Industry Officials Emphasize Partnerships Ahead of IIJA Programs

Broadband industry officials Tuesday emphasized the need for partnerships between ISPs and local communities as states prepare for NTIA-administered funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (see 2206140075). High speed internet is “essential to the success of individuals … and to our country,” said NTIA Director-Communications Policy Initiatives Russell Hanser, during a Fierce Telecom virtual event Tuesday on the digital divide: “Internet access has just remained elusive for too long for too many.”

The definition of “what constitutes good broadband has changed a lot” over the past decade, said A10 Networks Director-Service Provider Product Marketing Terry Young. A common challenge for smaller ISPs has been carrier grade networking because it’s something they “haven’t had to deal with as much” as bigger companies, Young said, and “now they have to make changes to the network” to handle more subscribers and various types of traffic.

Hanser noted 80% of Americans used the internet in 2021 compared with 79% in 2019, saying income, race and ethnicity continue to play a role in the adoption gap. The “persistence of this digital divide has enormous economic costs and social costs,” said Qualcomm Chief Economist Kirti Gupta, adding more than one-third of the global population remains unconnected.

Availability, affordability and a “persistent skills gap” are the “three main factors that cause the digital divide,” Gupta said, and fixed wireless technology will “solve the issue of availability” and affordability because “now we have a technology that can truly compete with fiber” in delivering gigabit speeds. It’s less expensive and faster than deploying fiber in remote and rural areas, she said, as well as “more profitable for service providers.”

“Other access technologies” are also likely to factor into bridging the digital divide, said Moor Insights & Strategy Analyst Will Townsend. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all,” Townsend said, citing low earth orbit satellites. “It's going to be a kind of a multi-access methodology to bridge the digital divide,” he said, and “certainly fixed wireless access and LEO can be a part of that.”

There's still a high demand for coverage across communities and “obviously, fiber is our preference,” said Big Bend Telephone Company Chief Financial Officer Lauren Sanders, but it’s “still cost prohibitive without additional funding” in some areas. Partnerships between ISPs and communities should focus on achieving "the prices which resonate with the end user paying,” developing products that have an “ease of use and reliable solution,” and ensuring there's “penetration of the services in under- and unserved regions with robust supply channels,” said NSR Senior Analyst Vivek Prasad.

ISPs and local government partnerships to deliver broadband in their communities are possible if there can be a certain level of support or matching funds for deployment efforts, said Wilkes Communications CEO Eric Cramer: “We want to work with all stakeholders.” Gary, Indiana, Chief Information Officer Lloyd Keith said the city is "looking for partners" and "going to commit some of our dollars to it." The city is “wide open to whatever the technical solutions are that satisfy the requirement for bandwidth,” Keith said, noting responses and initial request for quote are due Aug. 12.

“We're open to being flexible to what the needs are” in a given community and “who we’re looking to partner with,” Sanders said. It “depends on the needs of the end user” and the kind of expertise a municipality has in-house, she said, so the “viability of that partner is really important.”