THIS SITE IS NO LONGER MAINTAINED BUT REMAINS ONLINE FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY
August 2011: Governor Abercrombie announces Hawaii Broadband Initiative
July 2011: University of Hawaii Joins Gig.U initiative
May 2011: HB1342 enacted as Act 151 - Eases broadband permitting and pole access
December 1, 2010: Initial Hawaii Broadband Maps Released
September 10, 2010: Broadband Stimulus Grant Announced to Connect Public Schools, Libraries, Colleges with Fiber Optics at Gigabit Speeds
July 6, 2010: HB2698 Enacted as Act 199 - Begins implementation of activities to achieve Hawaii's broadband goals; adds the funtions of telework promotion and broadband assistance to the State Dept of Commerce and Consumer Affairs; establishes a telework promotion and broadband assistance advisory council.
March 2010: Hawaii Application to Google Fiber for Communities Program
June 30, 2009: The Hawaii Broadband Task Force has sunsetted after two years of existence, as specified when it was created. This site remains as a historical record with only key Hawaii broadband milestones after this date noted above.
December 31, 2008: Final Report of the Hawaii Broadband Task Force
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HBTF in the News
Aug 4, 2009: Broadband in Hawaii
Apr 2, 2009: Hawaii Public Radio Town Square Discussion of Broadband Bill (~1hr)
Mar 20, 2009: Hawaii Broadband Efforts Can Unlock New Potential
Feb 25, 2009: Hawaii Broadband on the Hot Seat
Feb 5, 2009: SpeedMatters Report on HBTF
Feb 2, 2009: Honolulu Advertiser Editorial Support on Task Force Report
Feb 1, 2009: Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editorial on Importance of Broadband
Jan 29, 2009: InformationWeek on Hawaii's Broadband Plans
Jan 27, 2009: Honolulu Advertiser Editorial on State-of-the-State including Broadband
Jan 27, 2009: Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editorial on State-of-the-State including Broadband
Oct 21, 2008: Presentation by Chair to Hawaii Telecoms Association
Sep 30, 2008: Senator Inouye's Broadband Data Improvement Bill Passes
Aug 18, 2008: Cisco Exec Warns Hawaii Broadband Task Force about Bandwidth Needs
Aug 13, 2008: Hawaii Broadband & Task Force on Bytemarks Cafe (about 20 mins after start)
Aug 8, 2008: Pacific Business News Story on Hawaii Broadband Task Force
Hawaii's Broadband Task Force was established through Act 2 of the First Special Session of 2007. Official agendas and minutes of the Task Force are posted on the meetings page of the web site of the Office of the Auditor. Copies of most presentations given at Task Force meetings are available in the Documents section of this web site.
The working vision statement established by the Task Force is: "Hawaii understands that advanced broadband is essential infrastructure for the innovation economy and knowledge society of the 21st century. As a result of proactive policy initiatives, Hawaii residents and businesses throughout the State have access to advanced broadband services of the caliber and at at the pricing available in the leading developed nations of the world."
The initial interim report of the Task Force was provided to the 2008 Legislature. The final report was submitted in December, 2008. Legislative bills to implement key Task Force recommendations were introduced in January 2009 by the State Administration, Senate Majority, House Majority and House Minority. No bills had passed by the end of the 2009 Legislative Session, however at the time of the sunsetting of the Task Force on June 30, 2009, HB984 remains alive for the 2010 Legislative Session.
Coming Events
State Task Forces and Initiatives
- National Conference of State Legislatures Broadband Policy Page
- National Governors Association Report on States' Broadband Strategies
- Alliance for Public Technologies/CWA Summary of State Broadband Initiatives
- California
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Vermont
Hawaii Broadband News
- Hawaii - American Samoa Fiber Landed
- Governor's Jan 28 Broadband Press Conference
- Oceanic Upgrades to Enable 20Mbps Download Speeds in 2009
- PC Magazine Ranks Hawaii Broadband Speeds 49 out of 50 States
- Akamai's 2nd Study Reports Hawaii STILL Last in Percentage Connections at 5Mbps or More
- Hawaii One of 24 States with DECREASING Effective Download Rates
- Google's Fiber Plans to Bypass Hawaii
- Undersea Fiber Creating Trade Routes for This Century?
- Trials of Getting Broadband Access in Rural Hawaii
- New Fiber System: SoutheastAsia - Hawaii - USmainland
- New Australia - Hawaii Fiber System
- French Polynesia-to-Hawaii Fiber System
- Hawaii's Broadband Competition Inches Up the Megabits
National Broadband News
- Time-Warner Cable Exploring Fiber-to-the-Home Approaches - Hawaii as a Model?
- More on Time-Warner's Exploration of FTTH
- A Plan to Extend Super-Fast Broadband Connections
- Toward Consensus on a National Broadband Strategy?
- Why Broadband Matters - Summary by Charles Benton
- Expert Policy Paper on Open Access Fiber Networks
- Building a 21st Century Broadband Superhighway
- U.S. Drops Further in Broadband Rankings
- U.S. 16th in Broadband Speed in Oxford/Cisco Study
- Broadband Would Provide Annual Economic Stimulus of $134 Billion - $578 Million in Hawaii
- Telemedicine over "Smart Networks" Could Save $197B over 25 Years
- Broadband Could Reduce Greenhouse Gases by 1 Billion Tons
- Verizon Saves Money Replacing Copper with Fiber
- Study Calls for 1Gbps Broadband for U.S.
- Achieving Competitive Speeds will Require a Full Fiber America
- Blueprint for Big Broadband Not Big Enough
- NATOA Releases Principles for Broadband
- No Consensus Yet on State Broadband Strategies
- Structural Separation - How U.S. Regulation Has Gone Wrong
- Time Warner Cable Upgrades to DOCSIS 3.0 to be Competitively Surgical
- Own your Own Fiber Connection?
- Lack of Coordination of Broadband Nodes Leads to Visual Blight
- Post-mortem for Broadband over Power Lines (BPL)
International Broadband News
- Australian Govt to Sponsor High-Speed National Broadband Network
- KDDI to Launch 1Gbps Residential Services in Japan for 5985 Yen, including Voice
- Korea Plans for 1Gbps Broadband Services by 2012
- Intl Telecoms Union Advocates Infrastructure Sharing to Reduce Costs
- Open Access FTTH in Amsterdam
-
Latvia FTTH to Boost Speeds from 100Mbps to 500Mbps
- Getting to Open Networks for Economic Stimulus - Australia's Challenges
- Own (or Control) Your Internet Access -- How to Share Fiber
- OECD Broadband Portal
- ITIF Report on Why the US Lags Internationally
- How Other Countries Do Broadband Better
- Coming Soon: 1Gbps Symmetric Fiber Services. Just not in the U.S.
-
- OECD: Japan, Korea lead in fiber-optic broadband
- Swisscom to Deploy Fiber to Households
- Growth in Fiber-to-the-Home Outpacing Cable Modems
- New Zealand's Research Network Launches Nationwide IPTV Service
- Australia Opens Bids for Broadband Network to Improve Competitiveness
- Australia Shows How Real Broadband Policy Works
- Singapore Investing in Open Fiber to Every Home by 2015
- Plans for Open Fiber to the Home for all of New Zealand
- France's Competitive Fiber-to-the-Home Offerings and Prices (!!!)
- Hong Kong Abandons Mere 10Mbps Connection Service
- Conference Highlights Models for Fiber-to-the-Premises
- European Commission Develops New Broaband Performance Index
- NTT DoCoMo to Offer Super3G in 2009?