By Josh Seidemann, VP of Policy, NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association
Just a glance at Wall Street Journal (WSJ) headlines this week would be sufficient to illustrate how quickly the change came: “Communities Mobilize to Help Senior Citizens;” “For CEOs, Radical New Landscape Forces Tough Management Calls;” “Your (Socially) Distant Date.”
Ordinary came to a screeching halt these past few weeks. Theoretical discussions such as telemedicine or distance learning rapidly evolved to actual deployment. Even where those strategies had been in place, the cascading shuttering of workplaces, schools and public places propelled non-adopters to usage. Suddenly, questions of, “Is this the future of [insert discipline here]?” became “This is how we do [insert discipline here].”
In NTCA rural member service areas, the transition has been radical, yet with assured confidence and traction because the companies had already deployed, cultivated and polished the tools necessary to meet the needs.
And those tools are not just the network (which of course is elemental to meet this challenge). The tools include the inherent commitment to community these companies live and breathe each day. These measures include everything from installing 100/100 Mbps Internet free of charge to families with school age children who do not have access; to a company that is opening free WiFi at more than 50 community locations; to dispatching a mobile WiFi van throughout the area 24/7; to expanding coverage for students who pick up meals at school, enabling them to download new assignments and turn in completed homework while maintaining social distance.
And, these measures go beyond the technical and into other aspects of caring for one’s community. One company is reimbursing employees who purchase lunch locally in an effort to stabilize local restaurants that have pivoted to take-out only. Another purchased $1,000 in local restaurant gift cards to use as prizes and incentives to encourage local eating.
The tools include the inherent commitment to community these companies live and breathe each day.
The best? A member who wrote, “I don’t know that we are doing anything interesting or different than any other provider.” It was like Superman saying, “I don’t know if I am doing anything interesting or different than Batman or Wonder Woman . . .” (BTW, the provider then described, with unsurprising modesty, waived service fees and newly opened hotspots).
In a WSJ column last week, Peggy Noonan quoted screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan as noting that a distinguishing mark of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was, “The villain has arrived while the hero is evolving. That’s what made his films great, the sense of an implacable bad guy encountering a good guy who is alive, capable of changing, who is in fact changing because of and in order to beat back the bad guy and make things safe again.”
What an apt description of our NTCA members. The hero who is evolving. The good guy who built an armory of community service, technical expertise and collaborative understanding, and who is now marshalling those skills and resources to help his community.
Making things safe again will take the combined efforts and commitment of many societal and scientific layers. But, making things workable now . . . our hero is “on it.”
