Before service providers can complete their applications for the $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus funds, they need hard facts. Where will they build new networks? How many people in those areas would then buy into broadband? Will the results be worth the investment of time and money?
Pitney Bowes’ Business Insight (PBBI) division, which used to be Mapinfo, has beefed up its databases to answer those questions, and help operators complete their stimulus paperwork. PBBI had only a few weeks to bulk up its software once the federal government finally released its petition requirements.
Now, time is running out. Telcos and cablecos must submit their broadband stimulus documents by Aug. 14 – and make sure those documents contain detailed data. PBBI is helping its service provider customers do all of that. VON’s Business & Regulatory Editor, Kelly Teal, spoke with Steve Seabury, PBBI’s senior product manager, and Larry Martin, COO of the Gadberry Group, a data provider that partners with PBBI.
What common challenges and frustrations are providers encountering as they complete their applications?
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| PBBI's Steve Seabury |
SS: First, there’s a relatively short fuse. And within just a matter of weeks of the application being released, our phones have been ringing with a large chunk of our customers calling for information and guidance. That has been a challenge, the short timeline.
Another challenge has been that the application requires a set of data that really is an emerging standard – the block-level demographic counts. So many of our customers are going through a learning curve with that.
Explain what you mean by ‘block level.’
SS: The standard for demographics has traditionally been data at the block group level. There are approximately 210,000 block groups across the U.S., from Census-assigned geography. Contrast that to blocks, where there are approximately 8.2 million blocks across the U.S. So it’s a much more refined, much smaller geography, much more difficult to analyze and understand and appreciate, but also premium in the sense that there’s a tremendous amount of insight that can be gained.
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| Gadberry Group's Larry Martin |
LM:
This opportunity is very exciting but it came with a very short fuse, so data providers and technology providers have to be able to respond very quickly. ... I think this is doing exactly what the stimulus was intended to do and that is provide great access for consumers. And for businesses like ours, it gave us a great opportunity to build and deploy new products, which in turn stimulates the economy.Share some best practices advice for readers as we near the Aug. 14 deadline.
LM: At this point, I think it’s the interpretation of the application. For some providers I have talked to specifically, the search for information may have outpaced their due diligence on the application itself. What I mean by that is, just seeing the requirement of block-level information or business data or community anchor points, some may have a tendency to assume they understand what that means and where to obtain that necessary information. The requirements are not, in some cases, intuitive, so I would say spend more time in planning and prep before you launch on a data-gathering exercise.
