Broadband Deployment Permitting Reform Has a Good Chance
Permitting reform has bipartisan support, which bodes well for substantial action soon, speakers said Wednesday at ACA Connects' annual Washington summit. Yet while there's support, "nobody can quite figure out what [reform] looks like,” said Senate Commerce member John Curtis, R-Utah. Besides broadband, other sectors, such as energy, also have permitting woes, he added. Speakers said they believe BEAD, with some rules changes, will move forward. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the agency is launching a review of BEAD rules and dropping its fiber focus (see 2503050067).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Brendan Carr has been active for years at the FCC on permitting reform issues, and his ascent to chairman is "a good place to start," Commissioner Nathan Simington said. However, permitting reform would require that other agencies act, too, he said, adding that a White House executive order could help coordinate and align a whole government approach.
Regarding another issue, Simington said the FCC could do more on pole attachment reform but didn't elaborate. ACA Connects President Grant Spellmeyer said FCC action on pole attachments would be the easiest route to make progress on permitting reform, especially once Carr has a fifth commissioner. He said that while changes to the BEAD program seem inevitable, how that happens -- such as congressional action or via Commerce -- is still unclear.
Congress "wants [BEAD] to happen," Curtis said, acknowledging that the program isn't necessarily in jeopardy, but the longer the money goes unspent, the more attractive the funds become for other needs. The lawmaker said BEAD's "fundamental flaw" is its numerous conditions and requirements, adding that government should have offered greater flexibility in how providers enable connectivity. BEAD is driving investment in heavily Republican areas, and thus will survive, though with changes, said New Street Research's Blair Levin.
More states are going to look at the New York approach to universal service, requiring large connectivity providers to offer low-income offerings, Levin said. ISPs view that with trepidation because of the risk of states continually requiring cheaper and cheaper low-income offerings at higher and higher speeds, Levin added. He said there will be an industry effort to have the FCC figure out a way to preempt such state requirements.
The U.S. Supreme Court's March 26 oral argument on USF's legality will likely see three justices squarely on the side of it being unconstitutional, three saying it's constitutional, and the last three "we'll all be watching," Levin said. The swing justices will likely tip toward constitutionality, but such a ruling still doesn't fix USF's growing funding problems, he added.
Summit Notebook
The mid-March expiration of continuing resolutions will be the first real test of House Republicans, Alpine Group head Rhod Shaw said. While they're all aligned with President Donald Trump’s agenda, there are numerous factions, from deficit hawks interested primarily in tackling the national debt to others focused on tax policy and moderates worried about cutting entitlements, he said. Several members are interested in forcing a government shutdown rather than a continuing resolution, as it would give Trump more leeway to take steps without interference.
Spellmeyer said there’s some trepidation among cable ISPs about what tariffs could do to the cost of some network components. Replied Curtis, “I think there’s going to be a lot of pain” from tariffs as they drive inflation. But Trump “is very committed” to them, Curtis added, though he said the White House might be amenable to reducing tariffs to lower levels.