Last week was a big one on the fiber front. Members of Congress returned to town after the August recess and got to work quickly, starting with a House Committee on Small Business hearing. Lawmakers heard about the importance of reliable broadband for small businesses and the barriers that smaller rural broadband providers face as they work to expand and sustain their networks. It may have been a record-breaking hearing in that three of the four witnesses sitting at that table were NTCA community-based providers: Kristi Westbrock, CEO and general manager of CTC (Brainerd, Minn.), Jimmy Todd, CEO of Nex-Tech (Lenora, Kan.), and Karen Jackson-Furman, CEO of West Kentucky & Tennessee Telecommunications Cooperative (Mayfield, Ky.).
During the hearing, “Wired for Growth: How Expanding Broadband Can Revitalize Rural Small Businesses,” Kristi pointed to the significant hurdles that permitting requirements create for providers, emphasizing how lengthy processes and added costs can delay projects and leave many communities waiting for service. She also raised concerns about the accuracy of the National Broadband Map, explaining that overstated coverage undermines funding decisions and leaves gaps in support where it is needed most.
Jimmy focused on the economic upside of broadband, referencing research showing that communities with strong adoption rates see far greater business growth compared to those without robust connectivity. Meanwhile, Karen stressed the indispensable role of the Universal Service Fund (USF), which not only supports the construction of broadband networks but also ensures their upkeep and modernization, helping rural communities access the same quality of service available in urban areas.
I particularly appreciated how all of these providers stressed that, while all technologies will be needed to bring broadband to all Americans, fiber is truly the technology of choice and the wisest investment in the long run. I was also struck by the ability of members of the committee to “connect the dots” in terms of how important the future of universal service is to ongoing deployment. Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), who represents the area served by CTC, took pride in sharing with Kristi that he had signed an amicus brief in support of upholding the USF, and she noted her appreciation. Frankly, there are a lot of members of Congress from Minnesota on the committee, and that in itself is interesting!
A day later, NTCA staff from both our Arlington and Asheville locations, as well as our MRM team around the country, took a virtual tour of KanOkla (Caldwell, Kan.), led by CEO Jill Kuehny and her amazing team. Jill, a true leader in our industry and the current chair of our Smart Rural Community Advisory Council, said yes immediately to my request. I had queried the NTCA team in advance to get a sense of what they would like to learn from this virtual tour, as it was the sixth one we have hosted, and the consensus clamored for the opportunity to “get into the field.” So indeed, the KanOkla team took us on the road to do a drop and to splice some fiber. I loved the questions our team asked as they were engaged in the middle of a broadband construction project from the view of an iPhone! While I am truly sorry that Jill did not get her camera working in time to see cattle and a prefab home coming down Main Street, we had the opportunity to see KanOkla’s business office, meet its IT team and hear more about the company’s work with local schools and its nearby hospital. As her team noted, “the hospital can have no downtime, and if they don’t think about KanOkla, then we have done our jobs well.”
Jill put a bow on the entire adventure when she shared that the KanOkla employees, working together with the NTCA team, are the “human fiber” that works to make the “glass fiber” operational. I’ll consider that a mic drop quote to end on.