ISP Groups Urge Senate Agriculture to Reduce Overbuild Chances in RUS-Funded Projects
The American Cable Association, ITTA, NCTA and USTelecom are urging Senate Agriculture Committee leaders to “modify” the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) broadband loan program as part of its work on the farm bill to limit program-funded broadband projects' potential to…
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involve overbuild of existing services. The program requires 15 percent of an applicant's proposed service area be unserved, which means 85 percent of the area can already be served by up to two other ISPs. “This practice does nothing to help those in rural America who still don’t have broadband service,” the industry groups said in a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., released Wednesday. “This government subsidization of a competitor in a market already served by one or two providers is an inefficient use of scarce funding and puts a thumb on the competitive scale, undermining future efforts to sustain existing networks or to build out broadband networks in high-cost areas.” The groups suggested Senate Agriculture mirror the overall RUS broadband funding rules to mirror those for the RUS-administered pilot distance learning, telemedicine and broadband program, which require qualifying projects to have a proposed service area that is at least 90 percent unserved. The pilot program received $600 million in funding via the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (see 1803220048 and 1803230038).