I have never been prouder of NTCA membership and staff as I have been these past few trying weeks as our entire nation comes together to find a path forward to keep our population healthy, our families safe, our businesses connected and our school children online. NTCA and our operations moved to a remote work environment three weeks ago, and we have used every virtual tool to stay connected to one another while we continue to serve our amazing members, who go above and beyond every day to bring connectivity to rural America.
Hundreds of NTCA members have taken the FCC’s pledge to Keep Americans Connected, but frankly, NTCA members do not need a pledge to a government agency to do the right thing by their customers and community. Part of the spirit of service for a community-based provider is just that—to best serve those who are their friends and neighbors. I have heard your stories of providing connectivity for businesses struggling, for your neighbors who have shuttered their stores on Main Street and of all the innovative ways you are ensuring that school children in your community, who did not have connectivity prior to the Coronavirus racing across our country, are now connected. Free installations, non-compensated bandwidth upgrades, free video conferencing for your local governments and businesses, creative Wi-Fi hotspots, and the list goes on. We all knew how critical your infrastructure was in connecting rural America and how vital it was that investment prioritize future-proof networks with fiber deployment—and now everyone else knows it as well!
I’ve had the opportunity over the past few weeks to converse with both FCC Chairman Ajit Pai as well as Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Administrator Chad Rupe to inform them of your network performance and to thank them for ensuring support and policies that had networks built the right way … the first time. We are also tracking the impacts on your networks to continue to share with policy makers so please be sure to fill out our survey if you have not done so already. Data will continue to help tell the story and hopefully set the stage for future advocacy.
Speaking of advocacy, as your Members of Congress are now back in your districts, this is an excellent time to reach out to them—remotely of course—to share what you are doing to provide connectivity despite the obstacles. Please also encourage them to support the Keeping Critical Connections Act in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate bill was introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). Reps. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) And Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) introduced the House companion bill. This legislation will help ensure that smaller broadband operators can sustain essential connections for customers if those customers become unable to pay their broadband bills due to a loss or reduction in income related to the COVID-19 crisis, and it would also empower such smaller operators to offer free or discounted service or broadband upgrades to households with students in need of distance learning capabilities—the very things you are already doing but this legislation would ensure that you can sustain your networks for the long haul. NTCA has also been on the forefront of ensuring that coops and RUS borrowers can partake in the new SBA loan program from the CARES Act and has also been working directly with CISA and DHS on ways to ensure access and safety for your teams in the field.
This remote world is also having us think more creatively about how we network and bring education to our membership, and we will be having our first virtual conference in a few weeks with our Legislative and Policy Virtual Conference. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and some key congressional staffers, among others, will share the latest on what you need to know in the policy arena as the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, spectrum initiatives, the 5G Fund and hopefully more stimulus legislation start to move. We’re also moving to a regular in the Age of the Coronavirus webcast series to ensure that timely information from experts and your peers is available to you and your teams.
Here is the schedule for this week and the weeks ahead:
- Policy Talk, April 8, 2-3 p.m. ET
- CARES Act, Payroll Protection Program: An Overview of Federal Stimulus, April 9, 2-3 p.m. ET
- COVID-19 Industry Briefing: Rural Utilities Service Update, April 10, 2-3 p.m. ET
- Telemedicine for Rural Americans with FCC Commissioner Carr, April 15th, 2-3 pm.ET (registration info coming soon)
- What Your Peers Are Doing, April 17, 2-3 p.m. ET (registration info coming soon)
Stay tuned since we are always looking to add more timely and relevant content for you. If you miss a webcast, you can also view it on in our online archives later. Our website has become a wealth of resources on how to operate in the COVID-19 world, and we continue to add to that toolkit on a regular basis. To help our associate members share resources they are making available, we have also created a Coronavirus Solutions Providers site and welcome your additions to that, as well.
In terms of future meetings, we have cancelled anything in person through early June. While it is hugely disappointing to us because we relish the networking and interactions that come from these meetings, we will do all we can to keep our members and staff safe and off the road for the time being. That included the cancellation of the Foundation for Rural Service Youth Tour, and I am so grateful to the NTCA members who contributed their student’s registration fees directly to FRS to continue to do their good work. More to follow as we see where the summer and fall take us, but we hope you will embrace using technology as we continue to create content and education in new ways as we also look to take conferences like our Marketing and Sales Conference virtual as well as finding ways to bring value to your teams in other online formats. Fingers are still cross on our hosting our Summer Symposiums for your board leadership and governance training but know we will make the right call when the time is right.
Meanwhile, our Group Health Program has stayed on top of all you need to keep your staff and families safe and healthy, and our eye continues to be focused on the long-term for fiscal health in our Retirement & Security and Savings Plan administration.
I just wanted the opportunity to tell you that we are more proud than ever to share your story of courage, service and connectivity with policy makers and to work on your behalf to ensure you have the tools and support you need to get the job done in rural America. We are all in this together.
Wishing you good health and urging you to stay safe.