Special Representative for Broadband Andy Burke announced Louisiana as first state to receive $2.9 million broadband planning grant.
NEW ORLEANS, September 2, 2022 – Louisiana Community and Technical College System Director of Rural Innovation Education Ashley Mullens suggested that community colleges that offer fiber optic certification programs would help maintain prospective infrastructure efforts, speaking on Wednesday at Connect Louisiana’s broadband summit.
ConnectLA reports that 21% of households have no broadband access, 12% of school age children are not connected, and 31% of working adults have no digital skills.
Yet workforce development in fiber optics and other broadband related careers are scarce for Louisianans, according to panelists at the summit. Louisiana Office of Broadband Development and Connectivity Executive Director Veneeth Iyengar urged communities, electric cooperatives, service providers and even libraries to work together in anticipation for the $2.9 million BEAD grant, whose award was announced at the ConnectLA summit.
At the summit, AT&T Southeast States President Sonia Pérez spoke about the company’s recent collaboration with Corning communications for The Fiber Optic Training Program, as well as a $40,000 foundation grant for Louisiana Community Technical College to fund fiber optic technical certifications.
Ohio has also made workforce development and education a part of their infrastructure plans. In March of this year, the Wireless Infrastructure Association issued telecommunications tower technician programs at Ohio State University. WIA acts as an in-house expert to aid in workforce education and implementation. Now prospective students have the opportunity to learn a high demand skill.
Regarding federal efforts, Lucy Moore, special policy adviser of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration highlighted the Biden-Harris administration’s recent “Talent Pipeline Challenge.” A White House statement announcing the program focused the way tha “a highly-skilled workforce… can be fulfilled through use of graduates of registered apprenticeships or other joint labor-management training programs.” The NTIA’s rules governing broadband infrastructure requires program applicants to develop a plan for ensuring an available and highly skilled workforce in order to receive funds.
Managing Director of Cajun Broadband Chris Disher recommended going to local governments to determine communities in need of broadband. As a local internet service provider, Disher said that his partnership with Louisiana’s state broadband office helped his company receive a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.
Cynthia Cockerham, executive director of LaSalle Economic Development District, recommended getting assessment offices involved to assist with mapping, contact federal and state offices, and be persistent. She also highlighted the role of economic development corporations in the broadband connectivity landscape.
Also highlighted at the conference was the appointment of Don Pierson to be a member of the U.S. Investment Advisory Council. Formerly Louisiana Economic Development Secretary, the head of the state agency, Pierson was appointed on August 24 by U.S Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.
Under Pierson’s leadership, Louisiana Economic Development attracted 64 new economic development projects representing more than 18,000 new direct and indirect jobs, 9,700 retained jobs and more than $20.5 billion in new capital investment in 2021.Serving for two years, Pierson will join the 34-member group of stakeholders in advising and implementing programs designed to retain foreign direct investment, according to the state’s annual report.
Also at the conference, Special Representative for Broadband in the U.S. Department of Commerce, NTIA Andy Burke announced Louisiana as the first state to receive the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment planning grant at the summit on Tuesday.
A total of $2.9 million of funds will be invested towards a statewide digital equity plan. According to Burke,100,000 new jobs will be created by proxy of deployment and Louisiana can now prepare to break the digital divide.
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The mapping tool in the ReConnect application process allows applicants to designate proposed routes.
WASHINGTON, September 1, 2022 – Applicants must meticulously report locations, methods, technologies for proposed fiber infrastructure projects to successfully navigate the environmental section of the ReConnect Program’s application, a panel from the Rural Utilities Service said Wednesday.
The mapping tool in the environmental section of ReConnect’s application process allows applicants to designate proposed cable routes, site locations, construction staging areas, and all other zones to be utilized in the deployment process. Applicants’ responses determine what documentation and environmental reviews must be subsequently completed.
According to RUS, a lack of locational specificity in submitted construction plans could cause the application system to request additional, unnecessary environmental reviews. For example, if a large area is marked off for fiber deployment instead of a single, narrow route, the applicant must submit relevant environmental documentation for entire zone – regardless of where fiber cables are eventually installed. Completing extraneous reviews will needlessly cost applicants time and resources.
Wednesday’s workshop was the latest in a series presented by RUS, a division of the United States Department of Agriculture, that guide prospective applicants through the complexities of the ReConnect application process. The application for ReConnect fourth round of funding will open Tuesday and close November 2, 2022.
ReConnect awards grants and loans for broadband deployment to rural areas that lack internet access at speeds of 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) download and 20 Mbps upload. Although funding for ReConnect existed prior to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, that law added new resources to the program. Eligible applicants include states, Indian Tribes, corporations, and cooperatives.
To reach additional rural areas, the fourth round of funding – the second round of the year – waives the matching funds requirement for Alaska Native Corporations, Tribal Governments, certain low-income areas, and “projects proposing to provide service in socially vulnerable communities.”
ReConnect also requires applicants to enroll in the Federal Communications Commission’s Affordable Connectivity Program, which offers discounts of up to $30 per month on service bills.
The FCC and the NTIA have been working to get more Americans connected faster via the ACP.
WASHINGTON, AUGUST 25, 2022 – The head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration came out in support Tuesday of an order from the Federal Communications Commission to develop a marketing program for the Affordable Connectivity Program.
Alan Davidson made mention of the Affordable Connectivity Outreach Program, which was ordered by the FCC to be developed earlier this month, as part of his speech at a National Urban League event.
The outreach program, which was infused with $100 million, is intended to get more Americans signed up to the ACP, which provides a subsidy of up to $30 per month (and up to $75 for homes on tribal lands) and a one-time $100 off a device. The program has a little more than 13 million American households signed up, but the FCC said in its order to create the program that there are millions more households that are eligible that haven’t signed up.
Last week, the NTIA said all states have filed applications for initial planning funds from the agency’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, which consists of $42.5 billion for the development of infrastructure across the country. Among the allowed uses of that money is the marketing of the ACP.
In a column for Broadband Breakfast, Craig Settles, who works with community stakeholders to get broadband and telehealth, outlined strategies to market the ACP, including rolling them seamlessly into the hospital visit experience.
Wireless is essential because for truly remote properties, a physical connection may never be practical.
Over the next five to ten years we will see an explosion of projects bringing high-speed connectivity to underserved communities in the United States. Although fiber infrastructure rightly gets most of the attention and funding, wireless networks should also be part of this planning process. Wireless networks can deploy faster, serve remote locations more economically, and provide some capabilities that fixed networks can’t. Failure to consider the comprehensive needs of the mobile broadband environment will hobble efforts in the next phase of this technology revolution.
As federal broadband infrastructure funding is ramping up, state broadband offices are preparing to prove their need for a larger slice of the pie. This is detailed in the $42.5 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, which is a part of the infrastructure bill (the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) passed into law in the fall of 2021. Although every state is guaranteed $100 million, that leaves about $37 billion yet to be divided up.
Assuredly, this pie won’t be sliced into equal portions across states, tribal areas, and U.S. territories. Differences in population, geographic area, household density, and income levels will impact the funding eligibility of individual jurisdictions. Preparedness to verify underserved areas will ensure that state and local governments can maximize their chances of securing adequate funding. The first step is to identify these communities and estimate the cost of covering each household. With a desire to help as many people as possible, there will be a tendency to prioritize areas with the lowest cost per connection.
State governments have been focused primarily on fiber access. However, as big a pot of money as the IIJA may be, it won’t be big enough to connect every household to fiber. Continued supply chain issues, inflation, and labor shortages (particularly with needed expertise) will expand the cost of projects in the coming years.
The race to compete for these billions of dollars has had a very uneven start. Some state broadband offices are fully staffed, have hired consultants, have obtained and collected network performance data, and already have mapping projects launched. Other states are just now funding their broadband offices and beginning to hire their first employees. States that cannot successfully challenge both the mapping fabric (think number of service addresses) and confidently identify unserved households will be disappointed with the size of their slice.
Recently, Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called for the commission to reset its definition of broadband from 25 Mbps download speed and 3 Mbps upload speed to 100 down and 20 up. Many would agree that a reset is long overdue. The IIJA legislation is already requiring that new infrastructure builds meet this criteria. We should all recognize that this metric reset could make millions of additional households eligible for funding. Some policy organizations, including the Fiber Broadband Association, are voicing their opinions that those numbers are already dated and that the new target will not be enough for future needs such as the much-anticipated metaverse.
Wireless connectivity can be broken down into three basic types of last-mile providers:
Wi-Fi is also wireless, but provides a final hop for only the last few feet of a network connection.
Wireless is essential because there is broad recognition that for truly remote properties, a physical connection may never be practical. As subsidies flow, that fact may be applicable to fewer locations, but there is certainly a point of diminishing return. As state and federal officials plan their networks to connect as many communities as they can, they should be factoring in where the wireless networks need bolstering as well. This is applicable for both mobile and WISP infrastructure.
Additional wireless investment could serve multiple needs. Poor wireless coverage is a common complaint even in densely populated areas. If you spend any significant time in rural areas, you know that there are locations where service is so spotty that the local population knows when to not risk initiating a call. Even if you get a signal, throughput can vary greatly. Just because you can receive a text in a particular location doesn’t mean you can download a video. These rural areas have weak wireless signals for the same reason that they lack good terrestrial broadband — the population density does not provide enough return on the investment.
Today’s higher data usage demands the capacity that fiber provides. Mobile service providers are not going to build a new 5G tower without access to fiber backhaul. Sites that require long, dedicated fiber deployments can cost far more and lead to an unreasonable dent in the CapEx budget.
As new middle-mile networks are being designed, network planners should consider where wireless networks are weak and new towers are needed for improvement. Strategically adding splice points in poor service areas can significantly lower the barrier to attracting new wireless infrastructure. A lower cost of deployment will be a big incentive to wireless networks to bring improved service to rural communities.
We all depend on wireless services
Mobile connectivity has moved beyond a luxury and has become an expectation. Even if we could practically and affordably connect every house with fiber, there are many reasons to include wireless in your overall design plans.
According to WISPA (the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association), over 2,800 WISPs are now serving more than seven million customers in portions of all 50 states, bringing internet to many rural households that had previously relied on aging satellite services. Although some subscribers are seeing median speeds below the current 25/3 broadband definition, new technologies are improving user experiences as equipment is modernized. Of course, better access to fiber is also needed to increase capacity and link to internet backbones.
All radio signals degrade with distance. Some of the largest WISPs cover sparsely populated regions, often with rugged terrain, making physical household connections particularly expensive to build. Commonly, customers who experience slower than advertised speeds are living at the practical edge of these coverage areas. Providing fiber to just a handful of locations can attract new towers that could substantially expand network services. This would also save much of the cost compared to direct-to-home routes and reduce the time needed for these subscribers to see significant improvements.
The IIJA is written to be technology-neutral, but some broadband officials seem to be paying little attention to proven solutions that could have immediate impact. Even if the eventual goal is to offer direct-to-home fiber for everyone, we may go well beyond this decade without realizing that dream.
Modern and improved satellite services are already fulfilling broadband needs for some households and businesses. Availability is limited to certain geographies but is expanding, and new competitors plan to enter the mix soon.
Throughput speeds and latency have improved dramatically, but waitlists are long, and initial equipment costs of more than $500 (that’s for do-it-yourself) and subscription fees of $100 or more per month will make this a difficult purchase decision for low-income households. There’s also limited capacity for any given geographic area, so even if there is satellite service available in your location, it may be that your neighbors have already maxed out the service and you will be waiting for additional capacity to be made available.
We are many years away from realizing the full impact of the IIJA and the other recent funding sources that will deliver new fiber connections across the country. The FCC’s map is already delayed. There are early grumblings about uncertain challenge processes and many states are just now getting their planning efforts underway. The federal government has promised millions of Americans better broadband and they are expecting action soon, not in five to ten years.
Regulators and policymakers will ultimately be held accountable by voters and Congress for how the BEAD funds are spent. Two key metrics will matter most: the number of households gaining a new or improved connection and how quickly this progress is being made. Monitoring compliance will become more important as projects hit milestones and contractors get paid.
For some rural communities, wireless may be the best option right now and, perhaps, for the foreseeable future. Some households can already experience better service from their wireless provider than from DSL or satellite options. Reports are surfacing of DSL providers refusing to reconnect service to households where an interruption of service has occurred — whether for late payment or change of ownership — leaving families cut off from the digital economy.
Because satellite service is expensive and hard to acquire, wireless services are the only logical solution to get some rural households (particularly those in low-income brackets) connected before these communities wither past the point of no return. WISPs and mobile providers can fill some of this gap today and, if given the opportunity, will provide competitive options for families unhappy with their service. FWA from the traditional mobile operators is gaining public acceptance quickly in select markets and where signal levels are strong.
Think of anticipating wireless needs while planning fixed networks like an extension of a “dig once” policy. You don’t want to look back years from now and ask why wireless wasn’t considered in your planning process. Across the country, economic and community development departments spend millions of dollars every year to attract new citizens and businesses. Reliable mobile coverage is an amenity everyone – and every thing – wants.
Data from Ookla can highlight areas of need for both fixed and wireless networks. Leveraging coverage data to spotlight deficiencies can serve as an additional assessment in your middle-mile fiber planning, which can ultimately improve public safety, agricultural competitiveness, and overall quality of life.
Prepare for all the broadband needs ahead of you. It’s smart business. It’s smart government.
Bryan Darr is the Vice President of Smart Communities at Ookla. He coordinates Ookla’s outreach to local, state and federal governments and serves on CTIA’s Smart Cities Business & Technology Working Group. This piece is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.
Broadband Breakfast accepts commentary from informed observers of the broadband scene. Please send pieces to commentary@breakfast.media. The views expressed in Expert Opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Broadband Breakfast and Breakfast Media LLC.
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