Universal Broadband Needs Infrastructure Law, CCA Told

Congress should fund an infrastructure package because too many areas won’t get broadband without federal help, House Communications Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told a Competitive Carriers Association virtual conference Tuesday. “The business case just doesn’t exist for too many communities,” he said: “Infrastructure is a high priority for me and for this new administration.”

Others disagreed whether bipartisan infrastructure legislation is possible. Commissioner Brendan Carr said the FCC should make sure it watches closely to prevent overbuilding.

Broadband deployment isn’t enough, and the U.S. also must address affordability, Doyle said. “As we have become far too aware over the last year, universal broadband connectivity is critical” for several reasons, he said: “The last administration sat on their hands and let down rural carriers and rural America when it came to deploying new wireless service. We want to change that.”

Doyle encouraged CCA members to participate in the FCC's $3.2 billion emergency broadband benefit program. “It’s one of the best ways we can get people connected right now,” he said. The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act funds remote learning, he noted. “This investment is far overdue,” he said: “We’ve known about the homework gap for years.” As with the EBB, “it’s absolutely critical that all providers participate,” he said.

Carr warned against defining broadband as 100 Mbps symmetrical (see 2103290047). That will lead to “gold-plating builds in areas that today already have high-speed connectivity,” he said. Congress approved lots of money for broadband, he said: “I’m a little worried that there’s not oversight going on here, that we could run into problems with overbuilding.” The FCC needs to get out broadband maps before next year, Carr said. “There’s bipartisan consensus that our approach to mapping is broken.” Start with “targeted, or 1.0, maps,” he said (see 2103230071): “Let’s figure out what the bare minimum is that we need,” and “we can always build on the maps from there.”

Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel “isn’t going to let any grass grow under her feet,” said Maribeth Collins, CCA senior director-legislative affairs. Rosenworcel “expects people to multitask, and they’re doing that right now.” Congress is ready to move on infrastructure and has limited time to act, Collins said: “Midterms are coming up, and people stop legislating around this time next year.”

Infrastructure is likely to be passed on a partisan basis through reconciliation, predicted John Godfrey, Samsung Electronics America senior vice president-public policy. “Democrats know they can probably achieve that,” he said: “That’s probably more likely than getting 60 votes in the Senate. … There’s just a huge amount of pressure on Democrats to deliver on some more of the promises that they have made.” Godfrey misses "the days when there was bipartisan compromise and deal-making,” he said. “Getting anything passed in Congress these days is really hard.”

Congress could reach a compromise on infrastructure, said BakerHostetler’s Greg Orlando. “It’ll be harder” if lawmakers “go the reconciliation route,” he said: “The stakes are too high for something not to happen.” The pandemic made everyone more dependent on being connected, said Hogan Lovells’ Trey Hanbury. “If any issue has the potential to break through the partisan gridlock that afflicts Washington, it’s broadband.”

The EBB should have funded smartphones (see 2102230025), Hanbury said: Failure to do so hurts CCA members. “I can’t understand that at all,” he said. “Hot spots are included. The only thing that my kids think my phone is good for is to enable hot spot connectivity in the back seat on any car ride more than 10 minutes.”

“5G is where everybody is going to end up,” but monetizing it will be different from earlier generations of wireless, said Anand Akundi, Ericsson North America vice president-wireless sales. “It’s a G that allows you to build the network on demand to serve the use case that you’re trying to serve.” Consider monetization now, he advised: “Start thinking about new ways to use the spectrum you do have to get more revenue.”