FirstNet – A Natural Fit With Rural Telecom Providers ·
Congress has not been able to pass a great deal of legislation this session, much less produce any meaningful activity on the telecommunications front. But the one provision that they did pass is the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act established the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) as an independent authority within NTIA. The Act gives the FirstNet board the authority to take all necessary action to ensure the design, construction, deployment and operations of a nationwide public safety broadband network based on a single, national network architecture. When you see the level of responsibility and the expansive role that this board will play, it clearly makes it imperative that the FirstNet board include a rural infrastructure-based provider that really understands the unique requirements and challenges of rural areas. That is why I sent Larry Strickling, administrator of NTIA, a letter this week requesting that we be able to assist NTIA in identifying a qualified rural representative to serve on the FirstNet board. It’s an important opportunity, and our voice at the table is important in developing and deploying a nationwide network. I know that the workload will be significant, but I am also sure that the right individual will find the opportunity gratifying. I’d be interested in hearing from folks who may know of the right person to serve should NTIA be responsive to our request.
Models for Rural Broadband ·
I spent this morning with our partners over at NRTC at their quarterly board meeting. We had a pretty lively discussion on the various models that exist for rural broadband and all of their advantages and disadvantages – including capacity, pricing, mobility and operating expenses. I really appreciate how engaged the electric cooperative folks who sit on that board are and fully recognize their concerns on getting broadband deployed in their communities. According to NRTC statistics, 83 percent of their electric cooperative memberships’ service territory is in price-cap carrier service territory, and there are some significant challenges in getting broadband, with high capacity, deployed in these areas. I had to be the bearer of bad news that it was unlikely that we’ll be seeing any additional stimulus opportunities for funding, and certainly, there is no excess universal service funding – particularly given the FCC’s intent to operate within a tight budget. Funding for the rural carriers themselves is so constrained that many telcos will lose support under the new reforms and regression analysis. I am always excited to have an opportunity to talk with electric and telecom providers about creative ways that we might be looking at working together and asking how we can make the existing rural telecom providers’ infrastructure more attractive to our electric neighbors. More food for thought there….
Marching Forward ·
There have been so many things going on with activities regarding USF/ICC reform that I wanted to share some of our recent activities and thoughts on moving forward with the FCC with our members today. Granted, the email was a great deal longer than an easy read – but there honestly was so much to say! It was important to hit some of the key points regarding the FCC’s recently released order on April 25 that 1) altered the transition for certain intercarrier compensation rates and 2) adopted “regression analysis”-based caps on capital expenses and operating costs that will be recoverable through the High-Cost Loop Support (HCLS) portion of the Universal Service Fund (USF). While the direction moving forward is positive, there is a great deal of work yet to be done. Today, I was able to connect with some high level Administration folks in the White House and relavent agencies to talk about some concerns we have with the regulatory uncertainty teed up with the FNPRM in addition to ensuring that any caps develop have accurate data. There seems to be such a rush to get caps in place by July 1st, there is a real concern that inaccurate data is allowed to remain in the equations. Bad data + bad data = really bad data and the wrong outcome!
While our sustained efforts and our collaborative work with our membership and other allies on these fronts have helped to shape the debate in recent months, and now is not the time to “take a breather.” I encourage you all to keep sharing your data and telling your stories.
Teamwork And Making Sure That You All Paddle In the Same Direction ·
Tom Wacker and I had the chance to spend time with some of our colleagues in the state associations last weekend, and we were able to take a few hours to hit the white water rapids together (at least those of us willing to get wet like drowned rats!). The snow melt was still flooding the White Salmon river and the rapids were high, so our guide made a big deal out of our paddling in the same direction—moving forward—as we hit each of the big rapids. At first I thought it was simple to keep us distracted as the waves crashed over our raft, especially since our raft was usually hitting so hard and our raft was riding so high that my paddle was often not hitting the water. But I soon realized that there really was a method to his madness, and indeed, having all of us in each raft paddling forward together as we were hitting the rough rapids seemed to pull us through intact. The analogy to our industry really struck me. The more our industry can paddle together through the FCC order, the more our industry can paddle together with our state colleagues, the more we can find ways to paddle forward with the Obama administration on our shared goal of broadband deployment—the more we can keep our raft steady through uncharted waters.
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White House Focuses on Community-Based Enterprises ·
I had the opportunity today, thanks to NCBA, to join a group of community-based business leaders at the White House to hear folks like Jack Lew (above in my blurry, Blackberry photo), the White House chief of staff, talk about the importance of community-based and cooperative business models as the nation makes its way through economic recovery. The most interesting part of the morning for me were the number of references to broadband and how important broadband deployment will be for our economy—from the participants who were housing co-ops, agriculture groups, health care collectives, etc.—as well as from the administration officials. The White House chief of staff even noted that “access to broadband must be in homes, schools and local institutions. The president supports access to broadband in hard to reach, rural areas,” and he later noted that broadband also plays an important role in ensuring that communities are not left behind. Jon Carson, the White House director of the Office of Public Engagement, is a native of Wisconsin, received phone service from a telephone cooperative growing up and had his first job at a local electric cooperative. It’s nice to know that there is someone inside the White House who understands the importance of our community-based utilities and looks for a way to engage them in the policy discussions moving forward.
