Broadband Infrastructure Push Raises Questions of Structure, Size at USTelecom Event
Efforts to boost broadband in an infrastructure bill have appeal but face differences and uncertainties over the initiative's structure and size, speakers at a USTelecom event Thursday indicated. A telco executive urged using existing funding mechanisms and new tax incentives; a Senate Democratic staffer cited a plan to provide $20 billion for broadband through executive branch programs (see 1701240067); a House Republican staffer said his members are seeking to encourage broadband but are still working on a plan; and a Trump transition team member opposed repeating the 2009 broadband stimulus approach. The member said FCC restructuring should include an economics bureau; and an AT&T official cited its gigabit-speed efforts in six North Carolina cities.
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Policymakers should take a two-track broadband approach, said Kathleen Abernathy, Frontier Communications senior adviser and a former FCC commissioner. On the funding side, they should "work within the existing framework," such as commission USF programs, to speed deployment, rather than reinventing the wheel. She also backed "business-friendly" tax credits and depreciation incentives for broadband investment that allow companies to figure out the market specifics and avoid government waste and abuse. Even without targeting broadband, infrastructure funding would "touch broadband in ways we're not aware of" because of its importance to other things, she said.
Smart City CEO Marty Rubin said lawmakers need to support "intelligent" infrastructure that incorporates sensor technology to create "the internet of everything," while also funding training for badly needed network engineers and welders. His company provides telecom services at 30 convention centers, three NFL stadiums and Walt Disney World.
Senate Democrats believe their $20 billion broadband could create 260,000 jobs as part of a broader $1 trillion infrastructure plan that could create millions of jobs, said John Branscome, Senate Commerce Committee senior minority counsel. He said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., believes tax incentives weren't enough. Branscome said his members are "challenging" President Donald Trump, who had called for a $1 trillion infrastructure initiative, to join their effort, which would channel funding through existing and expanded Commerce and Agriculture department programs. Trump commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross had backed broadband inclusion in infrastructure efforts, said the staffer, who cited bipartisan support for the effort.
House Commerce Committee Republicans have been looking to spur broadband by lowering barriers to deployment through better tower-siting and other processes, said David Redl, committee chief majority counsel. He said Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Communications Subcommittee Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., are working on plans with the Trump administration. "We're ready to move forward on as fast a timetable as the administration wants," said Redl, who, when asked, had to take a "hard pass on how much" his panel might propose for broadband.
Trump team member Mark Jamison opposed the broadband stimulus approach of the Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama in 2009, which funneled $7.2 billion in grants and loans through Commerce and Agriculture programs. He said they didn't always boost networks where they were needed, as "politically driven" funding often flowed to states with Democratic governors or powerful lawmakers of both parties. Redl said lawmakers learned some "hard lessons" from the Commerce stimulus program but his committee hasn't settled on how to apply them.
Panelists agreed rural broadband presented particular challenges. Abernathy said broadband network "economics are rotten" in rural areas, but she called the FCC Connect America Fund subsidy program "absolutely a step in the right direction. Rubin said Smart City became more urban focused because of the rural difficulties. Redl said Walden has the seventh-largest House district in the country by area and is dedicated to overcoming the rural challenges.
Jamison said the FCC should be restructured (see 1701170025) to have economics and engineering bureaus, and to recognize industry convergence, rather than traditional sectors such as wireline, wireless and media. But he acknowledged the commission was structured that way in part due to the Communications Act, so both Congress and the FCC would have to act to make effective changes. He also suggested shifting some FCC functions elsewhere, including merger reviews.
Vice President Eric Small said AT&T invested over $100 million to build gigabit fiber networks in six North Carolina cities, including at four universities there: Duke (in Durham), North Carolina (Chapel Hill), North Carolina State (Raleigh) and Wake Forest (Winston-Salem). He said the telco negotiated agreements with the cities that gave both sides some of what they wanted. He said the company resisted city demands for broadband pricing and buildout requirements, but pushed for better permitting and other processes that allowed the company to bring prices down.