USTelecom CEO Optimistic Broadband Infrastructure Legislation Will Be Bipartisan

USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter touted a "broadband first" agenda and bipartisan backing for including measures in infrastructure legislation to boost high-speed communications networks. He said any infrastructure bill must go beyond funding "asphalt and airports" because "the ones and zeros of broadband" are increasingly "essential" to connecting Americans. "We are going to be working very closely with the administration and with Congress to advance a national infrastructure plan that does prioritize broadband, that does allow the digital infrastructure of our nation to be more carefully coupled with our brick-and-mortar infrastructure," he said in an interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators being televised April 1 and April 3. He said there's "no daylight between Republicans and Democrats" on broadband's importance: "Those ones and zeros are not red and blue; they're red, white and blue." Spalter said USTelecom is focused on achieving provider "parity" and regulatory "clarity." Broadband providers invested more than $1 trillion over 20 years under "light-touch regulation" until the FCC in 2015 reclassified broadband under Communications Act Title II, an "artifact" of the 1930s with "regressive" rules, he said. “We support net neutrality. We understand that the ability to transact our online lives in an open and free environment is indispensable not only to our democracy but to the future of our economy, and to the health and safety and productivity and education, increasingly, of our families and communities." There should be "no throttling, no blocking -- we all agree on those types of principles," he said. "Where we disagree is how to get there." He predicted policymakers will move away from Title II regulation. He rejected the premise that competition is lacking: "The numbers really are off the chart: American consumers enjoy more broadband choice than any other consumer on the globe." He said next-generation networks will usher in innovations in "contextually aware environments, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, connected vehicles." Spalter called recent legislation to repeal FCC privacy rules a "win, win" for consumers that would lead to "harmonized" FCC and FTC protections for sensitive online data while allowing the benefits of innovation. He said a presidential executive order is expected soon to elaborate a clearer cybersecurity framework: "The threats are increasingly real." He said his association is working with other industry players and the Department of Homeland Security on an "action plan" to "ensure the integrity of our networks, their resiliency and security."