Latest Objectives
Assuring All User Pay for Usage
The users of the Broadband network should pay for their usage. With the current mechanisms, several entities—namely, Big Tech and Big Streamers—enjoy a free ride on networks built by broadband providers across the nation. These providers, which include SCC members, must pay for the deployment and continued maintenance of these networks while the aforementioned companies profit from their usage. Congress and the FCC must enact meaningful contributions reform which would require all users of the national broadband network to pay for its construction and upkeep.
Ensuring Effective Targeting of Broadband Funding
Ensure Effective Targeting of Rural Broadband Funding. We are fortunate to live and serve in a time when national broadband connectivity is a bipartisan priority. However, with increased federal funding comes the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse. All such funds must be monitored closely to ensure that the end-goal of serving communities with state-of-the-art broadband infrastructure is met, while also verifying that funds are not used to over-build existing high-speed Internet facilities. With the deployment of Broadband Equity Access and Development (BEAD) Program funding, this oversight is crucial. Absent rigorous protocols to award money to proven, capable service providers, exorbitant amounts of money may be spent in vain with our unserved and underserved communities remaining on the wrong side of the Digital Divide. Additionally, in order to avoid “building bridges to nowhere,” for facilities constructed with government funding, careful consideration must be given to ensure that such facilities will be sustainable. In other words, there must be adequate recurring revenue derived from customers on the newly-built network to finance the ongoing maintenance and other operating expenses necessary to sustain the facilities.
Reducing Regulatory Interference For Broadband Providers
Regulatory requirements should not interfere with companies' ability to provide broadband service to our communities. While accountability is crucial within all federally managed programs, where possible, overlapping, and outdated regulatory requirements should be aggressively streamlined or abolished. Any new reporting requirements should be viewed from a value-added perspective and evaluated against the time they take to complete. For example, we contend that the proposed “broadband nutrition labels” offer little value to the end-user, who already has access to all relevant information containing their broadband connection; however, the reporting burden borne by the provider to the regulatory agency is especially onerous. Furthermore, the performance measurement testing currently underway is another example of a burdensome set of new regulatory requirements that are increasing the cost of doing business both in time and money, without producing meaningful value to customers.