Both public and private sectors have role to play in U.S. telecom infrastructure modernization

State Senator hopes to spur rural broadband development in Alabama with incentive program - Yellowhammer News: Scofield notes that rural broadband is lacking because the return on investment isn’t there for providers who must build costly infrastructure to serve sparsely populated regions. While providers such as AT&T are investing in new technologies such as fixed wireless, which beam internet signals from cell towers to nearby homes, those speeds are only a slight step up from DSL.Some lawmakers are pressing for government to step into the fray, such as Sen. Tom Whatley (R-Auburn), who has introduced bills to allow the expansion of government-owned networks – such as the broadband system of Opelika Power Services located in his district. But Scofield takes a more limited government approach, noting that the private sector has both the expertise and the economies of scale to do the job more efficiently.

A more nuanced discussion is called for here. It's not an either private or public sector argument. Both the public and private sectors can play a role in the badly needed modernization and build out of America's telecommunications infrastructure. The public sector should own and fund its construction as it does roads and highways. To Scofield's point, the private sector has the expertise. It should build and maintain it just as private contractors do with roads and highways.

Show me the money: Congressman challenges argument that regulation greatest impediment to telecom infrastructure investment

Digital divide: Congress to push for better Internet access in rural areas: Yet the main obstacle to broadband expansion into rural areas is cost, said Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle, the top Democrat on the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee. "It would require tens of billions of dollars to bring broadband to unserved and underserved parts of the country,” he said. “The private sector hasn’t done it because they know they wouldn’t make a profit on it.” Any rural broadband initiative without substantial new funding “would be nothing more than window dressing,” Doyle said.

The "window dressing" to which Doyle refers are assertions by Rep. Marsha Blackburn and other lawmakers that legislative solutions are needed to reduce regulatory burdens on ISPs to speed capital investment in "technology neutral" infrastructure (code for substandard mobile wireless and satellite versus fiber) to serve customer premises. It's refreshing to hear some economic honesty when it comes to tackling America's bad and worsening telecom infrastructure deficit.

Like Obama administration,Trump administration turns to symbolic window dressing rather than modernizing U.S. telecom infrastructure

Rural Internet to Be High Priority for Trump Administration | Successful Farming: Some steps can be taken in the near term to expand broadband networks, said Grace Koh of the National Economic Council. One would be clearer and easier rules for installing antennas on federal buildings and towers. “We will seek to use ‘dark fiber’ that the agencies have deployed in order to allow rural providers to interconnect and provide service to communities that have not had access to broadband before,” said Koh. “Dark fiber” is fiber optic cable that has been installed but is not in use. The administration will also coordinate funding, scattered among agencies, for broadband deployment and adoption. “We are hoping, at this point, to have a few immediate actions to start right away,” said Koh. “Certainly, we anticipate being able to make towers and other infrastructure from the Department of Interior available for collocation. This should cut down on tower construction costs and allow for providers to get their plant and equipment out much more quickly.”

The Trump administration like the Obama administration before it is engaged in symbolic window dressing rather than champion badly needed and aggressive efforts to modernize America's legacy metallic telecommunications infrastructure to fiber optic connections for all homes and businesses. These measures are symbolic incrementalism that will not make any meaningful progress toward that end because they don't deploy fiber over the "last mile" serving these premises.

An October 2017 report by the administration's Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity noted telecom infrastructure gaps are due the inability of investor owned providers earn a return on their capital investments in areas of the nation having lower population density. But while acknowledging that structural problem, it offers no alternatives, all but guaranteeing continued infrastructure deficits. It also advocates the use of wireless technologies rather than bringing connections to customer premises including satellite, fixed wireless, and cellular networks, calling it a cheaper "technology neutral" approach. However, these wireless technologies are limited by the laws of physics and have proven inadequate to accommodate the growing need for increased bandwidth.

"Mr. President, I think a bunch of broadband talk would be seen as a pretty weak response."