Since this has been a busy week, it seemed like a good time to provide an update on the broadband stimulus implementation process. I’ll refer you back to this earlier video from NCTA President & CEO Kyle McSlarrow and our White Paper; we think a strong broadband infrastructure is a good thing and we think the use of grants to promote broadband is a good thing, but we also think the funds ought to be used efficiently and we think the process ought to be fair & transparent.

On Monday, James Assey, Executive Vice President of NCTA, participated in a Roundtable on Nondiscrimination and Interconnection Obligations.

As part of the stimulus package, funding was included to “establish a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program for awards to eligible entities to develop and expand broadband services to rural and underserved areas and improve access to broadband by public safety agencies.” NTIA and RUS, the agencies that are implementing BTOP, are holding a series of public meetings, and Monday’s event was part of this. In broad terms, “Nondiscrimination and Interconnection Obligations” refers to how networks interact with each other and exchange traffic.

That’s a whole lot of background to set-up the statement that Assey delivered, which can be accessed on our website, along with a summary.

On Tuesday, NCTA Associate General Counsel Steve Morris spoke on a panel at another public meeting. Andrew Feinberg at BroadbandCensus.com provided coverage:

The statutory guidelines provide a good start in determining standards, said Morris. Morris invoked President Obama’s call for a transparent process, and said it be governed by a merit-based system of seven objective measurements to be shared between NTIA and RUS.

Job creation and preservation should be first and foremost among the selection criteria, Morris said. Preference should also be given to those applicants that can complete build-out within the statutory time periods, and that are able to maintain projects afterwards.

Infrastructure should be built out first the “last mile,” Morris said. And programs that target schools, libraries, and other “public interest” institutions should be ranked ahead of those that don’t, he added. Further considerations could be cost per capita and relative expense compared to other forms of communication, he said.

On Wednesday, NCTA responded to a Request for Comments on the FCC Report On Rural Broadband Strategy; those comments can also be found on our website. Essentially, we called for complete interagency communication and coordination; transparency; a set of coherent and clearly defined goals; an update of the FCC’s universal service and pole attachment policies; and an initial focus on extending broadband facilities to unserved areas and underserved populations.

Also this week, Representatives Joe Barton [R, TX-6] and Cliff Stern [R, FL-6] sent a letter to NTIA, RUS and the FCC about the broadband stimulus funds. You should read the letter, but some of the key points are:

• Stimulus funds should go where broadband mapping has been completed
• Funding should go to the unserved over the underserved
• We should stimulate demand rather than supply
• These efforts should be technologically & competitively neutral
• We should fund economically efficient projects

Today, we started trucking equipment over to the Washington Convention Center here in D.C. A crew will start setting up our Broadband Nation exhibit over the weekend (see this previous post).

Broadband Nation is our 20,000-square-foot interactive exhibit at The Cable Show.  This exhibit will demonstrate the many ways in which broadband technology has changed the way Americans live, work and play.  It’s a hands-on opportunity to experience a wide variety of innovative new technology products and services available both now and possibly in the future for the home, school, and office, as well as specialized applications for medical centers, schools, and retail and entertainment outlets, among others. Broadband Nation seeks to capture in tangible ways how broadband has, and will, alter the everyday life of Americans; the exhibit will provide a good rationale for the broadband stimulus funding.

Next week, there will also be a couple sessions at The Cable Show that will focus on this issue.

• Wednesday, April 01, from 3:00 – 4:15 p.m., the session “21st Century Communications Policy: The Role of the States” will feature a conversation with State Public Utility Commissioners examining (like it says in the title) the states’ role in this process.
• Friday, April 03, from 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., the session “If We Build It, Will They Log On: Barriers to Broadband Adoption and Use” will look at how to drive adoption of broadband applications within the medical, education, safety and environmental/energy sectors.

Yesterday, NCTA released a new White Paper entitled “Moving the Needle on Broadband: Stimulus Strategies to Spur Adoption and Extend Access Across America,” which we think will provide some helpful perspective on the issue of implementing broadband stimulus funding.

It’s a pretty commonly accepted view today that a strong broadband infrastructure is positive for America, since broadband can be a key driver of the economy; the use of grants from the stimulus that are used to promote the use of broadband can effectively stimulate both short-term and longer-term economic growth. It’s one of the reasons we’re staging the Broadband Nation exhibit at our coming convention, because it will provide graphic evidence of broadband’s impact in the community.

So how do we go about reaching these goals, or at least move the needle in the right direction?

It’s useful to point out that cable has played an important role in all that we have achieved so far. About 92% of U.S. homes are passed by High-Speed Internet service from cable operators. Our industry has invested $146.8 billion in infrastructure upgrades since 1996; cable will be investing about $14 billion this year alone. This is all infrastructure built with private capital, not government funding.

But there is about $7 billion available in the stimulus package, and every little bit can be helpful. But the question to be asked is, “How can those funds be used most effectively?” Our White Paper lays out our views on this question.

NCTA asserts that the broadband grant and loan programs in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) should be implemented with the following basic principles:

• Funds should be used to increase broadband adoption and use;
• Awards should be competitively and technologically neutral so as not to create disincentives to private investment that necessarily will continue to take the lead in broadband deployment;
• Value-producing projects that can be implemented quickly should receive the highest priority; and,
• Implementation should be transparent and coordinated with other agencies providing similar aid.

We also say that funding should be deployed in a manner that adheres to the principle of “First, do no harm” to the existing broadband industry, which has already made the investments described above. The foremost priorities in awarding competitive grants, in descending order, should be:

1. Extending broadband facilities to unserved areas.
2. Supporting programs that enable underserved populations to acquire and to make effective use of broadband service where it is already available.
3. If funds remain, extending broadband facilities to underserved areas defined in terms of below-standard speed and other qualitative measures relative to today’s current-generation broadband services.

You should take a look at the whole document, which is available on our website.

UPDATE: Coverage of the White Paper.

• NCTA: Broadband Funds Should Be Competitive, Technologically Neutral, and “Value Producing”
• On Rural Broadband
• NCTA White Paper: Focus Broadband Stimulus Funds on Unserved and Adoption