Congress should continue to back the Rural Utilities Service’s “Broadband Loan program that is subjected to the Farm Bill reauthorization process at or above current funding levels as you formulate recommendations,” testified Craig Cook, chief operations officer of Hill Country Telephone Cooperative in Texas, Thursday on behalf of NTCA before a House Agriculture subcommittee. The committee also should “continue its long history of support for the Telecommunications Infrastructure and Community Connect programs,” Cook said in written testimony. The RUS nonduplication policies should be enshrined in law, he recommended: “Congress should codify a prohibition on USDA financing new fiber or other broadband-capable infrastructure through any RUS or other USDA program where an existing network deployed by a different carrier was also financed through a RUS or other USDA program. This non-duplication provision should apply to all USDA programs, and should also extend to preclude overbuilding of other carriers’ networks that receive USF High-Cost support as administered by the FCC.” He also called permitting regulations “significant obstacles” worth addressing: “While permits serve an important public purpose, we’d encourage streamlining federal approval processes to the extent possible, and to the extent that RUS can help in standardizing processes with land-managing and property-managing agencies and in improving timelines for historical preservation coordination, that would be a significant help in speeding and reducing the costs of deployment.”
Congress should continue to back the Rural Utilities Service’s “Broadband Loan program that is subjected to the Farm Bill reauthorization process at or above current funding levels as you formulate recommendations,” testified Craig Cook, chief operations officer of Hill Country Telephone Cooperative in Texas, Thursday on behalf of NTCA before a House Agriculture subcommittee. The committee also should “continue its long history of support for the Telecommunications Infrastructure and Community Connect programs,” Cook said in written testimony. The RUS nonduplication policies should be enshrined in law, he recommended: “Congress should codify a prohibition on USDA financing new fiber or other broadband-capable infrastructure through any RUS or other USDA program where an existing network deployed by a different carrier was also financed through a RUS or other USDA program. This non-duplication provision should apply to all USDA programs, and should also extend to preclude overbuilding of other carriers’ networks that receive USF High-Cost support as administered by the FCC.” He also called permitting regulations “significant obstacles” worth addressing: “While permits serve an important public purpose, we’d encourage streamlining federal approval processes to the extent possible, and to the extent that RUS can help in standardizing processes with land-managing and property-managing agencies and in improving timelines for historical preservation coordination, that would be a significant help in speeding and reducing the costs of deployment.”
A new spectrum auction may be wrapped into the bigger infrastructure proposal that Congress and the White House are putting together. President Donald Trump is familiar with the auctions and brought them up in the context of his $1 trillion infrastructure plan, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. House Republicans plan to put together a set of broadband proposals with that package in mind, a key staffer said.
A new spectrum auction may be wrapped into the bigger infrastructure proposal that Congress and the White House are putting together. President Donald Trump is familiar with the auctions and brought them up in the context of his $1 trillion infrastructure plan, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. House Republicans plan to put together a set of broadband proposals with that package in mind, a key staffer said.
"So-called public interest advocates" often promote self-interested regulation, including Communications Act Title II broadband oversight, suggested American Enterprise Institute scholar Roslyn Layton in a Wednesday blog post. A 1983 AEI book, The Political Economy of Deregulation, by Roger Noll and Bruce Owen, described how "the public interest becomes co-opted by special interest," and remains relevant today, wrote Layton, a Trump transition FCC landing team member who some see as a possible commissioner. She said it's "typical that entrenched interests oppose reforms that can legitimately help consumers." Noll and Owen found "many law firms and consumer groups claim to operate in the public interest, but regulatory process gives them a source of power they don’t have otherwise. As such, they are biased in favor of regulation over market solutions," wrote Layton. The "groups that demonize Chairman [Ajit] Pai are also the same ones calling for regulatory solutions over market-oriented ones, specifically the regulation of broadband under common carriage rules from the 1930s," she wrote. The groups want a "nationalized broadband network," not private provision, and see Title II as key to tapping broadband revenues to subsidize municipal networks; they also "oppose free data or zero rating from private providers, which lowers cost and increases consumer choice," she wrote, backing congressional oversight and "necessary FCC reauthorization" to help ensure the agency "focuses on the public interest."
"So-called public interest advocates" often promote self-interested regulation, including Communications Act Title II broadband oversight, suggested American Enterprise Institute scholar Roslyn Layton in a Wednesday blog post. A 1983 AEI book, The Political Economy of Deregulation, by Roger Noll and Bruce Owen, described how "the public interest becomes co-opted by special interest," and remains relevant today, wrote Layton, a Trump transition FCC landing team member who some see as a possible commissioner. She said it's "typical that entrenched interests oppose reforms that can legitimately help consumers." Noll and Owen found "many law firms and consumer groups claim to operate in the public interest, but regulatory process gives them a source of power they don’t have otherwise. As such, they are biased in favor of regulation over market solutions," wrote Layton. The "groups that demonize Chairman [Ajit] Pai are also the same ones calling for regulatory solutions over market-oriented ones, specifically the regulation of broadband under common carriage rules from the 1930s," she wrote. The groups want a "nationalized broadband network," not private provision, and see Title II as key to tapping broadband revenues to subsidize municipal networks; they also "oppose free data or zero rating from private providers, which lowers cost and increases consumer choice," she wrote, backing congressional oversight and "necessary FCC reauthorization" to help ensure the agency "focuses on the public interest."
In early filings on a Mobilitie petition asking the agency to pre-empt state and local authority over rights of way (see 1703070013) the FCC is getting lots of pushback from local governments concerned about losing control over siting. FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Tuesday he’s hopeful the FCC will act soon to accelerate the siting process for wireless facilities, citing the Mobilitie petition (see 1703070018). Comments were due Wednesday on a December FCC Wireless Bureau notice in docket 16-421, after the FCC extended the filing deadline by a month.
Eutelsat will be Blue Origin's first commercial launch customer, with the inaugural launch likely in 2021, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and Eutelsat CEO Rodolphe Belmer announced Tuesday at Satellite 2017. Bezos said Blue Origin's aim is to significantly reduce launch costs through both operational reusability and the expertise the company gains by multiple flights of its New Shepard suborbital space tourism launches. He said Blue Origin is focusing on reclaiming its launch boosters through vertical landings, instead of parachutes, because that new approach is particularly scalable to larger booster rockets. And Bezos said by lowering launch costs, satellites “will be less precious; you will be able to take more technology risks.” The result “will be a much larger industry," he said.
USTelecom promotes Galen Roehl to senior vice president-government affairs ... Viacom promotes Niels Schuurmans to chief marketing officer, Paramount Network, TV Land and CMT, new position.
A Hawaii small-cells siting bill cleared a House committee Wednesday. The Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee voted 8-0 to pass HB-625 with amendments. The bill allows collocation of small wireless or wireline facilities and networks on state and local structures, poles and lighting, “subject only to clear and objective building permit standards.” Small facilities and networks wouldn’t be subject to special or conditional use permit in any public rights of way and property or any rural, agricultural or urban land. Providers could place up to 25 separate facilities on one application. Hawaii is one of several states considering wireless siting legislation (see 1702280039).