Broadband Deployment Progress Cited; Coordination, Mapping, Sustainability Seen Key
Broadband deployment gains are occurring, with coordination, mapping and sustainability critical ongoing issues, speakers said on a National Regulatory Research webinar Wednesday. "We're seeing a lot of positive progress," said Danna Mackenzie, executive director-Minnesota Office of Broadband Development. The state…
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is more than 90 percent of the way to bringing 25/3 Mbps broadband "border to border," she said. "There's a lot of progress," agreed Joe Tiernan of the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable, Competition Division. He said about two-thirds of unserved housing units are being targeted for broadband deployment by industry, backed by state and local authorities, or being examined for municipal projects. NTCA Senior Vice President Mike Romano said almost 90 percent of his members' customers have 10/1 Mbps available and two-thirds have 25/3 Mbps available, but deploying to the remaining unserved areas gets harder due to low density and high costs: "We've got a big job left." He said key is to keep "chipping away" and putting resources where needed. Romano said Rural Utilities Service loan and grant programs, FCC USF mechanisms and state initiatives help broadband providers deploy, but the "biggest challenge" is making sure everybody knows what others are doing. Close coordination among agencies is needed to ensure multiple networks aren't funded in areas where the economics don't allow even one, he said. Romano and others said improving broadband mapping is another key. Steven Rosenberg, FCC Wireline Bureau chief data officer, provided an overview of the commission's interactive broadband map for fixed service, which is based on Form 477 data submitted by industry. He expects the map to be updated in "coming weeks" to incorporate June 30, 2017, data that is still being vetted. The FCC is waiting for one large ISP to "clean up" submissions, he said. Romano said the 477 census block data is a "good starting point" for mapping efforts. More granular data can be provided through geolocating and geocoding, but that can increase costs and burdens, so balance is needed. It gets even trickier to synthesize the data into a map with multiple providers, Rosenberg said. Romano said there will continue to be a need for "challenge processes" to dispute claims an area is served or unserved. Deployment is just one piece, as networks have to be maintained and upgraded, he said. "These networks aren't self-sustaining. ... Sustainability is a big piece."