Walden 'Very Concerned' By GSA's Alleged Wireless Siting Inactivity

“Very concerned about GSA,” Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told reporters after the hearing. “This is a statutory requirement that it appears they’ve largely failed to meet in three years. They will do better than that. We’ll make sure they do better than that.” The lawmakers “will be having those conversations directly, like parents to children,” Walden said.

“GSA hasn’t been proactive,” Adelstein, a former FCC commissioner, told Walden during the hearing. “Our members now are having to negotiate for each and every site, individually.” He lamented limited coverage on federal land and accused GSA of “dragging its heels.” The delays create “need for further legislation,” compelling GSA to comply with the intent of Congress, said Adelstein.

“Or maybe a hearing,” Walden countered. He called the issue “important” and demanding further attention: “I don’t think we’ve got it right yet.”

GSA didn’t testify. “GSA is committed to helping facilitate broadband infrastructure deployment, and is working to support a coordinated and consistent approach across the Federal Government,” a spokeswoman for GSA emailed us.

Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, asked about how long the process takes. “It takes about four years with the federal government and far less with the private sector,” causing companies to avoid federal land, Adelstein said. “You’re saying on average it’s four but it can ride out even longer?” Latta said. “I’ve heard from people where it’s taken 10 years or longer,” Adelstein said. GSA was supposed to standardize the process “but it hasn’t been done,” Adelstein said, citing the lost revenue and time and the reality that 30 percent of all U.S. land mass is federal property.

Ten states enacted laws to streamline siting deployment, “and those states are seeing more investment,” Adelstein told Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. Adelstein cited the Wireless Innovation Act that Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced earlier this year. It includes provisions designed to streamline wireless siting, and PCIA has been especially supportive of the bill. “There’s a need for more legislation to get them to do what you asked them to do already,” Adelstein said. Rubio’s legislation lacks a House companion.

Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., pressed Adelstein on what she saw as a siting challenge. “Everyone wants great service, the best service in the whole wide world. But no one wants a wireless tower in their backyard or where they can see it. So how do you respond to this?” The hearing was especially brief, not allowing Adelstein to respond in person.

Lawmakers focused on other barriers, resiliency of networks and municipal broadband, too. Eshoo asked Next Century Cities Executive Director Deb Socia if the organization backs municipal broadband networks, and Socia said some of her members signed a letter backing FCC pre-emption of state restrictions on municipalities building networks. “We believe deeply in the idea that local folks should be able to solve local problems in ways that make sense for them,” Socia said. Eshoo said she comes from local government and supports that freedom for municipalities. She also emphasized her belief in a “dig once” policy embedded into federal operations and wants better service on tribal lands. House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., wondered about reliability of networks. “Chairman [Tom] Wheeler committed to me that the FCC would complete its rulemaking by the end of the year to improve network resiliency,” Pallone said. Adelstein cited problems getting generators into disaster areas. “Localities will not allow us to put them there and then complain when the system doesn’t work in a disaster,” Adelstein said.

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., believes in “making every tool in the toolbox available to local governments” and wants to work with Walden on legislation “to address some of these challenges,” he said. “What if anything stands in the way of localities leveraging the infrastructure?” Doyle asked Socia, who mentioned barriers including state regulations and municipalities’ population density and financial situations. “We’re seeing a great economic impact in the cities that we’re in,” Google Fiber Cities Director Michael Slinger told Doyle.

Doyle wondered about the discrepancy in pricing and service in different regions of the country. “There are a very wide range of economic models and it’s a challenge because there are no near term variable costs,” with companies “trying to figure out what the quantity of demand will be at different prices,” said analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson. Moffett said the bright spots in the current market are “very clearly outside of infrastructure,” naming app and content creators as winners who receive “extraordinary returns.” Regulators try to protect those successful stakeholders, he said: “As an economist, that’s a very odd structure.” Moffett advocated for better targeting of support funds. Connect America Fund money can be "carefully directed to new greenfield projects” that haven’t been served in the past and made available to different types of entities, he said.

Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community, warned as expected (see 1507210067">1507210067) of the “capital intensive” burden of needing to build around rights of way, which does happen on tribal lands when access isn't possible. Builders must find another route or embrace a wireless alternative, options that are “obviously pretty costly” as opposed to using existing rights of way, he said. He also called the designation process for eligible telecom companies “overly complicated.”

“In rural areas, there may be new technologies that can affordably bring Internet,” Google’s Slinger said, mentioning its interest in making sure there is enough spectrum for unlicensed use and the company’s Project Loon. Shimkus wondered when Google would come to his district. Slinger suggested a need to “get cities to get ready by themselves” and “make it easy for people to get on telephone poles.” Shimkus seemed to accept this. “It’s all about return on investment,” Shimkus said. “And also time is money.”

Comptel members "frequently experience delays and barriers at the local level," CEO Chip Pickering, who didn't testify, told lawmakers in a letter. "Construction of advanced broadband networks requires access to existing poles and conduits on a timely and cost-effective basis." He also blasted the video costs. TechFreedom also sent a letter, urging cutting of red tape, better coordination on "dig once" policies and revisiting pole attachment rules. "Congress has every right, as a matter of federalism, to extend the pole attachment pricing rules to government owned poles," the group said.