We were still learning about the devastating damage caused by Hurricane Helene as I headed to the airport last weekend for the NTCA 2024 Fall Conference in Indianapolis. It felt like a convergence of bad timing, but once I arrived, the time I spent with our NTCA membership reinforced the unique and wonderful nature of our rural broadband providers. Almost immediately, I watched them collaborate in the hallways on their desire to support their colleagues and our Asheville, N.C., staff in response to the unprecedented storm that devastated parts of the Southeast.
Maybe the timing wasn't quite so bad for our industry to gather after all.
Additionally, with the overhang of the Fifth Circuit ruling that the Universal Service Fund (USF) contribution mechanism is unconstitutional, this meeting was also a wonderful opportunity to walk through the implications of the ruling and to more importantly share with our rural broadband providers the association’s four-point strategy for moving forward. NTCA has long held the philosophy of hoping for the best but preparing for the worst when it comes to public policy outcomes, so we have been working on this strategy for well over a year. Now it's time to kick it to deployment!
Our focus will be on the judicial, legislative/lobbying, regulatory and public relations/stakeholder coordination arenas. As we wrapped our conference Wednesday morning, I was certain that while our members may have been tired of hearing about the Fifth Circuit, at least they also were very clear that NTCA has a plan and plans for plans!
In addition to the USF focus, we had some amazing speakers who shared a wealth of knowledge on innovation, creative thinking, smart technology, workforce development, smart agriculture, telehealth, community development and the economic prosperity that is spurred by robust broadband. Our team demonstrated innovation themselves in developing a new format for our Fall Conference with a community-focused track in addition to an operational track, and it seemed to really resonate with our attendees. We also saw committee meetings, board meetings, vendor discussions, Rural Utilities Service consultations and everything else in between.
What were some of my own highlights? I loved the energy in the foyer with our members and universities hosting an esports demonstration. I also really enjoyed our Smart Communities luncheon celebrating the 2024 SRC Showcase winners: Adams Fiber (Golden, Ill.), Highline (Escanaba, Mich.), Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company (Jackson, Neb.), SCTelcom (Medicine Lodge, Kan.), SRT Communications (Minot, N.D.) and Whidbey Telecom (Langley, Wash.). It was also really fun to hear everyone in the luncheon sharing the cool things their fiber broadband is fueling in their communities, making them smarter every day. Fall Conference also presented a great opportunity to highlight the work of The Guardian Group, which joined in to share the power the rural ISP community has when it comes to working together to combat sex trafficking under the Operation IFAST umbrella. I was truly proud of our industry for looking for more ways to further support this initiative and keep the youth in their rural communities safe.
I’m already looking forward to our next large gathering at RTIME in San Antonio in February. Among the exciting opportunities that will be on display is the Rural Rumble, an online esports tournament that was announced in Indianapolis. Guess I should learn some esports skills to compete too. Maybe.
As always, I will cherish catching back up with members and hear more of their stories of innovation and deployment in their communities.