Hill Telecom Aides Optimistic on Broadband, Spectrum Legislation in 2018

Senate Commerce Policy Director-Communications and Technology Crystal Tully and House Commerce Chief GOP Telecom Counsel Robin Colwell cited broadband deployment legislation as their members’ top priority for early 2018, in part citing President Donald Trump’s pending infrastructure legislative proposal. Both aides noted comments that Grace Koh, National Economic Council technology, telecom and cybersecurity assistant to Trump, made during a Thursday PLI session that indicated it's unlikely the proposal will include set-aside funding for broadband deployments (see 1712070016).

The lack of a set-aside “specifically” for broadband “doesn’t mean general funding [to be included in the package] can’t be spent on broadband,” Tully said. Congressional Republicans believe specific funding should be a “secondary” priority compared with language aimed at “streamlining” processes for broadband deployment permitting, she said. Koh was reflecting the White House’s view that “states might have their own priorities” for infrastructure funding, Colwell said. The FCC would be the top contender agency to control a broadband set-aside, though “there’s also talk” about placing it at the Department of Agriculture, Tully said.

Senate Commerce Chief Democratic Telecom Counsel John Branscome and House Commerce Chief Democratic Telecom Counsel David Goldman pushed back against Koh’s comments about the infrastructure bill. “It sounds like we may have some work to do” to reach a consensus on broadband language in an infrastructure package, Goldman said. Democrats believe streamlining permitting “and even tax incentives are helpful,” but dedicated funding is also crucial, Branscome said. Goldman noted Hill Democrats’ September proposal for a $40 billion investment in broadband deployments in rural, urban and tribal areas as part of their “A Better Deal” economic agenda. That plan would rely on a mix of public and private participation, including involvement from ISPs and local governments (see 1709280062).

“We will never be done” with the net neutrality debate even if Congress reached a compromise on net neutrality, Colwell said. It’s an example of the adage that “no telecom issue ever goes away” permanently. Tully was more optimistic, saying she's hopeful “we can have something in place” by the time of the 2020 presidential election. House Commerce attempted to move forward over the summer with its bid for a compromise but it stalled, including difficulties getting executives from top ISPs and edge providers to testify at a now-indefinitely postponed hearing on the issue (see 1708300050).

Senate Commerce ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., still believes net neutrality legislation is the “only way” to get a lasting set of rules, but he and other Democrats were “taken aback” by the language in the FCC’s draft order to rescind its 2015 rules, Branscome said. It appears to be an “unprecedented abdication” of the FCC’s congressionally mandated oversight over telecom networks, he said. The FCC’s willingness to “walk away” from that mandate “is striking,” Goldman said. Congressional Democrats resisted GOP calls for a legislative compromise, with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., recently calling them a “ruse” (see 1707130063, 1708070068 and 1711270054).

All four aides said they saw promise for spectrum legislation, including the Spectrum Auction Deposits Act (HR-4109). The bill from Congressional Spectrum Caucus co-Chairmen Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Doris Matsui, D-Calif., would require bidders' deposits in future spectrum auctions to be placed with the Treasury Department. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has said technicalities in the existing deposits process were preventing the agency from holding additional auctions (see 1710250026). HR-4109 “is an absolute must have,” Colwell said. Goldman agreed, saying a solution on the spectrum auction deposits issue “just needs to happen.”

Goldman and Tully noted possible movement on the Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum (Airwaves) Act (S-1682), which Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., filed in August (see 1708010069). The bill in part aims to identify spectrum for unlicensed use and free up mid-band spectrum for wireless industry purchase via a future FCC auction. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., has been examining S-1682 and “I think we’re getting close to having something bipartisan” on the House side, Goldman said. Senate Commerce also is “working through” S-1682 and is “hoping to move at least parts of that” via another legislative vehicle, Tully said.

The aides also noted broad agreement on the need to ensure the U.S. leads development of 5G. “There’s no partisan divide” on that issue, Goldman said. The 5G draft bill being circulated by Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is a “big priority” for the committee heading into 2018, though staffers are still aiming to formally file the bill this month, Tully said. It aims to ease barriers to 5G and other broadband deployments. It has drawn concerned reactions from local government stakeholders, including the National Association of Counties and the National League of Cities, because of language that would seek to pre-empt state, local and tribal laws seen as barriers to deployments (see 1710310057, 1711240024 and 1712070075). Colwell said House Commerce also aims to “get into” action on 5G next year, noting the Thune-Schatz draft.