Broadband Advisory Council Meeting

November 19, 2020 Virtual Meeting

Attendance Members Present: Kurtis Danka, Miles Ellenby, Joseph Franell, Michael Heffner, Galen McGill, Lonny Macy, Rick Petersen, Jeremy Pietzold, Cheri Rhinhart, Senator Arnie Roblan, and Dave Sabala.

Staff Present: Christopher Tamarin of Business Oregon

Guests: Jennifer Brecker and Barbara Cannady, Rep. Mark Owens Office; Peter Cohen, Marion County; Michael Curri, SNG; Steve Corbató, Link Oregon; Cynthia Gaffney, Digital Literacy and Broadband Access; Danielle Gonzales, Marion County; Bob Fletcher and Jay Gratchner, ; Scott France, SNG; Jennifer Groth, Rural Development Initiatives; Rebecca Gibbons, City of Portland; Jenna Jones, League of Oregon Cities; Lewellen, Oregon Cable Association; Kirk Nord, ; Rich Unrein, (CenturyLink); Barry Walton and Paul Lineback, Corning.

The meeting was called to order at 9:20 am.

Welcome, Introductions Chair Joe Franell called the meeting to order and asked for guest introductions.

Minutes Dave Sabala moved that the October 21, 2020 minutes be approved as distributed. Cheri Rhinhart seconded the motion. The council approved the motion.

National Broadband Activity Updates Chris Tamarin reported on the following national broadband activity regarding infrastructure deployment, technology, market trends, public policy, and illustrations of the value of broadband adoption and utilization since the council’s last meeting.

Federal Communications Commission 5G Fund for Rural America The Federal Communications Commission has adopted rules for creating the 5G Fund for Rural America, which will distribute up to $9 billion over the next decade to bring 5G broadband connectivity to rural America. The 5G Fund will use multi-round reverse auctions in two phases to target support from the Commission’s to eligible areas.

Phase I of the 5G Fund will target up to $8 billion of support nationwide to areas lacking unsubsidized 4G LTE or 5G mobile broadband, with $680 million specifically set aside for bidders offering to serve Tribal lands. Minutes

Phase II will provide at least an additional $1 billion, along with any unawarded funds from Phase I, to specifically target the deployment of technologically innovative 5G networks that facilitate precision agriculture.

The Order also requires 5G Fund winning bidders to deploy networks providing 5G mobile broadband at speeds of a least 35/3 Mbps and meet interim deployment milestones beginning at the three-year mark and a final deployment milestone at the end of the sixth year. Moreover, starting next year, carriers receiving legacy mobile high cost support must begin spending an increasing portion of their $382 million in support to bring 5G to rural, high cost areas. https://www.geospatialworld.net/news/fcc-establishes-a-5g-fund-for-rural-america/

RDOF Bidding has begun in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, which will target up to $16 billion to deploy networks to serve up to 10.25 million Americans that currently lack access to fixed broadband service meeting the Commission’s benchmark speeds. The auction has attracted significant interest, with 386 providers qualified to bid, representing a more than 75% increase over the number that qualified for the Commission’s successful 2018 Connect America Phase II auction.

Eligibility for participation is technologically neutral and open to new providers, and the bidding procedures prioritize bids for higher speeds (up to 1 Gbps). The auction will proceed using a multi- round, descending clock auction format in which bidders will indicate in each round whether they will bid to provide service to an area at a given performance tier and latency at the current round’s support amount. The auction will end after the aggregate support amount of all bids is less than or equal to the total $16 billion budget and competition for support in any given area no longer exists.

Additional information about the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I (Auction 904) can be found at: https://www.fcc.gov/auction/904

Connected Care Pilot Program The application window for the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot Program opened on November 6th. The application window for the program, which will support health care providers with as much as $100 million from the Universal Service Fund (USF) over a three-year period, will remain open through December 7, 2020 at 11:59 PM.

1. Connected Care will cover 85 percent of telehealth programs' connectivity costs, including patient broadband access services, provider broadband data connections, other connected care information services and certain network equipment.

2. The program will not fund telehealth devices such as end-user connected devices like tablets and remote patient monitoring equipment, medical equipment, provider administrative costs or personnel costs.

3. Connected Care is open to eligible providers in rural or non-rural areas but is limited to nonprofit and public providers including post-secondary educational institutions, teaching hospitals, medical schools, community health centers, rural health clinics and community mental health centers.

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 2 of 12 Minutes This program predates the pandemic crisis. In July, 2018, the FCC said it would seek $100 million to support telehealth for low income Americans, with an emphasis on veterans and residents of rural areas. https://www.telecompetitor.com/fcc-to-start-taking-applications-for-100m-connected-care-pilot- program/

FCC Expands TV White Space Use The FCC has officially amended its rules regarding TV white spaces, expanding the use of spectrum for unlicensed wireless services. The FCC believes that the new rules will allow for the delivery of broadband services in rural and underserved communities while also protecting broadcast TV stations and other licensed services from harmful interference.

The FCC says it will now allow for more flexibility in how wireless services are provided within white spaces. This includes increasing the maximum permissible power and antenna height for fixed white space devices operating in “less congested” areas in the TV bands; generally rural and unserved areas. Also, the minimum required separation distances between protected services and entities operating in the band and white space devices operating at the new higher power levels and higher heights above average terrain have been increased in an effort to ensure TV stations and protected from interference. https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/fcc-expands-tv-white-space-use-for-wireless-operations

FCC Releases Updated Broadband Form 477 Data The FCC’s Office of Economics and Analytics, Wireline Competition Bureau and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau issued a public notice on November 12, 2020, announcing the release of updated data on fixed broadband deployment and mobile voice and broadband deployment as of December 31, 2019, based on Form 477 data. Fixed deployment data includes revisions made by filers through October 8, 2020, and mobile deployment data includes revisions made by filers through May 28, 2020 news release. It will be interesting to see the reviews of the latest release.

5G Verizon 5G Home This month, Verizon’s 5G Home Internet will expand to parts of Atlanta, Dallas, and San Jose. That brings the number of cities where the fixed wireless service has a presence to 12. The service, which offers speeds as fast as 1 Gbps downstream and typical download speeds of 300 Mbps, is available for $50 per month to Verizon wireless subscribers and $70 to non-subscribers. The expansion of 5G Home Internet is related to the growth of Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband, which recently became available in 19 U.S. cities, 19 stadiums, six airports.

The carrier announced the launch of Verizon 5G Nationwide. The service, which runs on lower spectrum bands than 5G Ultra Wideband, is available to 200 million people in 1,800 cities nationwide.

Seventy percent of 5G Home customers who opt to self-install have been able to do so without assistance. Verizon is seeing average throughput of 1 Gbps on 5G Home, although the company is just citing 300 Mbps speeds when promoting the service.

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 3 of 12 Minutes The company also said that Ultra Wideband is available in parts of 55 cities. 5G Home Internet is not yet available in Oregon. 4G LTE Home Internet is available in Oregon. https://www.telecompetitor.com/verizon-5g-home-knows-the-way-to-san-joseand-atlanta-dallas- and-denver/

5G Penetration 5G will account for more than half of all mobile connections in North America within five years, according to a new 5G connections forecast from GSMA Foundation Intelligence report. GSMA is an association representing mobile operators worldwide.

In “Mobile Economy North America 2020,” the research firm predicts there will be 426 million mobile connections by 2025, with 51% of them 5G. By the end of 2022, 5G connections in North America are expected to exceed 100 million.

Reviewing 2019, GSMA Intelligence said that mobile technologies and services contributed over $1 trillion to the North American economy, representing 4.8% of the total Gross Domestic Product, while supporting more than 2 million direct and indirect jobs and more than $98 billion in taxes paid.

“5G will enable a new era of connectivity, resulting in an unprecedented demand for data and digital services,” said Mats Granryd, GSMA director general, in a prepared statement about the 5G connections forecast. “The report confirms that operators in North America will continue to be among the world leaders when it comes to 5G deployment. https://finleyusa.com/report-it-will-take-until-2025-before-5g-makes-up-half-of-all-mobile- connections/

UScellular 5G UScellular is still figuring out rural 5G fixed wireless. Market trials in 1Q 2021 will help it do that.

UScellular wants to test the elasticity of demand principal on 5G networks to determine how to allocate the right capacity for both mobile and fixed wireless into future 5G network builds in UScellular markets. Beyond high speed internet, UScellular sees 5G use cases as elusive for now not seeing a specific 5G use case that can’t be served with existing 4G LTE infrastructure. Though they haven’t seen the killer apps for 5G yet, they are confident that they will emerge. https://www.telecompetitor.com/uscellular-outlines-rural-5g-fixed-wireless-plans-ceo-says-other- 5g-use-cases-remain-elusive/

Starlink The new low earth orbit satellite broadband service from SpaceX, Starlink is expanding its beta program by thousands of additional subscribers. The beta expansion comes as current beta participants are revealing Starlink speeds in excess of 100 Mbps. Pricing for the beta phase of Starlink was revealed last week as $99 per month with a $499 equipment fee. Beta testers are expected to do self-installs, with the assistance of a Starlink app. Coverage is currently focused on northern territory, due to satellite coverage.

Starlink will need many thousands of low earth orbit satellites to cover the entire U.S. As of late October, the company had 895 in orbit, according to the Space Explored website.

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 4 of 12 Minutes

Starlink beta speeds are looking promising. A beta tester in Montana posted a Starlink speed test result of 174/33 Mbps. 39 millisecond ping. https://www.telecompetitor.com/spacex-starlink-beta-to-expand-speeds-showing-signs-of-100- mbps-or-more/

Electric Cooperatives Electric cooperatives are increasingly interested in becoming rural broadband providers as more opportunities for state and federal funding become available, panelists said yesterday during a session of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ 2020 Annual Meeting and Education Conference. There are more than 150 co-ops in 37 states that were deploying or currently offering broadband, and over 190 electric co-ops submitted and are approved to participate in the $16 billion RDOF auction.

COVID-19 continues to impact Usage Patterns Consumers are embracing broadband like never before during the COVID-19 pandemic, at least in markets served by tier 1 providers. Comcast just announced its best broadband quarter on record during 3Q 2020.

Comcast added 633K new broadband subscribers during the 3Q 2020, which is a record for the company. That increase more than offsets the 273K video subscription losses Comcast suffered during the same quarter. Counting business customers, Comcast now has over 30 million broadband customers, by far the largest broadband provider in the U.S. Usually, Comcast’s broadband gains overshadow broadband performance at rivals AT&T and Verizon. But broadband growth during COVID-19 is shared by all.

Combined, AT&T and Verizon added nearly 500K fiber broadband subscribers during the same quarter. Verizon saw 4x year-over-year growth in 3Q 2020 for new FiOS FTTP adds. Just between these three providers, close to 1.1 million new broadband customers were added in 3Q 2020.

There are several factors at play here helping drive broadband growth during COVID-19, including the massive shift to work from home for white collar workers during the pandemic. Broadband is an essential service like never before and the largest broadband carriers are benefiting.

Conditions created by COVID-19 are not all positive though. There still is a looming issue of non- pays among existing subscribers, millions of whom are facing financial difficulty because of the pandemic. It remains to be seen how the recession will ultimately impact the broadband industry. https://www.telecompetitor.com/broadband-surge-continues-amidst-covid-19-comcast-sees-best- broadband-quarter-ever/

Charter Spectrum Charter announced that it has surpassed two million customers for Spectrum Mobile. While that number is small in comparison with what major U.S. wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have achieved, it’s quite impressive considering the ultra-competitiveness of the U.S. wireless market and considering that the service is only offered within Charter’s cable and broadband footprint.

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 5 of 12 Minutes Charter and Comcast are best known as two of the largest cable companies in the U.S., but both have branched out into wireless and both have made steady progress in the mobile market. Comcast had 2.58 million mobile subscribers as of the end of third quarter. Smaller cable company Altice also has 162K wireless subscribers.

Charter began offering Spectrum Mobile in 2018, about one year after Comcast launched its mobile offering, dubbed Mobile. https://www.telecompetitor.com/cable-company-mobile-services-make-steady-progress- approaching-5-million-subs/

T-Mobile T-Mobile passed the 100 million subscriber mark at the end of 3Q 2020 thanks to subscriber adds of 2.035 million.

Those additions gives T-Mobile 100.4 million total subscribers across all its wireless categories, placing it firmly behind Verizon but ahead of AT&T in terms of national carrier size.

Much of the T-Mobile 100 million subscriber milestone comes from its acquisition of Sprint. T- Mobile reports 15% of Sprint postpaid customer traffic is now on the T-Mobile network and customer network migrations are underway.

In addition to T-Mobile touting its 100 million subscriber mark, it’s also touting its lead in 5G coverage, reporting its 5G network can now reach 270 million people across 8,300 markets. Its coveted mid-band spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, which provides the best mix of coverage and speed, covers 30 million people, the carrier reports. T-Mobile has been adding mid-band spectrum 5G markets rapidly, and expects to reach 100 million by the end of the year.

T-Mobile also recently launched fixed wireless service. The company says recent fixed wireless launches are laying the groundwork for what will eventually become a “nationwide 5G commercial launch of fixed wireless broadband.” T-Mobile’s current fixed wireless offer is based on 4G LTE. https://www.telecompetitor.com/t-mobile-crosses-100-million-subscriber-milestone-hints-at- nationwide-5g-fixed-wireless/

Digital Inclusion NTIA BroadbandUSA Announces New Digital Inclusion Webpage Mon, October 05, 2020 NTIA’s BroadbandUSA program has added a new digital inclusion section to its website. This webpage compiles resources and program information from federal agencies as well as state and local governments that are working across the country to close gaps in broadband adoption and use, affordability, access to devices, and digital skills. https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/digital_inclusion

AT&T Commits $10 Million to Support Education AT&T announced discounted unlimited wireless data plans and content filtering services for more than 135,000 public and private K-12 schools, colleges and universities for a limited time. The AT&T COVID-19 education offer is designed to help cope with the combined connection issues caused by COVID-19 and the digital divide. Under the AT&T offer announced today, for $15 a month, schools can migrate existing AT&T lines or activate new lines for students on a qualified unlimited

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 6 of 12 Minutes wireless data plan and content filtering service. Schools will have the option of adding a AT&T Moxee spot at no cost after bill credits. Two dozen student activations will qualify a school to activate a free line with the same services for one teacher. AT&T’s offer is good through December 29. Schools adding at least one line can activate additional lines for the same price for an additional two years.

In addition to offering the discounted plans, the carrier is pledging $10 million worth of free broadband connectivity and related resources to support disconnected at-risk students. The program will be administered with non-profit Connected Nation and will also expand the availability of tech-enabled tools and learning resources for students, teachers and schools. https://www.telecompetitor.com/att-commits-10-million-toward-broadband-to-support-education- amid-covid-19/

Municipal Broadband Municipal broadband had a big night on November 3rd, when voters in multiple cities across the country, including Chicago and Denver, approved referendums that could result in the creation of city-owned broadband networks by overwhelming margins. In Denver, residents voted to opt out of a state law that prohibits municipalities from investing in or building their own broadband network. Meanwhile, Chicagoans voted in favor of the city pursuing broadband internet connectivity for all residents. https://statescoop.com/chicago-denver-voted-to-take-broadband-seriously-on-tuesday/

Cyber Security Publicly disclosed ransomware attacks against entities in spanning more than three years overwhelmingly targeted the public sector, according to a report published by researchers at the University of South Florida. 78% of the attacks were on local-governments. The list of targets includes cities, towns, counties, school districts and the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. Ransomware targeting the U.S. public sector has shown few signs of slowing down in 2020, with attacks also surging against school districts and local officials resigning themselves to the extortion malware’s inevitability. https://statescoop.com/florida-ransomware-public-sector/

State Broadband Activity Updates Chris Tamarin reported the following state broadband activity regarding infrastructure deployment, technology, market trends, public policy, and illustrations of the value of broadband adoption and utilization since the council’s last meeting.

Made in Oregon Stores breached Customers of Made in Oregon Stores have become victims of fraud after their financial information was exposed in a sustained data breach. Data belonging to thousands of customers of Made in Oregon was compromised in a breach that lasted six months. Made in Oregon is a regional vendor with five stores in the Portland area. According to the gift retailer, an unauthorized party gained access to its e-commerce site between the first week of February 2020 and the last week of August 2020.

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 7 of 12 Minutes Made in Oregon sent letters to 7,800 customers who purchased gifts from its online store during the period when the breach occurred. Customers were warned that their name, billing address, shipping address, email address, and credit card information may have been compromised. Customers have been offered complimentary credit monitoring services for a year.

With consumers around the world increasing the amount of shopping they do online, attackers have naturally gone after online shoppers with sophisticated fraud campaigns. These trends are unlikely to slow down and are expected to continue producing more attacks targeting cloud applications for business and e-commerce sites for consumers. https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/oregon-retailer-suffers-sustained/

Baker Technical Institute is receiving a grant of $147, 203 from the USDA Baker Technical Institute is receiving a grant of $147, 203 from the USDA Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program to increase access to health care training for rural students in remote and frontier areas of eastern Oregon. Baker Technical Institute will establish a state-of-the-art distance learning system that will enable students to participate in health care classes remotely at four sites across eastern Oregon, including the Blue Mountain Hospital in John Day, Harney District Hospital in Burns, Morrow County Health District in Heppner, and Wallowa Memorial Hospital in Enterprise. This distance learning program will provide access to a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program and courses in phlebotomy, medical assistant training, emergency medicine, and medical terminology.

Oregon Innovation Grant Natural Resources Conservation Service recently awarded $79,194 to the Farmers Conservation Alliance and its proposal to leverage modern irrigation systems for several benefits — from water savings to expanding rural broadband internet service. Irrigation districts that convert open canals to more water-efficient pipelines could gain additional revenue by co-locating infrastructure from other utilities such as electrical lines or fiber optic internet cables, according to the nonprofit Farmers Conservation Alliance.

The model is now being put to the test as part of a project with the East Fork Irrigation District in Hood River, Ore., funded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. As part of the grant, two empty conduits will be placed alongside the new pipeline, which the district could later lease to electric and fiber optic companies. Not only would it be cheaper for utilities to take advantage of the conduits, as opposed to designing and building an entirely new project, but Horton said the revenue could help the district cover the cost of future irrigation upgrades.

Cost savings for service providers, in turn, would help to keep rates affordable and bridge the "digital divide" in rural communities. In Oregon alone, there are hundreds of miles of irrigation system pipelines to be installed over the next couple of years. https://www.capitalpress.com/state/oregon/nrcs-awards-five-innovation-grants-in- oregon/article_25ed41c4-243f-11eb-a991-f77b90c77900.html

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 8 of 12 Minutes Wireless Spectrum Licenses The Federal Communications Commission issued the first set of spectrum licenses through the agency’s first-of-its-kind Rural Tribal Priority Window to Tribal entities in Oregon and across the country. The FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau formally granted 154 applications for use of the 2.5 GHz band to help close the digital divide and provide broadband and other advanced wireless services, including 5G, to rural Tribal lands.

In Oregon, there were five licenses granted that will help the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Coquille Indian Tribe, Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation provide connectivity to their rural communities. These licenses provide for exclusive use of up to 117.5 megahertz of 2.5 GHz band spectrum that can be used by Tribes to connect their communities.

During the priority window, the Commission received over 400 applications to obtain overlay licenses for unassigned 2.5 GHz band spectrum to help address Tribes’ connectivity needs. FCC staff continues to review and process all applications filed in the priority window; more information on application processing and status may be found at www.fcc.gov/ruraltribalwindowupdates. https://ktvz.com/news/warm-springs/2020/10/23/warm-springs-other-oregon-tribes-among-first- to-receive-fcc-spectrum-licenses/

Wave Stonepeak, A private equity firm is paying $8.1 billion and assuming debt, to buy Wave, RCN, enTouch and Grande from TPG Capital. RCN, Grande, Wave and enTouch serve over one million customers with 23,000 miles of fiber across Chicago, Eastern , Massachusetts, New York City, Northern California, Oregon, , , DC, and Washington. With the strength of Stonepeak behind us, and looking at this business as an infrastructure business, this is going to allow us to continue to invest in a very strong and growing residential and commercial broadband space with industry leading customer satisfaction," https://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/private-equity-firm-forks-out-8-1b-to-buy-wave-rcn- entouch- grande?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiT1RGaE1tWTFZV0ZqT0RBMyIsInQiOiJVbGJFcDFvVmJXZThKODJhNnBt QTBVXC9ZTGVHZ0ZTVDdUYUpWQTB3aEw2QzdZWWI2aFdDYnJtSkxmbGc1NWxQUFdiZHNwZGFi MkJ6UERqV3E5NjlHM0JWS09XRUZMVGhxcVZCTHRJTFpFN205OWRoMGZUMHZySFFYV05QNFY yZXcifQ%3D%3D&mrkid=759461

Solar-powered trailers help fill internet dead zones in Sherman County A Sherman County project was covered recently by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Sherman County is turning to small solar-powered trailers to fill gaps in high-speed internet coverage in Oregon’s windswept wheat country. The challenge facing Sherman County and areas like it is both geographic and topographic. Sherman County relies on a fixed terrestrial internet system, in which hilltop towers broadcast internet signal to the surrounding area.

In this north-central part of the state, people often build homes between hills. Trees can grow there and the hills help block high winds. However, those same hills block radio signals. Fixed terrestrial internet is a line-of-sight technology. Connecting homes down in canyons isn’t as simple as

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 9 of 12 Minutes building more towers. Those require power, which is expensive and harder to come by in remote places. To the southeast of Sherman County, Wheeler County is Oregon’s least populous. It ran into the same issue a few years ago when it was trying to bring residents up to speed.

Sage Technologies worked with a Redmond-based solar company to devise a solution that would fit the terrain without the need for costly power from utility companies. What they came up with is a solar-powered trailer that can be easily moved to wherever the need is greatest. The sun hits a solar panel that charges batteries housed inside the trailer. Those batteries power an antenna mounted to the trailer’s exterior. The antenna catches signal from fixed towers and rebroadcasts it to homes in the newly established line of sight. The trailers bring the strength and stability of fixed towers to homes that can’t see them. A handful of trailers has kept remote Wheeler County homes connected to the internet for years. https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/16/rural-broadband-solar-power-sherman-county-oregon/

Presentations

Pandemic Impact on Fiber Deployment Barry Walton of Corning Optical Communications provided a briefing on the impacts of COVID-19 on fiber networks and deployments including an outlook for 2021.

The pandemic produced a surge in broadband demand. alone added 15 million subscribers during the early months. . demand reached new highs; in the first quarter of 2020, internet use in the U.S. & Canada grew between 40% and 50%. Use patterns changed with much more internet traffic has been moving upstream from homes to the network. Upstream traffic was up by 30% in the U.S. in March 2020, according to Nokia. Peak average usage for Virtual Private Networks increased by 81%, online gaming increased by 257% and online collaboration increased 1200%. Week day phone call volume increased to two times that of Mother’s Day and text messages increased to over 9 billion per day. User time spend on internet access devices increased by 122.6% on computers and by 87.5% on smart phones. The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) supply chain is being stressed worldwide.

The pandemic has accelerated the “Work from Anywhere” trend and adoption of the applications to support it. Government / public sector spending to address the digital divide is increasing and broadband is increasingly and widely viewed as essential service and infrastructure. The pandemic is driving increased broadband investment and infrastructure deployment. https://www.corning.com/optical-communications/worldwide/en/home.html

Broadband in a Post-Pandemic World Michael Curri of Strategic Networks Group, Inc. (SNG) https://sngroup.com/ provided a briefing on the impacts of COVID-19 on broadband. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the case for broadband is not just economic, but now existential. Investments in digital infrastructure cannot be put off. The escalating transition of work, healthcare and education to a digital platform has made broadband essential. It can no longer be considered a luxury. A new norm has emerged. Access to reliable internet has become a quality of life issue. Many are now working from home so there is a greater need for reliable residential internet access which is going to continue as the new normal.

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 10 of 12 Minutes Communities need to combine digital infrastructure with digital transformation to build an economic case for private investment. Connectivity is essential for rural businesses to enable on- line, e-commerce and cloud-based applications. Connectivity is essential to support staff at home and remote learners. Michael cited the estimate that $1.32 billion will be needed to build-out digital infrastructure (fiber) so that all Oregon households will have reliable 100/100 Mbps future ready service as reported in his Statewide Broadband Assessment and Best Practices Study. https://www.oregon4biz.com/assets/docs/SNGStudy2020.pdf

Work Session 2021 Tentative OBAC Meeting Schedule Thursdays, (Fourth Thursday of the Month) January 28 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting February 25 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting March No meeting April 22 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting May 27 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting June 24 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting July 22 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting August 26 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting September 23 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting October 27 (Wed) 1:15 PM to 3:15 PM Ashland Hills Hotel, Ashland November 18 9:15 AM to 12:15 PM Web-conference meeting December No meeting

Broadband in Oregon 2020 report Oregon Broadband Advisory Council’s 2020 Broadband in Oregon report to the Legislative Assembly on the affordability and accessibility of broadband technology in all areas of the state, and on broadband technology use in healthcare, energy management, education and government, and on the role of broadband in local, regional and state economies, economic development, public policy issues, and key broadband related challenges and opportunities and facing the state has been submitted, in care of the Joint Legislative Committee on Information Management and Technology was submitted.

Public Questions / Comments Danielle Gonzales of Marion County shared that despite the area devastation of the wildfires, the Detroit – Idanha fiber project is on track to be completed by the end of the year due to the collaborative efforts of the cities, county, Consumers Power and .

Meeting Schedule The November 19, 2020 meeting of the Oregon Broadband Advisory Council was held as a virtual on-line web-conference. The next meeting of the council will be held on Thursday, January 28, 2021 as a virtual on-line web-conference. Meeting information will be posted on the council website.

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 11 of 12 Minutes Approved by:

___Signature on file______January 28, 2021 Joseph Franell, Chair Date Oregon Broadband Advisory Council

__ Signature on file ______January 28, 2021 Christopher Tamarin Date Business Oregon

Oregon Broadband Advisory Council Meeting, November 19, 2020, virtual on-line web-conference Page 12 of 12