Middle-Mile Is Missing Link for Broadband Plan

The missing link in providing a truly robust broadband network to rural as well as urban Alaska is the middle-mile network.

As it considers recommendations to further promote broadband deployment, and in particular how to reform universal service support to do so, the Federal Communications Commission should take care not to undermine the progress being made in under-deployed tribal land areas such as Alaska, which is supported by existing universal service mechanisms. Delivering the middle-mile to the rest of Alaska will require creative solutions, but those solutions cannot be implemented to the detriment of the universal service support that currently funds network deployment and upgrades in Alaska. Universal service reforms that remove the support needed to continue and finance today's build-out would not promote broadband deployment, but rather, would undermine the availability of private financing for Alaska network investment and threaten the long-term sustainability of projects enabled with the assistance of public funding. To avoid unintended and potentially immediate consequences, the Commission should in its upcoming National Broadband Plan be careful about making proclamations about specific changes prior to developing a full record on any particular proposals - especially when addressing the needs of traditionally vulnerable areas, such as tribal lands.