Groups Disagree on 'Fiber First' IIJA Broadband Policies

Industry groups pressed NTIA to give states maximum flexibility in awarding the billions of forthcoming dollars from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, as the agency prepares to roll out program rules for the broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) and middle-mile programs, in comments we reviewed (see 2202070053). The agency made most of the more than 750 comments it received available Wednesday.

Among the disagreements was whether NTIA should follow recent Department of Treasury rules favoring fiber projects and prioritizing nonprofit and co-op organizations (see 2202090037). The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association said those entities are “less guided by profits, more committed to serving entire communities, and otherwise can be critical for deploying broadband.”

A “substantial majority of households in rural high-cost areas can be served by fiber optic facilities,” said WTA, noting fiber is “the best and most scalable alternative for middle mile networks.” Deploy “as much fiber broadband infrastructure … as possible,” said Lumen. It’s “the most scalable of broadband technologies” and will “stand the test of time,” it said.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers backed “fiber first policies” and encouraged NTIA to limit the use of fixed wireless to “truly remote regions” where fiber would be “geographically impossible or extremely costly to deploy.” Require states to consult state telecom regulators and subgrantees to use “labor peace agreements” to “ensure the expeditious buildout,” IBEW said.

Others said NTIA should adopt a technology-neutral approach. “Permit state and subgrantees the flexibility to deploy fixed and mobile wireless networks at the onset,” said the Rural Wireless Association. Dell urged the agency to “take into account the cost-effective nature” of open radio access network deployments. ORAN is “uniquely situated” to meet the needs of “priority broadband projects” as emphasized in the infrastructure law, said Rakuten.

Fiber isn’t “well-suited for all areas,” said GeoLinks, and it “fears that states may develop programs that either disincentivize or completely block non-fiber technologies.” Let subgrantees compete for a state’s BEAD funding as long as they meet IIJA’s “statutory performance requirements,” said SpaceX.

Funding should prioritize unserved areas using “diverse technologies,” said the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Areas that already have “functioning broadband networks” shouldn’t be served until “the lion’s share of truly unserved areas is served,” ITIF said, saying NTIA should avoid “future-proofing” and symmetrical speeds metrics: “There is simply no need to create sky-high standards that the average user will never have a chance to use.” Searchlight disagreed: NTIA should consider prioritizing projects “capable of providing at least 1 Gbps/500 Mbps service.”

Industry Raises Implementation Concerns

Although IIJA includes a “buy American” provision for the BEAD program, it does allow a waiver process. A limited waiver for broadband equipment would “provide market certainty,” said 5G Americas, citing NTIA’s decision to issue a similar waiver for funding non-domestic equipment through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Pole attachment policies are a “critical” element in broadband infrastructure projects, said Charter. NTIA should assess whether states consider potential challenges on pole access, and publish “model pole attachment policies” for states to adopt, Charter said.

One potential challenge is current workforce shortages, said Intel, suggesting NTIA consider providing opportunities to “address shortfalls” in the science, technology, engineering and math “talent pipeline." Prioritize providers that “have experience and staff ready to deploy,” said Brightspeed, saying states should be required to designate funding for technical training.

Another challenge is the timing of new broadband maps, said T-Mobile, citing the “hasty decisions” made by the FCC when it rolled out the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction. If NTIA “rushes implementation,” the agency “would risk not serving the very objectives the funding is intended to promote,” T-Mobile said. Providers “need certainty about which locations will be covered,” said Verizon: “[O]therwise, they and grantees may risk repeated efforts to revisit their proposed plans.” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Congress the maps are expected this summer (see 2202010071).

The FCC is "working hard to update America's broadband maps," emailed a spokesperson: "It's a complicated project involving a number of different systems and the eventual collection of data from all over the country." A protest is pending before the GAO, she said, and "we will continue to coordinate every step of the way with our partners at the Department of Commerce" as the mapping process unfolds. NTIA didn’t comment.

With some areas already expected to be served with existing deployment commitments, NTIA should treat those areas as served even if it’s not yet reflected in the FCC’s broadband maps, to prevent overbuilding, said the American Action Forum. Focus on “universal availability and equity as means to a greater end, not the end itself,” said the Pew Charitable Trusts Broadband Access Initiative. Consider providing technical assistance to states for data collection and post-award monitoring, Pew said.

States Seek Flexibility

New York and other states need “maximum flexibility” to administer BEAD funding, including ability to use their own maps, said Empire State Development’s ConnectAll Office acting Director Scott Rasmussen.

“States are charged with solving the digital divide in part because most previous federal funding has not moved the needle,” said the Vermont Department of Public Service and Community Broadband Board. “It is a critical time for NTIA to give the states both the flexibility and the support to solve this problem.” Let states decide how to run competitive award processes without limits, using their own maps, and broadly define high-cost areas, Vermont said.

Give states “the greatest flexibility possible,” said Louisiana’s broadband office: Give guidelines for subgrant processes but don’t prescribe them. NTIA and states should be transparent about program goals, funding, and timelines, it said.

The Illinois Broadband Office urged NTIA to quickly release funds. “States should be allowed to incur expenses for these activities before filing the Letter of Intent (LOI) and then later receive reimbursement after submitting the LOI.” Allow BEAD funds to be used for middle mile when necessary to support last-mile deployment, it said.

“States have a critical independent knowledge set and many states have substantial experience administering successful and impactful grant programs,” said the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity. The office urged NTIA to think about maintaining political stability. “There need to be provisions that an adopted, approved plan for funding cannot have substantive changes as state administrations change.”

NTIA’s comment process “is an insufficient channel for state-federal communication on federal actions that may affect state authority and administrative activity,” said the Western Governors Association. WGA urged NTIA to “engage in meaningful, substantive, and ongoing consultation with states in advance of prospective decisions or related public processes.” WGA attached its recent resolutions, including one saying the current 25/3 Mbps broadband definition isn’t high enough.

Localities, Tribes

“Currently, NTIA is placing a heavy emphasis on states, and not really driving the conversation beyond states,” said Detroit. “Digital inequities persist at the local level. As such, local governments need to be included in plan development, execution, and the monitoring of data/outcomes.” NTIA should convene state, local and tribal governments twice a year, said Detroit.

Los Angeles should be able to get middle-mile funding even though no block in the city would qualify based on FCC broadband maps, said the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting. Services might not be affordable due to high fiber backhaul costs, it said: “The MMBI should not only prioritize investments in unserved or underserved communities, but in under-connected communities where the non-profit and/or public sectors have made a commitment to make use of affordable middle-mile connectivity to provide lower or no-cost service to residents.”

Saying communities can’t add infrastructure that might be duplicative is a “recipe for doing nothing,” said Pettis County, Missouri. “When a sound project is presented to decision makers, it should be given consideration, without finding ways to reject it because of a faulty broadband map or a concern about overbuilding a network.”

Good maps are critical, said the Tlingit and Haida tribal government in Alaska. “Areas lacking broadband service … cannot be counted as ‘served’ as has historically been the case with FCC Form 477 data.” Alaska has no state map nor broadband office, it said. “NTIA … should publish a schedule for 2022 by when the FCC will release comprehensive broadband mapping data, and underlying data, on which eligible entities can rely to prepare their five-year statewide action plans for broadband deployment.” Allow tribes to self-certify unserved locations when maps are erroneous, it added.