Trump, Congress Face Tough Questions on How to Structure Telecom Infrastructure Package

Trump now formally includes telecom when describing on his campaign website the support his $1 trillion infrastructure package would provide, a recent addition that the campaign never explicitly embraced last month (see 1611090001). The campaign website says the proposal will be deficit neutral and give maximum flexibility to states. The campaign didn’t comment on what fraction of the money would support broadband.

“It’s a relatively chaotic process to do in 100 days,” said Telecommunications Industry Association Senior Vice President James Reid, who worked for then-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., when President Barack Obama advanced $7 billion in broadband stimulus funding in his first term. “There are a host of policy questions that have to be answered.” Reid also pointed to the “continuity” of having Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., in place, a tested leadership pair this Congress who were both on the committee during the first stimulus funding push: “In theory, that makes it easier.”

Reid pointed to several factors that policymakers will have to determine before such a telecom funding package advances: “How prescriptive are you?” The Trump administration and lawmakers will have to determine how and whether to pay for the stimulus funding, whether there will be a speed mandate and who would receive the money and how. There’s a question of how much policymakers would outsource the funding details to federal agencies, such as the Rural Utilities Service, he said, predicting some tussling with the Agriculture committees on matters of jurisdiction and focus and industry debates over how the money flows to different players. Funds conceivably could even go toward FirstNet’s broadband deployment efforts, Reid added, despite Trump never mentioning it. “We didn’t pay for it last time and that’s probably the biggest question now,” he remarked.

"We're going to rebuild our infrastructure," with "millions of people" going to work and making it "second to none," Trump said in his election victory speech Wednesday morning. “He has a mandate to do what he campaigned on,” said Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., at a news conference Wednesday. “I liked what he said last night about rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.”

Broad Backing?

Bipartisan interest surrounded such infrastructure funding ideas. Clinton proposed a $275 billion package including broadband funding and a $25 billion infrastructure bank component, attracting interest from lawmakers such as Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Lawmakers of both parties told us the struggle would be nailing down how to pay for such a package (see 1609230040). Telecom industry lobbyists increasingly are wondering how such telecom funding would be formulated, practically speaking, and the steps required in the coming weeks.

A “mistake” of the Obama administration broadband stimulus involved too much government supplanting of the private sector, said Internet Innovation Alliance Chairman Rick Boucher, a former Democratic chairman of the House Communications Subcommittee active on Capitol Hill when that Obama stimulus advanced. Under this new proposal, “the private sector needs to take the lead,” perhaps with more focus on public-private partnerships and a need for focusing on the most efficient way to use the dollars, he said. Trump “has now added, somewhat belatedly, broadband,” Boucher told us of the infrastructure plans. “And that’s needed, and I think it’s highly promising.”

Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition Executive Director John Windhausen "is developing a proposal to promote next-generation broadband for anchor institutions, and we look forward to working with the Trump Administration as it develops its infrastructure investment plan for the future," he said, citing the incoming president's newfound telecom focus. "Connecting anchor institutions to high-capacity broadband is one of the most cost-effective ways to strengthen America and prepare our economy for the future.”

Trump’s voters come from “the same economic status of the underserved in this country,” often from smaller towns and rural areas, so it’s a “no brainer” that Trump “should be focused on the deployment space,” said Nicol Turner-Lee, a Brookings Institution fellow who recently left the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council. She has begun reviewing the data of the economics and education of those voters. Trump will want to attend to the base of GOP voters backing him in recognition of tech policy objectives, which would perhaps prevent his administration from interfering in the modernized Lifeline program, Turner-Lee predicted: “The people who spoke up last night are the most in need of that.” TIA’s Reid also immediately considered Trump’s voters when weighing this infrastructure funding priority: “In rural America, there’s still broadband challenges, so maybe that’s a part of the thinking.”

Several industry trade associations and company executives pointed to Trump’s infrastructure plans Wednesday in reacting to Trump’s win (see 1611090014). At Wednesday’s Wells Fargo Tech, Media & Telecom Conference, AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said Trump's priorities regarding economic development and infrastructure investment "all fit in with AT&T's goals" and with the company's planned buy of Time Warner -- a deal that Trump has opposed. USTelecom President Walter McCormick said in a statement that the association wants to work with Trump on infrastructure investment. CTIA President Meredith Baker wants to work with Trump on spectrum and infrastructure, she said. Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam called for “rebuilding infrastructure and promoting the deployment of a digital superhighway.” Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, CEO of the Coalition for Green Capital, judged the Trump infrastructure approach “ideal for the communications and power networks,” he said. “Its precondition is that a surge of public money must be combined with private sector investment, and that applies much better to the two electron networks than to transportation.”

Many Questions

Telecom factored far less into Trump’s campaigning than Clinton's, which leaves many in the policy area with open questions and some concerned about the actions to come.

“What little Trump has said about telecom policy suggests it is not a priority for him,” said New America Open Technology Institute policy counsel Josh Stager. “Much of his telecom agenda may be in the hands of industry friends and congressional Republicans -- who have been laying the groundwork to gut the FCC's authority to protect consumers and the open internet. They may not act on this if the FCC becomes more industry-friendly under Trump-appointed commissioners. But all of this should be deeply troubling to anyone who cares about net neutrality, online innovation, and consumer protection.”

"I don't think anyone knows what the impacts [of a Trump presidency] will be," Iridium CEO Matt Desch said Wednesday at the Wells Fargo conference. While the satellite company does some government business and is working with the Federal Aviation Administration regarding its hopes for a 2018 launch of its Aireon global satellite-based aircraft tracking and monitoring system, Desch said he didn't expect the administration change to materially affect those business lines. "I think we are immune frankly to politics."

Trump "was not that specific on his policies," meaning business uncertainty for some time, though there likely will be bipartisan support for more infrastructure spending and "a more rational" tax code, Dish Network CEO Charlie Ergen said during the company's Q3 earnings call (see 1611090057). "You’re going to see lighter regulation, which could help GDP," he said. "You have a chance for maybe immigration reform -- that would be positive for GDP.”

“We obviously look forward to hearing more,” CTA Vice President-Congressional Affairs Tiffany Moore said of Trump’s telecom plans. “We hope to find opportunities to work with President-elect Trump.” She pointed to his “pro-business agenda” and the possibility of the environment to roll back certain onerous regulations. Trump has proposed a short-term moratorium on new federal regulations and has prioritized making his government cut regulations on the books. She noted it’s important the Senate remained Republican and with both sides of the aisle focused on tech policy, also citing with favor the re-election of such House lawmakers as Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, Barbara Comstock, R-Va., and Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla. CTA President Gary Shapiro, also spoke approvingly of how the elections played out, though he had backed Clinton (see 1611090038).

Overhaul Possibilities

Congress has the chance to overhaul the 1996 Telecom Act now but no need to “upend net neutrality,” Turner-Lee said. “Is it worth that in tech policy?” Lawmakers could revisit the use of such Communications Act titles that are best applicable for broadband but could find bipartisan sources of agreement, she speculated. Lawmakers are “well aware of the deficiencies in the Telecom Act,” said Turner-Lee, who at MMTC also pressed for an overhaul and more aggressively questioned the use of Communications Act common-carrier Title II for broadband.

Boucher insisted Congress must reclassify broadband as a Title I information service, ideally through a rewrite effort, if the FCC does not do so. It’s “encouraging” that Thune and the two leading Republicans vying for House Commerce Committee leadership -- House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. -- “have expressed their support for comprehensive telecommunications reform,” said Boucher, who also has pressed for a rewrite for years now.

Walden still anticipates the House adhering to “A Better Way,” a set of 2017-focused policy ideas developed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and addressing telecom priorities. “A lot of time went into creating this document of ideas,” Walden said at a news conference Wednesday, lauding Ryan’s work. “And we’re on the same page. And so we look forward to working with [Trump] on that.” House Republicans and Trump “share common visions and principles and goals,” Walden said. “We’ll work together.”

Negotiating dynamics will shift, many observers agreed. In the last Congress, Republicans controlled both chambers but still faced the roadblock of President Barack Obama, preventing much partisan legislation from advancing, Turner-Lee said, pointing out Obama’s ability to veto and move priorities by executive order. “That leverage may well be gone” but Democrats “will continue to exert the same type of influence,” she said of Capitol Hill Democrats’ sway and focus on consumer protection, expecting broad continuity on the Hill based on activities of the last two years. Democrats will have to figure out how to push items through without being shut down, she said.

“Bear in mind that Republicans do not have 60 votes in the Senate,” Boucher advised, suggesting bipartisanship must still be a hallmark of any major telecom legislation and contending that it can and should be. “There wasn’t a partisan issue addressed in the ’96 act.” In the Senate, 60 votes is required for cloture to end debate.