Senators Say Trump Infrastructure Package Must Include Broadband

It’s hard to say what Trump will do, but based on the rhetoric, it appears infrastructure will be a focus, said Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark. Any infrastructure discussion should include broadband, and Broadband Caucus members from both parties plan to push that issue, he said. Sen. Angus King also highlighted Trump’s eye on infrastructure. “He’s talked about it in a bipartisan way,” said the independent from Maine who caucuses with Democrats. "He’s talked to [top Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York] about it and there’s a lot of general support for the idea that broadband has to be part of that package.”

Broadband “is one of the few bipartisan issues right now,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. “Since the president-elect has made infrastructure such a major priority … we have to really make that a focus.”

Voters for Trump probably want better broadband, said King, pointing to similarities in the electoral map for the 2016 election and FCC data on the rural/urban digital divide. The coordinates of people who voted for Trump correlate with rural areas lacking broadband, he said. Part of the reason they voted for Trump was that they felt “they’re being left behind, that they’re not included in the national economy and that they’re … missing something,” he said. “One of things they’re missing is broadband.”

High-speed internet is “no longer a luxury,” Boozman said. “It’s a necessity.” The Republican also referred to the internet as a utility and said spreading broadband will help the economy. King said broadband must be viewed as basic infrastructure and is “rural electrification of the 21st century.” It’s time “to stop thinking of this as different from roads and bridges,” he said. Klobuchar agreed, saying broadband is critical to keeping businesses in rural areas.

While upbeat on the Trump broadband infrastructure agenda (see 1611090054), King said he worries about a reversal of the FCC net neutrality decision. “If we don’t have [the rule], then we’re going to be regulated, but it’s going to be by giant corporations.” King said he has some hope because he doesn’t believe Trump's an ideological Republican. Trump is “pragmatic” and it won’t be easy to predict his position on any issue, the senator said. “The assumption that he'll carry the basic Republican agenda of the last 15 years is not necessarily a valid assumption.”

Tips for Trump

Strickling advised the new administration on new broadband infrastructure funding. In what he said may be his last speech on broadband as the agency head, Strickling cited lessons learned while overseeing NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “As I depart NTIA in a few weeks, my hope is that NTIA’s strong record of accomplishment of the last eight years will be allowed to continue,” he said.

The new government should continue to focus on communities and involve them in “all aspects of broadband projects,” Strickling said. If there's new funding, identifying sustainable projects is critical, he said. That focus helped provide an about 97 percent success rate in BTOP, he said. Spend money on organizations with a “proven record of building and managing a broadband network,” and give them flexibility to define the service area for the project, he said. If more money is spent on middle-mile networks, the government should continue requiring open access, he said. “The multiplier effect of allowing other providers to take advantage of that public investment with tax dollars can lead to great benefits in communities across the country.”

Broadband should be part of Trump’s infrastructure package, said Levin, now a Brookings Institution fellow, on a later panel: “You can’t make America great without great broadband.” While the Trump website cited telecom in a description of the president-elect’s infrastructure plan, the architect of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan said he’s skeptical it will make the cut. If there's money for broadband, Levin said, all entities should be eligible to receive funding, with a provision banning “pay to play.” Lowering capital costs, setting up local infrastructure banks and conditioning access to funding on open access and interconnection obligations would be “very sensible planning that any real estate developer would want to see in an infrastructure plan,” said Susan Crawford, professor at Harvard Law School and a former Obama White House official.

A big shift over the past eight years is that broadband is now seen as essential, said Gigi Sohn, outgoing (see 1611170050) aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. She spoke in what she said could be her last speaking appearance representing the FCC. Sohn said the “battlefield” for further broadband expansion has moved to the localities and the states from the FCC. “We’ve done our part.” Local leaders should organize to fight states with prohibitions on municipal broadband, she said.

“If we’re really going to say broadband is a utility, then we have to say there’s a minimum level of service required at every home,” said Mayor Dana Kirkham of Ammon, Idaho, on a separate panel. The mostly Republican town invested in a municipal fiber network because it sees broadband as key infrastructure, she said. Gigabit service in Chattanooga, Tennessee, helped attract and retain businesses, said that city’s Mayor Andy Berke. It’s also important to promote digital literacy, he said. “If people don’t know how to use it, then it doesn’t matter whether they’re paying $5 a month -- it’s still too much.”

M&A Wave Seen

One impact of the new administration may be a “tsunami” of consolidation starting next year, Levin said. Under President Barack Obama, “a number of things” suppressed mergers, but will fade over the next nine months, he said. One Wall Street analyst even wrote recently about synergies supporting Verizon and Comcast combining, Levin said. “On the media side, despite what Trump said about the AT&T/Time Warner deal, there is very likely to be increased broadcaster consolidation on that.”

A local broadband advocate said he hopes not. “If what comes out of this next administration is there’s lots of big mergers -- and that’s good for Wall Street I’m sure -- to me, that’s the opposite of what needs to happen,” said Mark Erickson, economic development director for Winthrop, Minnesota. He said he’s from a county that voted 3-to-1 for Trump. Small towns need a way to build and finance fiber broadband, he said. “It needs to happen in the capillaries in this country.”

“I don’t think the American people are hankering for complete and total deregulation of this sector or frankly any sector,” Sohn said. Some Washington think tanks want to get rid of the FCC and say all regulation is bad, she said. “I don’t think that’s shared by the American people. I don’t think they want to see huge multimedia corporations run amok.”

The FCC still will play a “major role” in the Republican government, Boozman said earlier. “Certainly, we need regulation,” but government agencies must be run efficiently, the Republican senator said. “We need to look at the FCC’s funding, make sure it’s adequate and make sure that they’re using the dollars they’ve got wisely.”