Broadband Conduit Plan Could Be Added to Transportation Bill
Democrats and the telecom industry are pushing for “dig once” language to be added to the surface transportation legislation due for votes after Congress returns next week from recess. House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., has an amendment that would require states to evaluate including broadband conduit during the construction of federal highways. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mark Warner, D-Va., have a Senate amendment requiring states to include the conduit. CTIA, USTelecom and the Telecom Industry Association support the broadband conduit proposals, their officials said.
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Eshoo offered the dig-once language as an amendment last week to HR-7. Unlike Eshoo’s original bill (HR-1695), the amendment does not mandate installation of broadband conduit. Klobuchar and Warner require installation in the amendment they offered last week on the Senate transportation bill (S-1813). That amendment’s language is the same as the senators’ standalone bill, S-1939.
TIA supports either an evaluation or a mandate to install broadband conduit, said Dileep Srihari, TIA director of legislative affairs. “Passage of any version of this proposal in either chamber -- preferably both -- gets the issue into conference and greatly raises the chance of inclusion in the final package.” CTIA supports either approach, its spokeswoman said. “The idea is to facilitate the more rapid, lower cost of broadband, including the backhaul facilities that are used to connect towers."
The House Rules Committee postponed consideration of amendments when the House decided against voting on the transportation part of the bill. However, the House may consider the broader bill again as soon as next week, providing another chance for the Eshoo amendment, Srihari said. If the Rules committee determines the amendment is in order, it will be considered on the floor, a House Democratic aide said. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., last week was unable to call for votes on amendments to the Senate transportation bill. Negotiations are expected to resume after recess.
No Republicans have signed on as cosponsors to either the House or Senate “dig once” bills. Eshoo has 21 Democratic cosponsors on her bill, while Klobuchar has only Warner as a cosponsor. The issue hasn’t been tested extensively on the Hill, Srihari said. A vote on Eshoo’s amendment should flush out any opponents, he said.
A report by the Government Accountability Office on the broadband conduit proposal is expected later this year, a House Democratic aide said. House Commerce Committee Democrats requested the report last July. The FCC recommended “dig once” policies in the National Broadband Plan and Chairman Julius Genachowski urged action in a speech at the CES show last month. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has also supported the proposal.
"Dig once” would bring “huge long-term infrastructure cost savings while speeding deployment of high-speed broadband service,” TIA President Grant Seiffert said in a Feb. 14 letter to House Transportation Committee leaders. “The [Federal Highway Administration] has estimated that 90 percent of the cost of deploying fiber-optic cable along roadways is associated with digging up and repairing the road -- a cost which this proposal would reduce.” Requiring conduit installation would only add 1 percent to the cost of a project, Seiffert said.
"This common-sense amendment will go a long way in bringing broadband service to consumers more rapidly,” USTelecom President Walter McCormick said in a Feb. 15 letter to the House Transportation Committee. The amendment will reduce the cost of wireline facilities used by wireless and speed deployment of “intelligent transit systems, an important growth opportunity for the wireless industry,” CTIA President Steve Largent said in a Feb. 16 letter to Eshoo. Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., won’t take a position on the Eshoo amendment until the Rules Committee accepts it for a floor vote, a Mica spokesman said.