NCTA, NTCA, PK Detail Broadband Recommendations Before Senate Infrastructure Hearing
NCTA urged Congress, in any infrastructure proposal, to identify “problem areas before spending money to fix them,” “deliver broadband to those who don’t have it,” offer “equal opportunities for all qualified broadband providers,” and accept “alternative technologies in remote areas,”…
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in a blog post prior to a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on infrastructure spending. Policymakers should guarantee “transparency and accountability to ensure government funds achieve intended results,” said NCTA, which isn’t testifying. The one witness at the hearing with a clear telecom focus is NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield. She and USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter offered what they called a “simple road map” for the broadband spending they recommend. “Rather than reinventing the wheel, let’s put to better use initiatives and programs that have worked in the past to enable the availability and sustainability of rural broadband,” they said in a blog post for The Hill. “Serious consideration should be given, for example, to leveraging the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) programs as part of any new broadband infrastructure initiative.” They urged Congress to streamline and kill regulatory barriers in the process. ITTA, NTCA, USTelecom and WTA joined earlier this week to send a letter with recommendations (see 1702270038). Public Knowledge Vice President-Government Affairs Chris Lewis sent a letter to committee leaders urging Congress to weigh "how to ensure affordable, reliable access for all Americans, to expand economic opportunity for all." Lewis pointed to what he called market failures: "While high prices have driven robust rates of return on capital investment for broadband providers, they have not led those providers to invest those profits into deployment to rural, unserved, and underserved communities." President Donald Trump pressed for an infrastructure proposal of up to $1 trillion but didn't offer precise details. He was expected to have addressed a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, and infrastructure is one topic slated for the speech. “I hope that the president will lay out what it is he wants to do,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday. “We don’t know exactly what approach he wants to take. From my standpoint, I’m interested obviously in how you would do any infrastructure plan that includes these private-public partnerships, or P3s as they call them, that work in more populated areas but how you would fund infrastructure in rural areas.”