Jennifer Prather, vice president and general manager of Totelcom Communications in De Leon, Tex., today testified on behalf of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association at a House Agriculture Committee hearing on rural broadband. Not only did she share the importance of the federal programs that have been key to Totelcom in their deployment efforts but she shared her company’s own experiences in administrative hurdles on getting support and funding out the door, supply chain issues and the need for coordination between various federal and state programs.
Prather testified about the importance of rural broadband infrastructure, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical nature of broadband connectivity, and the need to invest in future-proof technologies that can be sustained for years to come.
“Over just the last year, Totelcom saw an increase of more than 200% in both download and upload demand. That represents almost 2 years of projected growth, almost overnight. Fortunately, our fiber-based networks were built to meet that demand. Given that such demands keep growing over time, a smart infrastructure plan should aim for the best return on such long-term investments that meet future needs of consumers and enable the deployment of a variety of broadband technologies,” said Prather in her opening remarks.
The Members of the committee were extremely engaged and inquisitive and because Jennifer was so masterful about answering each congressional inquiry with a “real life” example of what she is seeing and experiencing as a rural broadband operator, even more Members of Congress asked her questions. Congresswoman Spanberger from Virginia asked about the importance of speeds and higher speeds on the upload side of things and her response was to share the example of the work that Totelcom is doing with some dairy farms in their service territory at the end of dirt roads and how important capacity is to those farmers and yet the challenges of being able to build fiber in areas where roads are not even paved.
Jennifer also reminded the committee that NTCA members and companies like them serve approximately one-third of the U.S. landmass, and in most of these sparsely populated rural areas, they are the only fixed networks available, providing essential communications services to just under 5% of the U.S. population and critical connections for businesses, anchor institutions, and providers of wireless services across rural America. Indeed, small telecommunications providers connect rural Americans with the world – making every effort to deploy advanced networks that respond to consumer and business demands for cutting-edge, innovative services that help rural communities overcome the challenges of distance and density. Fixed and mobile broadband, video, and voice are among the services that many rural Americans can access thanks to the commitment of small, local providers to serving sparsely populated areas.
Small, rural providers like Totelcom are eager to meet and overcome all of these challenges for the rural communities in which they live and serve, but it is important that they have the resources and regulatory stability to do so considering the importance of broadband to the current and future success and quality of life of rural America. Again, the delivery of broadband involves not only the one-time act of deploying a network, but the ongoing challenges of delivering services and keeping pace with user demand over the decades that the network will be operational. There is a great deal of understandable focus on the challenges associated with connecting every American to broadband in the first instance – and companies like Totelcom are front and center in this effort – but it cannot be lost that we need to take steps as well to make sure that these networks remain sustainable and that the services offered atop them remain affordable and relevant to customers for years to come.
While Congress is still remote and the hearing was held virtually (using broadband, of course), the entire community based broadband community appreciated having Jennifer Prather at the table amplifying the challenges and opportunities on the road ahead.