure universal broadband access at ever higher speeds. This is why Connected Nation and our partners support Blair Levin’s proposal.

More Than 443,000 Children in Puerto Rico Lack Access to Broadband Internet

Current U.S. Census statistics report that Puerto Rico has 431,712 families with children (AVG 1.77 children) do not have broadband at home.

In the 2010 Connect Puerto Rico Residential Technology Assessment data indicated that over 250,608 households, or roughly 443,000 children (AVG 1.77 x 250K), do not have broadband service at home.

Broadband has the potential to become a critical key for opening doors to social inclusion and economic empowerment. The lack of this essential utility places households at a distinct disadvantage.

Our research estimates that of the approximately 17 million children nationwide who do not have broadband at home, 7.6 million are in low-income families. The majority of those disconnected low-income children are ethnic minorities — approximately 1.75 million African-Americans and 2.9 million Hispanic children. These children simply do not have the ability to do online research, complete assignments, or interact with their teachers and fellow students on-line at home.

Studies have shown that children without broadband access are less likely to graduate high school, and when those children enter the workforce, their employment potential is significantly diminished.

Help us continue to bring broadband to more homes and businesses in Puerto Rico by getting involved.


Follow Connected Nation and Connect Puerto Rico on Twitter.

Puerto Rican Businesses Use Broadband in Unique Ways

Puerto Rican businesses use technology in ways that make the territory stand out and highlight ways that the territory’s unique character has influenced its workforce. To better understand the impact that broadband has had on Puerto Rico’s business landscape, Connect Puerto Rico conducted a Business Technology Assessment of 814 Puerto Rico business establishments in 2010. Some of the findings are displayed below:

• Nearly seven out of ten (69%) Internet-connected businesses utilize online banking. This is the most-cited use of the Internet among businesses in Puerto Rico

• Many Puerto Rican businesses are new broadband adopters, as Puerto Rican businesses are significantly more likely than average to say they began using broadband less than a year ago

• Among small Puerto Rican businesses (those with fewer than five employees), businesses that sell goods or services online report that over one-third (36.3% on average) of their sales revenues come from online transactions

• In addition, broadband helps empower Puerto Rico’s workforce by enabling workers to telework. Across Puerto Rico, 13% of businesses (approximately 6,000) allow employees to telework. By comparison, 23% of businesses in states/territories served by Connected Nation allow their employees to telework.

Help us continue to bring broadband to more homes and businesses in Puerto Rico by getting involved. Follow Connected Nation and Connect Puerto Rico on Twitter.

President Obama Makes Milestone Visit to Island; Puerto Rico Broadband Task Force Holds Meeting

Today, President Barack Obama is making the first official visit to the island of Puerto Rico by a US president in 50 years.

President Obama’s trip is bringing emphasis to the new economy and the importance of broadband, technology, and innovation – goals that the newly created Puerto Rico Broadband Task Force is tackling.

In his prepared remarks, President Obama calls out the importance of broadband:

“(W)e’ve been trying to make sure that every family on the island can find work and make a living and provide for their children. …That’s why we’re increasing access to broadband and investing in education. …We’re giving Puerto Ricans the tools they need to build their own economic futures.”



The day before the President’s visit, the Puerto Rico Broadband Task Force held its second meeting in San Juan with a focus on preparing for the knowledge economy through broadband.

One of the outcomes of the task force's efforts is going to be a strategic broadband plan for sustainable technology expansion on the island.

Already, Connect Puerto Rico is leading the effort to increase technology use and availability across the island. Currently, Connect Puerto Rico is studying and assisting the government in its effort to make technology a key driver of the economy, conducting residential and business technology assessments on the island.

According to these studies, only 31% of all island residents subscribe to home broadband service. By comparison, surveys show that 67% of American households subscribe to home broadband service.

Contributing to the low adoption rate is the lack of access to a home computer. Island-wide, only 55% of all residents own a home computer. This translates into more than one million adults without a home computer, with more than half of those residents saying they do not believe they need a computer.

On the business front, an estimated 12,000 Puerto Rico businesses do not use broadband. For broadband-connected businesses in Puerto Rico, median annual revenues are $200,000 more than for businesses that don’t use high-speed Internet.

Broadband Map Launched in Puerto Rico

San Juan, PR — Puerto Rico launched its first island-wide broadband availability map. The web-based map gives a preliminary view of the broadband landscape in Puerto Rico. Through an application called BroadbandStat, the map is fully interactive and puts powerful tools and information directly into the hands of anyone interested in knowing what services are available and where the opportunities for expansion exist.

Puerto Rico Chief Information Officer Juan Rodríguez says his aim is to achieve 60% broadband adoption by 2012. “As the broadband highway continues to be built, we need to foster broadband adoption to create demand,” he says in an exclusive interview with Caribbean Business magazine. But first, he says, “…we need to know where we are in terms of infrastructure availability, and then we can reach out to the citizens who don’t see the value of the Internet…”(Caribbean Business, Gina M. Hernandez, 09/16/2010)

The goal for the initiative is to increase broadband availability and adoption across the island and link every community in Puerto Rico to economic opportunity.

The Connect Puerto Rico website featuring BroadbandStat is available in both Spanish and English versions at http://www.connectpr.org/ (English) and http://es.connectpr.org/ (Spanish).


Related Link:
Caribbean Business Editorial