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Is the state ready to accept "a once-in-a-lifetime" federal capital investment to improve broadband access and services?

Hawaii has historically been unable to obtain large amounts of funds to expand broadband access or upgrade services, so the amount of federal pandemic funding now used for broadband projects is shocking.

The Hawaii Department of Land and Resources alone is expected to provide approximately US$90 million in federal funding to provide Hawaiians with more and better broadband access, and this amount will be more than twice that of other parts of the state.

In this regard, the only plan to grant broadband funding today was created by the legislature this year, and the federal funding program allocated only $5 million. Governor David Ige has yet to announce funding for this work.

Garett Yoshimi, Chief Information Officer of the University of Hawaii, said that the sudden influx of federal broadband subsidies "is actually a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, enough to have a huge impact."

Burt Lum, Broadband Strategy Officer at the Office of Broadband and Digital Equity in Hawaii in the state, agrees that this sudden injection of funds for broadband has never happened before.

But the demand for information systems in Hawaii is huge, and the projects to be funded may involve everything from the development of new submarine data cable landing points to the laying of fiber optic lines on telephone poles to extend services to isolated parts of neighboring islands.

The state did not have a detailed road map when it launched its large-scale broadband improvement plan, and will face pressure to act quickly to meet federal deadlines to develop an effective action plan and use some or all of the funds.

If in any doubt, the pandemic has clearly shown that fairly fast broadband services have become essential for full participation in the modern world in everything from entertainment to education and healthcare.

Outages and other issues indicate that Hawaii’s broadband network needs work, including better infrastructure and subsidies, to provide better services to the state’s low-income and rural areas.

Most of the new funding comes from $115 million in the pandemic relief bill called the "American Rescue Plan Act," and another $100 million comes from a new infrastructure package signed into law by President Joe Biden last month.

DHHL is applying for additional funding, including US$60 million from the Federal Infrastructure Act for broadband and US$30 million from the Comprehensive Appropriations Act of 2021. The department intends to use most of the $30 million to subsidize services and equipment for Hawaiians across the state, including Hawaiian charter schools.

The chairman of the Hawaii Family Council, William Aila Jr., stated that the greater goal is to provide infrastructure that connects homesteads so that they "can provide equality or better for all our beneficiaries in this new world." Services, and broadband will be so important-staying at home, telecommuting, telemedicine-all of this."

Yoshimi said that in the next few years, the state may receive more federal funding through competitive grants or other programs funded by pandemic and infrastructure legislation. "Whenever we show up, we must be prepared," he said.

It is not clear how all these funds will be used for specific broadband projects.

"Broadband is very important for staying at home, telecommuting, telemedicine-all of these." — William Ella Jr.

Last spring, the State Department of Commerce, Economic Development, and Tourism issued a request for proposals for the development of a broadband infrastructure master plan to prepare for the expected surge in federal funding, but the Ige government never provided funding for this work.

Yoshimi said that Hawaii’s major Internet operators, Hawaiian Telcom and Charter Communications, which operate in Hawaii under the name of Spectrum, have developed detailed plans to improve their networks, but these plans are considered proprietary and not public.

In any case, the priorities of the two major operators may not be in line with the country's larger goals. He said that the list of broadband improvements that are most commercially meaningful for profitable utility companies may not be the most urgently needed or desired item for the public.

Ige has instructed the university to lead the "coordination and orchestration" of all national broadband plans, and issued a request for broadband project proposals and other ideas in late October.

The solicitation did not determine which types of projects will be funded, but it does provide clues about the direction the state intends to take when using new federal funds for projects.

The university’s request for information has attracted special attention to the so-called "mid-mile" infrastructure, which is the basis of broadband services, that is, expensive and high-capacity connections. In Hawaii, this includes aging submarine cables between islands.

"The lack of strategic investment in Hawaii's mid-mile infrastructure, as well as restrictive investment practices based on monopolies, have caused the statewide broadband network to rely on thin and aging assets that provide services to consumers," according to comments.

It continued: "Hawaii must control its own future and pay attention to its own intermediate mileage, consistent with the scope of commercial infrastructure owners, to ensure that future broadband services are built on robust, resilient and reliable intermediate mileage assets."

Yoshimi provided examples of submarine cables connecting islands. "For those systems in the water, the two main systems are actually at or close to their service life. For these systems, it is usually 25 years," he said.

The cable can continue to be used, but the maintenance cost may increase, and as it ages, the possibility of system failure is also increasing.

Yoshimi said that these cables are a key part of the country's infrastructure and "are also something that needs attention." The idea is to modernize the wired network and reduce the cost of moving data between islands in an attempt to reduce user costs.

The development of new cable landing points on the island can encourage investment in new cables, including trans-Pacific cables. Yoshimi said this may be an effective way to leverage federal funds or encourage private investment.

In fact, DBEDT has been planning a new cable landing station for many years and is currently actively seeking proposals on the street to find a private partner for the project. Yoshimi said he is interested in using some new federal funds to help develop a trans-Pacific cable landing.

"Where I want to go, it may take a few years, because it takes time... At least some new submarine cables connect each island in one or two places," he said.

If the line is cut, this will allow increased capacity and a certain degree of redundancy.

Although clearly focused on large-scale mid-mile infrastructure projects, Yoshimi said that other initiatives to connect rural Hawaiian communities with poorly served or no broadband at all are also “absolutely part of the investment that must be made.”

Upgrading rural services is one of the specific uses stipulated in the legislation to provide new federal funds. "But the biggest concern is that if we only invest in the last mile, if we only invest in the current rural gap, the middle mile will be at some point. It will become very fragile. Once it breaks, it will take a long time to repair," he said. "So, our thinking is that we must have both."

How to strike a balance between expanding the system and strengthening the backbone infrastructure is important, because this will largely determine which projects are funded and who will see service improvements.

When asked if the public has the opportunity to weigh which projects should be funded, Yoshimi replied that these plans will be announced to legislators and the public when they are formulated.

He said: "We believe that the plan itself is very transparent and very easy to see from the outside, which is good for everyone."

The state needs to submit a list of grant plans and projects to the U.S. Department of the Treasury by September next year to obtain $115 million in ARPA funding. Yoshimi said that the goal is to produce the list by next summer. The plan is needed before the funds are released.

Federal guidelines for permitted uses of $100 million in the new infrastructure bill are expected to be published in May, which will trigger a similar process to generate a list of projects for this funding.

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