FCC Oversight Required to Ensure Rural Broadband Buildout, Stakeholders Say

The FCC’s work to distribute funds through Phase I of the Connect America Fund (CAF) is “not working great,” said Subcommittee Ranking Member Roger Wicker, R-Miss. “We need you to follow up with us to determine how to make CAF I and CAF II work better,” he told witnesses at the hearing. Wicker said lawmakers “must ensure that any digital divide that exists between urban and rural areas is effectively bridged and that all Americans have the tools necessary to take full advantage of our broadband economy.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said she believes the FCC “will have to do something more” to address the persistent issue of call completion in rural areas. She said that despite increased FCC scrutiny and the recent agreement with Level 3 Communications related to call completion issues there has been an “uptick” in consumer complaints. “Bizarrely, some of these companies are bumping these calls and not completing them,” she said. “This can’t be how business works in America.” Klobuchar also advocated for legislation that would direct the FCC to begin a rulemaking that ensures consumers can circumvent the technological protection measures that prevent their handsets from being used with other networks.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said municipal governments have a role in increasing broadband access to areas that lack communications services, according to his prepared testimony. “Municipal broadband can help lower costs and expand access in areas that currently lack service, or where service is insufficient or unaffordable,” Lautenberg’s statement said. “Yet, many states have already passed laws that restrict municipal broadband access. Instead of creating obstacles for municipalities that want to provide affordable broadband access, we should be working to ensure everyone has access to the Internet.”

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said she had “a lot of concerns about the USF,” which she thought had failed to connect areas in rural New Hampshire that lack broadband access. Lautenberg said the FCC should also work to make USF more sustainable and “reassess” the way states contribute to the fund, according to his statement.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said the nation’s basic Internet connectivity is “not sufficient to meet our children’s 21st Century educational needs,” in prepared remarks. He said “bringing next-generation high-speed broadband to schools and libraries in rural as well as urban areas is essential to affording students’ access to tomorrow’s digital education technologies and services,” according to his statement.

The FCC’s quantile regression analysis model needs further clarification and lawmakers should do more oversight into the FCC’s work on the issue, said Ritter Communications Vice President-External Affairs John Strode. He disagreed with the commission’s use of funding caps, which he said “prevent people in rural areas to access broadband services. … I understand the FCC has set a budget and is trying to work with that budget but they have got the regulatory cart before the horse.”

CenturyLink Executive Vice President Steven Davis said there’s broad consensus that the FCC should adopt four policies regarding rural communications policy. First, the commission and rural providers must target support “on a granular basis” where market forces would not otherwise make communications available. Second, the FCC must ensure that support only goes to areas where there’s not an unsubsidized competitor providing adequate service. The rural providers must ensure that federally supported services are “reasonably equivalent” to services provided in urban markets. And finally “we must match support and obligations to serve -- obligations cannot exceed the available support and they should be limited to the supported areas,” he said.

U.S. Cellular Chairman Leroy Carlson said interoperability issues across the 700 MHz band are “particularly acute” in rural areas. He told lawmakers they need to ensure that the FCC ensures interoperability across the 600 MHz band prior to its planned reverse spectrum auctions. The FCC should reject any proposals that permit package bidding, he said. Carlson said his company was encouraged by a recent court decision that upheld the FCC’s rules on data roaming but said “continual oversight” from Congress is needed.

Congressional lawmakers must conduct more oversight into the development of the FCC’s cost model for CAF Phase II, American Cable Association representative Patricia Jo Boyers told lawmakers. She said the government should not subsidize competitors to build their networks in areas where providers have already deployed broadband. “When we spend our own capital to bring broadband and other services to communities, there is absolutely no reason for the government to step in and aid others. Not only does this discourage private investment, it is a waste of taxpayer dollars,” Boyers said. Congress must also seek to address what she said was a lack of middle-mile infrastructure and rising middle-mile costs; outdated pole access attachment regulations; and challenges to obtaining public and private rights-of-way for broadband deployment.