This past week was one of those windows where you feel like you’re in several places at the same time, trying to do several things there and in other places too. And, to some degree, I was in several places this past week (although not all at once), including our Summer Symposium in Texas followed by a policy and political action event put together by a number of our NTCA members from Tennessee. Oh, and the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport…lots of time spent in DFW or waiting to get to DFW this week!
Starting with our Summer Symposium, there was so much to celebrate. From amazing content put together by our team to town halls, roundtables, and hallway chatter, conversations were fast and furious, and we covered issues ranging from the dynamic nature of the telecom marketplace to critical governance matters. This may, to some degree, be a “self-selected” group of some of our most engaged directors and other industry leaders, but, boy, engage they did on how to be forward-thinking in the face of change and how to capitalize on their unique mix of community commitment and substantial investments in highly capable connectivity. Stay tuned for how we might evolve this meeting in future years to hopefully pull more leaders in and make sure these conversations cascade throughout the rural broadband industry.
I then flew onward to spend time with our Tennessee members as they held detailed conversations on policy and political action at the state and federal level. This too is a group that is aiming to stay ahead of the curve, and they recognize how important engagement is to providing regulatory stability and marketplace certainty for small businesses with big commitments. I always love spending time with this group in this smaller setting, and I learn something new literally every time I sit down with our board member Jonathan West (Twin Lakes; Gainesboro, Tenn.), and I can’t express enough thanks for their support of NTCA and the broader industry.
And even as all these conversations were occurring, there was no shortage of things happening back in D.C. We helped prepare five panelists for participation in the FCC’s IP transition workshop with several other members participating too, and I’m delighted with the way the commission opened up a new, thoughtfully structured phase of conversations about this complex transition, and with the contributions our members and NTCA’s Justin Faulb made to those discussions. The group represented our industry very well, and it’s so encouraging to see the commission take a disciplined approach to making decisions on policies that will promote innovation and set the stage for connectivity for decades to come. I’m just sorry I couldn’t be in multiple places at once to watch in person and be a part of this too!
Meanwhile, even as all of this was happening, so was so much more. We were thankful to see Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) introduce the Access to Capital Creates Economic Strength and Supports (ACCESS) Rural America Act, which promises to relieve small businesses from the burden of potential large publicly traded enterprise reporting obligations. We saw Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) introduce legislation to improve broadband mapping. We had members in Washington for fly-in visits with their congressional delegations. We’re putting the finishing touches on the packed schedule for the upcoming Women in Telecom fly-in and related events. It was a busy but not atypical week!
Please don’t miss out on the chance to join our “Ask Me Anything” webinar, where I will be joined by NTCA Board Chair Ben Foster (Twin Valley; Miltonvale, Kan.) to field your questions about what's happening within the association, across the industry or in Washington!