BDAC Debates Infrastructure Deployment to Low-Income Areas

States should recognize the public safety advantages of better broadband access and “welcome deployment,” Adelstein, a former FCC commissioner, said in discussion of the BDAC disaster response working group's in-progress report. If infrastructure isn't sufficient, there won't be recovery, said Dimitroff, a former NYSWA president. The report is expected to be finished in March, said Red Grasso, who chairs the WG and represents the North Carolina Department of Information Technology on the BDAC.

No state is more difficult to build broadband infrastructure in than California, said Adelstein, referencing the state's recent public safety power outages and fire threat. It's “shocking” that a state subject to those plus earthquakes and storms isn't encouraging broadband deployment, he said. California and other localities reject broadband buildout over unproven public safety claims about RF radiation, and then aren't able to rely on broadband during “a real and proven danger,” said Adelstein. “They didn't think of that when they were listening to a handful of people making spurious claims.”

The disaster subgroup isn't ready to make recommendations, but is examining preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters, Grasso said. Considerations include positioning resources before disasters, coordinating among stakeholders, and information security, he said. Data protection for companies sharing proprietary information with public safety officials during disasters is important since such data could fall within Freedom of Information Act-like requirements in some states, said BDAC Chair Elizabeth Bowles, president of Aristotle. That can be addressed by limiting the information provided, Grasso said. “I can read you the information that's on my laptop, but I'm not giving you the file.”

The WG on increasing broadband investment in low-income communities has found it “challenging” to define low-income areas, deployment and broadband, said Connected Nation CEO and subgroup Chair Tom Ferree and Wireless ISP Association CEO Claude Aiken. Though the WG tentatively defined broadband as 25/3 Mbps downstream/up, the final report could have “aspirational goals” of faster speeds as a standard, Ferree said.

BDAC members don't agree whether the working group should focus on wired or wireless broadband, and on whether consumers that haven't adopted broadband in areas in which it's available could be convinced to do so with more outreach.

Assuming such consumers need more education could be considered “presumptuous,” said AT&T Assistant Vice President-Legislative and External Affairs Chris Nurse. “Maybe they don't like the taste of it, maybe they want to read a book instead.” Bowles said there likely are consumers who just don't want fixed broadband, but many others don't fully realize the benefits. Bowles also said areas with a choice of providers are likely to get more adoption, but Nurse said the data doesn't support that finding. More research is needed on the causal relationships among income, adoption, technology and investment in broadband infrastructure, said Ferree. The WG should also investigate local regulations as a barrier to deployment in low-income communities, said Kelly McGriff, Uniti Group deputy general counsel. The further broadband deployments get from the “backbone,” the thinner the profit margins can be, he said.

A lack of promotion and awareness about the field's job opportunities are “the industry's worst enemy,” said Leticia Latino, CEO of Neptuno, and chair of the broadband infrastructure deployment job skills and training group. Industrywide certifications and outreach could help, she said. Subject-matter experts told the working group that industry and FCC should sponsor students and promote themselves as career options, she said. “We have to bring the cool back in these careers.”