Trump Sees Rural Broadband as Economic Driver, Spectrum Critical, White House Aide Says
Connecting rural America is a key priority for the Trump administration, said Kelsey Guyselman, policy adviser to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, on a New America panel Tuesday. New Wireless Internet Service Provider Association President Claude Aiken said fixed wireless has to play a key role in any plan for rural America. Other panelists said WISPs need more spectrum to compete.
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“The president commented that the lack of broadband access in rural America is intolerable and I think that has echoed across a lot of the actions that the actions that the administration and considered and taken,” Guyselman said. Broadband access is key to everything from starting a business to “having a productive farming community,” she said. “Connectivity can create new jobs. It will keep people in our vibrant rural communities.” The administration’s key areas of focus are investment and innovation, Guyselman said. “We need to make a better business case for investment in these expensive, hard to serve parts,” she said. “This includes reducing barriers to entry. ... This also means filling in the gaps in areas where there will never be a business case.”
Fiber is often considered “the gold standard” for connectivity, but wireless also has a role to play, Guyselman said. “Fixed wireless broadband can often be deployed more quickly and less expensively and provide functional and high-speed access for many people.” Guyselman noted spectrum is “scarce and valuable” and the topic of a “a lot of debate,” she said. Lots of spectrum is unused or underused, she said: “There are a lot of opportunities for more efficient and effective use.”
“Fixed wireless is the solution to much of our country’s rural broadband problem,” said Akin, former aide to outgoing FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, in his first public remarks as WISPA chief. “More than 4 million Americans, many of whom would otherwise be in a digital desert, rely on fixed wireless broadband to connect to the internet.” WISPs are on track to double their reach by 2021, he said. WISPs rely on private industry, “maxed-out personal credit cards and entrepreneurial grit,” rather than government subsidies to grow, he said.
Making more spectrum available is crucial to fixed wireless, said Paula Boyd, Microsoft senior director-government and regulatory affairs. “If fixed wireless is going to be a solution or a big part of the solution in rural areas, if you don’t have spectrum, that solution cannot really be deployed effectively.” Also important is broadband mapping “so that providers have a better sense of where the opportunities are,” Boyd said.
Too much of the broadband debate has focused on the population centers, said Elizabeth Bowles, chair of Arkansas WISP Aristotle and of the FCC Broadband Advisory Committee. Rural America “has been forgotten,” she said. “It’s that it’s very easy when we start getting into policy debates to get caught up in the NFL cities and the population densification areas and forget that the heartland of America is rural.”
BDAC’s focus is to address “barriers and limitations that are impeding the deployment of broadband with a goal of alleviating the rural divide,” Bowles said. Spectrum has to be part of the discussion, she said. Policymakers are finally focused on fixed wireless, she said. “I remember having conversations as recently as three years ago” where policymakers said of fixed wireless, “'Well, that’s not broadband,'” she said. Competition is critical, she said. “I don’t care who the provider is; where you see broadband adoption rates of 60, 70 percent there are two or three providers.” Getting one provider is only “a start” for a community, she said.