NTCA Chief Bloomfield 'Very Bullish' on Broadband Infrastructure Legislative Outlook
Broadband infrastructure legislation has strong prospects, with the 2018 election conducive to passage, said NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield in an interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators to be televised soon (here). Recognizing that securing additional rural USF support from the FCC is difficult, she said she remains hopeful and believes broadband infrastructure legislation could help fill the funding need. She said the broadband net neutrality dispute gives lawmakers a hook to pursue a Communications Act rewrite but it's a heavy lift.
“I am very bullish about them actually doing it," Bloomfield said, when asked about the outlook for broadband infrastructure legislation. "There's something to be said for finding a topic that this country can rally around ... I think infrastructure really becomes that issue." Both President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats "have at least referenced that broadband could and should likely be a part" of a $1 trillion infrastructure initiative, she said. NTCA had "really interesting" discussions with the White House (see 1703100036), she said: "I think they’re very focused on infrastructure, figuring out what those pieces might look like." Infrastructure must go "beyond a road and a bridge," she said. "Superhighways of the future -- it's really about broadband. It's the ability to do the teleworking, to bring jobs and commerce in, public safety, education, telemedicine.”
Bloomfield suggested serious legislative proposals would circulate this summer or fall, sparking an infrastructure push into 2018. Some believe "we can't do it in an election year because that gets everybody riled up. I would disagree," she said: "It’s a great year to really consider infrastructure spending. Everybody likes to have something positive that they can go home and talk about" and "every community benefits from some infrastructure investment.” Paying for infrastructure spending is considered a big challenge.
The FCC did a good job of revamping rural USF to spur broadband deployment and improve targeting of support and accountability through location geocoding, Bloomfield said. "The problem is there isn't sufficient funding to actually do the job. ... It's almost like they’ve built this car, and it's a great car except there's just not enough gas in the tank." She said the $250 million in annual funding that NTCA has asked the FCC to add to a rate-of-return USF budget of about $2 billion "would go a long way to making sure that works." Unlike E-rate and Lifeline USF, the high-cost mechanism isn't adjusted for inflation, she said. "Essentially, these carriers have been frozen at this for seven years.”
On FCC funding prospects, Bloomfield said, "Fingers crossed. It's a tough time." Part of the problem is the USF contribution system, which remains based on legacy phone revenue: "You're kind of hitting into a brick wall." But broadband is a "great equalizer" and she remains "very hopeful" of progress. "You’ve got a commission that is very rural empathetic," she said, noting Chairman Ajit Pai's Kansas roots and rural interest and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's USF leadership. She cited "interesting" dynamics coming from the 2016 election: "Rural America kind of stood up" and said, "Hey, we’re out here, don't forget about us." Rural telcos are also seeking FCC relief from a rising rural phone "rate floor" intended "to match" urban rates.
Channeling infrastructure spending through USF would be an efficient way of "filling the gap" and boosting broadband, given FCC program controls, Bloomfield said. She lauded Rural Utilities Service rural telecom lending, including through broadband stimulus funding in 2009, when projects "hit the ground a lot faster at RUS than NTIA" in the Commerce Department. "If there’s any capital push, I think putting it to an agency" with experience and standards "is really important," as is streamlining process "hoops," she said. Tax incentives could be another important infrastructure piece for larger carriers, she said, though not for rural telcos: "If you can't make money in an area," tax credits are "not going to be a huge motivator." She hailed the rural focus of key congressional Republicans.
A Communications Act rewrite would be a "big bite," said Bloomfield, suggesting "the art of the possible" and "what can you bite off and get done one bite at a time" were often preferable. "Congress has a lot on their plate right now, and net neutrality, as we’ve seen, takes a lot of oxygen," she said. "Net neutrality potentially gives Congress the right hook to look at something more comprehensive ... I do see it as a cornerstone.” She said rural telcos were already regulated under Title II, so they were "less concerned" about the FCC's broadband reclassification, and actually wanted to ensure interconnection and "seamless networks." The agency "overreached" through "discrimination" of broadband ISPs in favor of internet edge and content providers, she said.
Bloomfield offered a similar critique of FCC privacy rules targeting broadband ISPs, when edge and content providers have "far more access" to some consumer data: "It was a little bit of an overreach." She said consumer privacy is particularly important to rural telcos: "These folks are your neighbors." Now that congressional legislation has been enacted repealing the rules (see 1704050027), she's hopeful the FCC and FTC will harmonize their frameworks to protect privacy while not "targeting any one industry" or "tying anybody’s hands behind their back.”