Mike Romano

In today’s interconnected world where American competitiveness on the global stage turns more than ever on the nationwide quality and capability of connections, “good enough” isn’t good enough when it comes to internet access, whether at home, at work or on the go. A robust, reliable and affordable broadband connection is a necessity to participate in an increasingly online world. The ability to create with the click of a mouse or the touch of a screen is democratizing innovation.

One of the things I used to get dinged on in school from time to time was failing to “show my work” in math class. I’d sometimes shortcut to an answer and lose points for it. If showing your work is necessary for math tests with no real-world implications, the same principle should apply when it comes to giving out billions of dollars for broadband. However, in this case, showing your work isn’t about how you got there. The goal of broadband funding isn’t to cut a ribbon on a fancy new network or to blast statistics about locations passed.

Many people in the broadband sector across the country and in Washington are rightly concerned about attracting and retaining a skilled workforce to deploy and operate these complex networks. As I think about it, along with permitting and supply chain management, workforce availability is part of a trifecta of the “mechanical aspects” of building and operating broadband networks. If you want to address workforce challenges, you need tools as an employer to attract and retain the best talent. And as a small business based in a rural area, the degree of difficulty is even higher.

The House Subcommittee on Communications & Technology held a hearing recently on the Telecom Act of 1996—30 Years Later.

Every conference has its purpose and place. The conference that’s on my mind today is NTCA’s Telecom Executive Forum, which just wrapped up this week. It’s the mark of a great meeting when your newly expanded 75-minute peer roundtables still aren’t enough time to compare notes and cover everything the group wants to discuss.

NTCA - the Rural Broadband Association has appointed a new Chief Executive Officer, Mike Romano. Romano previously served as the Executive Vice President of NTCA. "I joined NTCA in the middle of the National Broadband Plan, and we’ve worked since then through multiple Universal Service Fund (USF) reforms and even court challenges," he said. "Today, we aren't just looking at regulatory challenges either. The marketplace is changing too. Competition and technology are evolving, offering promise while also creating new pressure points.