Wednesday, September 8, 2021
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FCC Seeks Comment on Broadband Access in Multi-Tenant Buildings
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Where are President Biden’s telecommunications picks?
Closing the Digital Divide Requires an Expanded, Skilled Workforce
Connecting the Caribbean’s Unconnected with Subsea Cable Networks
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Windstream announced that construction will begin this September 2021 on the first of seven fiber broadband expansion projects funded in partnership with the State of Arkansas. The projects will deliver Kinetic by Windstream gigabit-speed internet service to more than 15,100 households and small businesses in rural areas of seven Arkansas counties. The fiber-to-the-premises projects were made possible by $46.3 million in state grants funded through the federal American Rescue Plan Act and administered by the Arkansas Rural Connect Broadband Program. Windstream will invest $17.2 million of its own capital, bringing the total program cost to $63.5 million. Fiber networks provide the fastest, most reliable internet service and will meet customers’ bandwidth needs for generations to come. The first project, in Grant County, is expected to be completed in the spring of 2022.
President Biden has been historically slow to appoint officials to the federal government’s top telecommunications agencies, and advocacy groups say the vacancies are preventing the administration from carrying out key agenda items, such as reinstating net neutrality rules killed during the Trump administration. Nearly eight months into his presidency, Biden has yet to pick permanent leaders for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which together oversee and set policy for the broadcast and Internet service industries. The vacancies are likely to hamper the agencies as they prepare to disburse funding aimed at boosting Internet connectivity nationwide, which is expected to come from the bipartisan infrastructure package making its way through Congress; they could also bog down initiatives to make broadband more affordable and expand subsidies at a time when the pandemic has exposed the US's connectivity gaps. The NTIA is expected to play a major role in disbursing the $65 billion in new broadband funding included in the infrastructure bill. This makes the lack of a permanent NTIA chief particularly impactful given that much of the agency’s work involves coordinating with other parts of the federal government, including the FCC and the Department of Agriculture, all of which play a role in broadband initiatives.
The Federal Communications Commission is inviting a new round of comments in a proceeding examining competitive access to broadband in apartment and office buildings. The new call for comments aims to better understand how the FCC can promote increased competition, consumer choice, and lower prices for Americans living and working in these buildings. The Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking comment on three main issues related to broadband deployment in Multiple Tenant Environment (MTE) buildings. The first focuses on revenue sharing agreements between MTE owners and service providers, and whether such arrangements inhibit entry by competitive providers or affect the price and quality of service options for consumers. Second, the FCC seeks comment on exclusive wiring arrangements and whether such arrangements do not preclude access to new entrants or inhibit choice for tenants. The FCC also asks for input on whether exclusive marketing arrangements create confusion and lower choices for tenants.
Most of us are still getting our heads wrapped around 5G, but some major tech players are well into the development of 6G. In broad strokes, 6G is envisioned as truly subsuming wireless connectivity into everything around us with network coverage and bandwidth availability so effortless we cease to worry about them. That's a herculean task that 5G may only start accomplishing. 6G will need to scale both up and down, from connections that need huge bandwidth like home ISP service to devices that need only a small amount. Another area where 6G may take a handoff from 5G is coverage; 5G can offer good bandwidth to a large area or amazing bandwidth to a small area, but in-between is something of a technical and economic null zone. One of 6G's clear mandates would be to overlap coverage and bandwidth without tradeoffs.
The race to close the digital divide requires lots of workers to get the job done sooner rather than later. Many positions in fiber network construction require a particular skill set for workers to be job-ready and minimize mistakes. The skills are specific and often learned through some form of on-the-job training, of which there are currently a few. The Fiber Broadband Association's Optical Telecom Installation Certification (OpTIC) program is a curriculum designed by leading experts in the fiber community to quickly scale technical education, fill the existing fiber skills gap and accelerate fiber deployments across North America, launched in July 2021. One of the longest operating courses was developed by the Fiber Optics Association (FOA); the FOA is a nonprofit organization chartered to promote professionalism in fiber optics through education, certification and standards. Like the OpTIC program, the FOA doesn’t provide classes but instead offers its training course to about 200 affiliated schools in 40 countries, and both are approved by the US Department of Labor. Whether certification comes from one curriculum or another, fiber workforce recruiters will likely agree that more training options are good – if they implement accepted industry standards and best practices. Beyond training, what's needed to build and maintain the fiber workforce are competitive wages, excellent work culture, and worker awareness of how the industry is booming.
[Bruce Forey is the founder of the BroadMax Group.]
Just as nations were beginning to invest significant capital in broadband infrastructure developments, COVID-19 crippled the Caribbean. The pandemic highlighted the need for critical infrastructure and connectivity around the globe, but especially for island nations. The effort to provide adequate broadband gained some traction in 2021 as some Caribbean nations restarted economic development plans that include telecommunications infrastructure rollouts from years before 2020. In these plans, fixed broadband leads growth, mostly supported by the expansion of fiber optic networks. Even so, for the Caribbean, unique challenges to accessing 21st-century networks on an equal, sustainable basis remain; it needs a regionwide network that creates the environment for cultural, educational and health-based initiatives without damaging the environment and exacerbating climate change. Submarine cables are one of the most environmentally friendly platforms to deliver sustainable growth and development across countries, regions and continents. Now is the time for the governments of the Caribbean to step forward and take on the challenge of replacing the region’s aging international infrastructure. If they do, they will no doubt receive the support they need to financially and technically achieve their goals.
[Andy Bax is the Chief Operating Officer of Seaborn Networks, which operates and maintains submarine and terrestrial cable infrastructure.]
Benton (www.benton.org) provides the only free, reliable, and non-partisan daily digest that curates and distributes news related to universal broadband, while connecting communications, democracy, and public interest issues. Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually accurate, their sometimes informal tone may not always represent the tone of the original articles. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang (headlines AT benton DOT org) and Grace Tepper (grace AT benton DOT org) — we welcome your comments.
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