【正文】 eporting every 15 minutes, helps EPB monitor and respond to outages, emergencies, and electricity theft in real time. EPB‘s smart grid has cut duration of power outages by 60 percent, saving local businesses and industry an estimated $45 to $60 million. With the monitoring system in place, EPB crews can also respond in a targeted fashion during emergencies, helping families and businesses cope with tornados and other natural disasters. 21 Wilson, NC: Municipal broadband encourages private petition In November of 20xx, Wilson‘s City council voted unanimo。 and online games that allow users to interact with one another in a virtual environment. 6 Economic studies confirm that broadband Inter creates significant value for consumers and makes an important and rapidly growing contribution to GDP. For example, one study of expenditures for Inter access estimates that as of 20xx – before the widespread availability of streaming audio and video – broadband Inter accounted for $28 billion in . GDP. That study also found that broadband created an additional $5 to $7 billion in consumer surplus in 20xx, meaning that consumers would have been willing to pay that much more for the Another industrysponsored study from 20xx estimates that broadband creates $32 billion in annual consumer While these studies estimate consumer surplus by examining price sensitivity, another approach is to examine the amount of time users spend online, leading to estimates of $2,500 to $3,800 in value peruser peryear, which imply total consumer surplus in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Over the longer term, broadband adoption also fuels a virtuous cycle of Inter innovation. This cycle begins when new applications of the Inter create demand for more bandwidth, resulting in a wave of worklevel innovation and infrastructure investment. As more bandwidth bees available, applicationsector innovators find new ways to use that capacity, creating additional demand, leading to another round of work investment, and so on. While it is impossible to know what the next bandwidth hungry killer application will be — perhaps it will be the ―Inter of Things‖ or immersive virtual reality — both history and economic theory show that this virtuous cycle is a powerful driver of innovation and economic The recent history of wireless broadband provides a good example of the virtuous cycle of innovation and investment. Industry studies suggest that between 20xx and 20xx mobile applications development grew from almost nothing into a $20 billion industry, creating 311,000 . jobs in the This led to increased demand for wireless broadband, so that by 20xx private investment in new wireless infrastructure was $34 billion, more than the investments of the big three auto panies Challenges in Broadband Access and Adoption Since the President took office, national broadband availability has increased at all advertised speed Today, about 93 percent of Americans have access to wired broadband speeds of at least 3 Mbps downstream (. broadband that allows a user to download 3 megabits per second), and 99 percent of Americans have access to similarly fast mobile wireless broadband. This increased availability reflects both private and public investment, including the $4 billion invested through the National Telemunications and Information Administration‘s (NTIA) Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and $ billion invested through the . Department of Agriculture‘s (USDA) Rural Utilities Service Broadband Initiative Program (BIP), both part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 20xx, as well as $66 million through USDA‘s ongoing Community Connect grant program. 7 Share of US With Access to Various Download Speeds, 20xx Percent of US Population 100 80 60 40 20 0 3 to 6 6 to 10 10 to 25 25 to 50 50 to 100 100 Mbps ≥ 1 Gbps Mbps Source: NTIA Mbps Mbps Mbps Mbps to 1 Gbps Nevertheless, nearly 51 million Americans cannot purchase a wired broadband connection with download speeds of at least 25 Mbps, and only 63 percent have access to speeds of 100 Mbps or Moreover, the costs, benefits, and availability of broadband Inter are not evenly distributed. For example, the following two maps show the statelevel availability of broadband with download speeds of at least 3 Mbps, and at least 25 Mbps respectively as of June 20xx. The first map shows that most Americans have access to ―basic‖ broadband, though some work remains to fully connect the most rural states. However, there is considerable variation in the availability of 25 Mbps connections between states, with some reaching 95 percent peration and others offering this highquality service to less than 70 percent of households. 99 99 99 98 99 98 93 93 92 86 84 83 82 All Broadband Wireline Wireless 63 60 16 8 Urban and Rural Communities One factor that creates disparities in broadband access and adoption is the divide between urban and rural munities. While the gap for the most basic broadband speeds has almost closed (nearly 100 percent of urban residents have access to speeds of 6 Mbps or greater pared to 95 percent of rural residents), rural munities still enjoy far less access to higher speeds. The following figure illustrates this point: Broadband Availability in Urban and Rural Areas, 20xx Percent of Population 100 80 60 40 20 0 Sourc 97 100 95 94 94 91 70 51 47 Rural Urban 33 ≥ 3 Mbps ≥ 6 Mbps ≥ 10 ≥ 25 ≥ 50 ≥ 100 ≥ 1 Gbps e: NTIA Mbps Mbps Mbps Download Speed Mbps 9 The gap in broadband availability between urban and rural munities is linked to the economics of work investment. The costs of providing a conne