Next 10-Year Broadband Plan Should Be Written Outside FCC, Incompas Hears
There's a need for a new federal broadband plan, with different metrics and tasked outside the FCC, panelists said Tuesday during the Incompas Policy Summit. They commented on the 10-year-old FCC National Broadband Plan.
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"Almost everything we did was about incentives," said New Street's Blair Levin, who helped write the plan while at the agency. If the document is revisited, he said, it would need to address cybersecurity, privacy and deepfake videos. "You'd need White House leadership to do this now," with participation of every federal agency, he said. The analyst noted ongoing debate on whether there should be a new agency to oversee digital platforms and related threats.
USF consultant Carol Mattey, who was with the FCC during the creation and early implementation of the broadband plan, agreed a refresh shouldn't be done by the FCC. She said one agency, perhaps NTIA, should be in charge. An interagency process would make it difficult to get anything done, she said. Mattey doesn't think she would join a second team if the broadband plan were refreshed, she told us. She recalled working 12-hour days. She enjoyed the work, and said a new effort would require "new ideas and new blood."
"These are difficult issues," said Technology Policy Institute Senior Fellow John Horrigan, who also worked on the National Broadband Plan. He said there's a need for more congressional staffers who focus on broadband and the digital economy.
Earlier Tuesday, Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr said the FCC can aid broadband deployment. Rosenworcel would like to address pole attachments and rights of way: "How you get access to those poles is directly related to the amount of broadband you deploy." She said the agency should consider tying broadband subsidies to states to those that adopt streamlined policies granting easier pole access, for example. "We'd use more carrots than sticks," she said.
"We think we can build on the success of reforms at the grassroots level," Carr told Incompas CEO Chip Pickering. Saying access to incumbent telecom networks can help Incompas members enter new markets before they build their own fiber networks, Carr said the commission wants competitive networks. "I don't want the incentives skewed" to the point where it doesn't make sense for the competitors to build their own networks, the commissioner added. Pickering told Carr Incompas would prefer the FCC to develop more-accurate broadband maps before it moves forward with new rules. Congress took action on broadband mapping later Tuesday (see 2003030064).
Bad FCC mapping data can affect state funding to rural broadband providers, said Microsoft Airband Business Operations and Program Management Leader Erica Myers. "It hinders our partners' opportunity to get funding," she said. "Incumbents are referencing the maps and saying they have service where they don't have service." Airband is working with states to make sure they understand the current FCC maps are incorrect and ask them to use another approach, she said.
CEO Dane Jasper of ISP Sonic wants to protect access to unbundled network elements as a bridge to broadband until either a market's incumbent or CLEC deploys fiber. ILECs shed their copper networks when they move their customers to fiber, Jasper said. "That creates this race to deploy fiber and a natural forbearance" of the types that incumbents seek from the FCC, he said.
C Spire plans an August white paper on policies that can help support broadband deployment in rural communities, said Senior Vice President Ben Moncrief. The telecom provider is working with a consultant to examine opportunities to participate in the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auctions.
General Counsel Angie Kronenberg said Incompas plans a white paper to recommend state and local policies to help provide universal broadband access. The target audience will be policymakers and other associations in the broadband space, she told us. "We have a lot of work to do to build a coalition in this area. Having consistent and good policy to access rights of way and to access poles is really critical to how much it's going to cost to deploy networks." Kronenberg wants the FCC to keep these issues in mind as it considers forbearance proceedings that would eliminate competition to incumbents from CLECs that want to access legacy copper networks. "We've raised this issue" with the FCC, she said, that "broadband network deployment takes time." Many municipalities add extra barriers that add time, and consistent regulations could help, she said. The white paper could be ready next week.