Mignon Clyburn Seeks to 'Recalibrate' FCC, Disrupt USF Amid Political Disagreements

“The FCC needs to recalibrate and modernize itself more,” and USF “needs to be disrupted,” said Clyburn. “The current silos that we have do not make sense in a 21st century.” It’s inefficient to look at E-rate, Lifeline or high-cost mechanisms separately, while not considering how money could address multiple needs, she said: Removing silos would “leverage efficiencies and … bring about positive dividends quicker to all sections of this country.”

Policymakers should promote deployment and adoption alike, said Clyburn. “We cannot narrowly fixate on infrastructure builds alone, because ‘if you build it, they will come’ only happens when a person can afford the service.” Referring to a pending FCC proposal to limit Lifeline spending (see 1802210045), Clyburn said: “Strangling the Lifeline program … will only ensure that those who cannot afford service today will not be able to afford service tomorrow.” Much more government money is spent per person to spread broadband in rural areas than urban areas, Levin said.

“We have to work together,” and people in urban and rural areas should recognize what they have in common, said Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto (D): “The differences are limited. The commonalities between parts of poverty are very real and very connected whether you live in a city or you live in Fayette County,” a rural Pennsylvania jurisdiction.

“A lot of folks are understandably cynical about what’s going on in government,” but broadband “should not be partisan” or “controversial,” said Jordan Ball, western Pennsylvania regional representative for Sen. Bob Casey (D). Between 650,000 and 800,000 Pennsylvanians lack broadband access, while 41 school districts don’t have broadband meeting the FCC’s definition, with 68 percent of those in small towns and rural areas, Ball said. People without broadband access are “living at a disadvantage,” said Mark Smith, executive director-broadband initiatives for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D). The state broadband office, set up last March by Wolf (see 1803200011), seeks to expand access to all Pennsylvanians by year-end 2022, the official said.

Broadband should be nonpartisan, "but it's not without controversy" that falls along party lines, said Levin, a Democrat. Commissioners are now “almost all ex-congressional staffers, and once you do that you have a very different kind of way of thinking about the problem,” said the former FCC official. “It’s very press-driven. It’s very soundbite-driven. It’s not very analytic-driven.” Congressional lawmakers tend to represent those who contribute to campaigns, Levin added. “We have to have more cities like San Jose,” which signed its own 5G small-cells deals with industry (see 1806280007), he said: The city showed “we actually don’t need the federal government to do this and there are significant advantages to not having the federal government involved.”

“We’ve got to make the business case for everything we do,” said Clyburn on how to reach federal policymakers. In a telehealth meeting on Capitol Hill, a congressman on the opposite side of the political spectrum didn’t fight about policy but asked Clyburn to bring a proposal that scores high with the Congressional Budget Office, she said. “The right thing, honestly, is not in vogue, is not going to sell -- nobody cares,” she said. “They do care about their wallets.”

Clyburn urged “better rapport with industry,” which she said frequently slows FCC action on more in-the-weeds agency items. When the then-commissioner tried to speed up a proceeding on indoor location accuracy, “it was industry … that stood in the way,” she said.

Local government officials on a municipal broadband panel reported mixed experiences with industry. “They’ve been our biggest cheerleader,” said Ernie Staten, Public Service Department deputy director in Fairlawn, Ohio. The city built its fiber-to-the-home project with current funds set aside for general infrastructure, he said. Incumbents’ “service levels and ability to service has been so poor that it made sense for the city to come in … and make it a success,” he said.

Incumbents “watch us closely and they’re doing everything they can to shut us down,” said Kim McKinley, director-marketing of Utah municipal broadband provider, Utopia Fiber. “They’re just nasty folks.” Utopia faced financial difficulties (see 1208100030), but today the open-access network has 20,000 customers in 11 cities and is growing by 500 users a month, she said. Incumbents and some in government like to cite Utopia as an example of muni broadband failure, but Utopia responds by delivering a good product, educating legislators on why it’s important and showing success, she said.