Metro21 Attends Broadband University

Metro21 attended Broadband University on April 5, 2021 to hear presenters Kathryn de Wit of Pew Charitable Trusts and Andy Waple of Southwestern PA Commission discuss challenges and solutions for broadband access in our region.

• Business case
• Funding
• Policy
• Limited infrastructure

  • Cost to get all Americans to high speed – have to think not only last mile but middle mile connections
• Inadequate data & misinformation

  • Related to FCC – tell us where broadband is and is not – do so with self-reported data from providers within a census block; the challenge is that it influences federal funding yearly. One house has a connection so the census block is not eligible for federal or state funding
  • Recent federal efforts:
    • CARES Act $150 billion Federal govt has invested a lot of money in the past year; used funding to help educational, healthcare, libraries; reposition themselves to provide remote support during pandemic
    • American Recovery Plan $7.2 billion to schools & libraries, $200B to state & local gov’t
    • American Jobs Plan: $100B to fund broadband infrastructure & address affordability issues; what is noteworthy is that It calls out the dual challenge of absence and affordability
• State programs: what distinguishes state from federal is states invest smaller amts so they rely on a combo of activities to make meaningful progress; most ppl online for the lowest cost
• 5 activities to make progress:

  • stakeholder outreach & engagement– helps people get energized around an issue and identify the primary goal – what do we need for our community and how do we get there.
  • policy framework – are there any barriers to deployment? Can we tweak policy to better incentivize or facilitate deployment?
  • planning & capacity building – statewide, regional and local; how are we identifying the goal? How will we get there? Regional and local planning is where you see external partners & organizations that can provide expertise and additional support and info that may limit community's confidence they can get the results they want
  • funding & operations – you need money to do this; states will use varying degrees in matching funds program eval & evolution-states are setting goals by x date to ensure every citizen/resident has connections at x speed to evaluate their own progress – able to do this by collecting data; states focus on accountability measures to assess their progress and to ensure those receiving public funds are doing their part.
• What states are doing:

  • State programs are smaller than federal; they’re facing many political battles and they have to focus on results; in order to do, they use competitive grant processes. Use a scoring matrix for states to set their own priorities. 
  • Virginia, Minnesota Model (nationally recognized grant process with requirements)
  • W Virginia focuses on capacity building at local level; has a very bipartisan approach to broadband expansion; do not see path forward to economic success without these connections
• External advocates: help supplement/ complement, elevate opportunities for policy change; the role for these groups is important to provide access within a state
• Question: with so much $ allocated at federal level, how much of effort is aimed at municipal utility broadband at community level vs. big multinational providers?