Broadband Infrastructure Should Target Unserved Areas, Use Reverse Auctions, ITIF Says
Broadband infrastructure legislation should target unserved areas and rely on reverse auctions, with the FCC Connect America Fund (CAF) program a good example, said Doug Brake, telecom policy analyst at the Information and Technology and Innovation Foundation, who wrote a…
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report released Monday. Such bills should use "multiple tools, including both tax incentives and targeted financial support," he summarized. "It is important for broadband infrastructure spending to focus first on areas that are legitimately unserved rather than propping up duplicative, smaller networks or increasing available speeds beyond what is reasonably needed." He said CAF "is the most well thought-out" existing federal broadband effort, and its "reverse-auction mechanism is a model for allocating funds." The loan programs of the Rural Utilities Service is a bad example, he wrote: "RUS has faced accountability challenges, and many of the networks benefiting from its guaranteed loans ultimately creep into low-cost areas that are already served competitively. It would be a mistake to expand on this program as part of an infrastructure bill."