Adelstein Says Summit Needed to ‘Elevate’ Broadband Policy Debate
A national broadband strategy would fix many U.S. problems, even some that seem unrelated to telecom, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein told an Alliance for Public Technology forum Friday. Broadband deployment may have greater unintended benefits than phone rollout did, he said: “The profits [carriers] get don’t capture all the benefits to a broader society.” Adelstein suggested a national broadband summit involving the executive and legislative branches, state and local governments and the private sector. Such a meeting would “elevate the debate” and “make it clear how much of a national priority this is.”
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A national broadband plan could answer public safety concerns, giving first responders interoperable nationwide broadband networks, Adelstein said. “There’s a lot of talk about” public safety on the Hill, he said. “How about some federal investment instead of having to be held to the public-private partnerships which are clearly not attracting very much attention in our [700 MHz] auction?”
Broadband deployment could address many other hot-button political topics, Adelstein said. Nothing has brought more to the economy than telecom progress, particularly in the ‘90s and this century, he said. Rural areas’ dearth of broadband pushes jobs out of the country, he said; bringing broadband to rural regions could slow outsourcing. Broadband deployment can cut healthcare costs by letting more doctors work from home, he said. Broadband improves education by enabling distance learning, he said. Deployment might even forward environmental goals, because telecommuting would reduce energy use and U.S. dependence on oil, he said.
“Maybe broadband isn’t the top solution” for controlling healthcare costs, improving education or improving energy efficiency, Adelstein said, “but maybe it’s third or fourth on the list… It’s one of a host of solutions, and if you combine them all, the benefits are enormous to our future.”
The FCC needs Congressional help to improve broadband deployment, Adelstein said. Congress can assist with data collection, reform universal service to include broadband, and use tax laws to encourage investment in broadband for underserved areas, he said. Meanwhile, the FCC must increase its minimum speed for broadband, he said. The “anemic” 200 kbps definition is “becoming a joke,” he said.
It’s “very disappointing” that no one has met the D- block reserve in the 700 MHz auction,” since it could have created a “third channel” of broadband, Adelstein said. “Clearly we miscalculated how the rules were established for the D block.” If the D block doesn’t sell, the Commission needs to “go back to our friends in public safety” and talk about how to make rules more attractive to private capital, he said. The FCC must act fast, he said. Getting interoperable broadband to public safety should be “on the fastest of fast tracks,” he said.
Adelstein condemned an NTIA report that said no new policy is needed to speed broadband deployment. “I respectfully disagree,” he said. There’s too much debate about international rankings, and not enough about how to improve broadband in the U.S., he said. Regardless of rankings, the U.S. is behind and falling, he said. He’s “tired” of the argument that the U.S. is more rural than other countries, he said. “Well if that’s the problem, we need to redouble efforts,” not use it as an “excuse,” he said.
Federal Support Lacking
“Cities are on their own” when it comes to broadband buildout, said Graham Richard, former mayor of Fort Wayne, Ind., in a keynote. Richard worked with Verizon to upgrade Fort Wayne’s Internet infrastructure; he had no federal help, he said. Broadband is an “energizing economic asset,” on par with ports and airports, but Washington will move nationally only if it first sees broadband solving local problems, he said. “I'm a bit jaundiced about it,” he said. “My highest frustration is with Washington being AWOL for cities and towns in this country.”
Federal support also is missing for tribes, said National Indian Telecommunications Institute President Karen Buller in a panel. Fewer than 1 percent of Navajo have broadband in the home, she said. A partnership between the Navajo, federal government and telcos could fix the problem, she said.
The U.S. needs a national broadband strategy, other public interest group officials said in the panel. “We don’t lack for ideas,” said Kenneth Peres, an economist with the Communications Workers of America. “We lack the will and the resources.” A national plan should assess where broadband is needed and at what speeds, increase investment, encourage adoption through demonstrations and tax incentives, and assign a national coordinator, Peres said. The government should treat broadband as it does roads, bridges and ports, he said. Lack of a broadband plan put the U.S. behind other countries, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. The U.S. must add broadband to universal service and encourage public-private partnerships, he said.
To encourage a federal plan, it’s important to emphasize the “personal side of policy,” said Alliance for Public Technology’s Joy Howell after the forum. Howell recently ran an online contest collecting stories about how broadband access improved people’s lives. “In Washington here, we kind of lose sight of that sometimes,” she said. “We get into an esoteric discussion of how many bits per second and whether or not we ought to do this or that, or is this too much regulation or too little.” APT plans to give congressional briefings on broadband’s personal impact every month for the rest of the year, she said.