Press Release: NATOA Applauds FCC’s National Broadband Plan

Today the FCC publicly released the National Broadband Plan as directed by Congress through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  While NATOA is still in the process of reviewing the full plan and while we do have some issues with some claims made in the plan, generally our initial impressions are favorable and we applaud the FCC for its hard work in the development of the Plan.  NATOA and the local governments it represents intend to work with the FCC to ensure that the Plan’s proposals and recommendations result in the US taking its rightful place at the forefront of nations with advanced broadband capability.

 

“NATOA has long called for increased national planning for more, better broadband, and we are pleased to see this day come when the nation has a direction forward.  Local governments look forward to working in partnership with our federal, state, and private sector counterparts in implementing our broadband future,” said NATOA President Ken Fellman.

 

NATOA believes that the National Broadband Plan is a significant step forward to universal broadband access across the country.  Local governments know as well as anyone that high capacity broadband is critical to our communities including for economic development, education, health care, civic engagement, emergency services, and more.  We believe that the more broadband availability will benefit our citizens and our country and we support the FCC, the Administration, and Congress in seeing the Plan through to completion.

 

NATOA Support for Specific Elements of the Plan:

 

Coordinating Entity to Support, Serve, and Facilitate Service to Anchors:

 

NATOA supports the FCC’s recommendation s in 8.22 calling for the development of a coordinating entity to organize, negotiate for, and serve community anchor institutions throughout the country, at the local, regional, and national levels.  We are pleased that the FCC has recognized the importance of high bandwidth service to all anchor institutions, including schools, libraries, public health, public safety, and government facilities and that the FCC has recognized that local government participation in the development, management, and operation of the coordinating entity is essential.

 

Municipal Broadband Networks:

 

NATOA supports the FCC’s call in Recommendation 8:19 for the removal of state barriers to the deployment of municipal broadband networks.  Currently, 18 states have laws that prevent local governments and their partners from meeting the broadband needs of their communities.  We agree with the FCC’s approach of increasing competition in broadband networks regardless of who is deploying them.

 

Rights-of-Way:

 

NATOA will support the FCC’s proposal regarding public rights-of-way.   Se lf-interested commercial carriers put a tremendous amount of pressure on the FCC to use the Plan as a vehicle for undermining local management of rights-of-way and the setting of rights-of-way fees , but  the FCC listened to the calls of local government and public interest organizations who urged them not to take such action.  We agree with the FCC that the development of an intergovernmental task force of federal, state, local, and tribal officials to examine current rights-of-way practices and develop a best practices guide is the proper way to examine the issue.   Local governments have always been mindful of the societal benefits of broadband deployment, and we look forward to setting the record straight on that issue.   We also look forward to working with the FCC to determine the specific contours of the task force so as to maximize its effectiveness.  NATOA believes the task force’s consideration of rights-of-way access and compensation issues, and processes for resolving disputes, must be consistent federal law, and we intend to work with the task force to address these issues in this context.  We trust that the FCC will not prejudge the work of the task force by acting hastily on the pending Level 3 petition before the task force has a chance to complete its duty.

 

Public Safety:

 

NATOA supports the FCC’s Recommendation 16.1 calling for a national interoperable public safety broadband network.  It is far past time that such a network exists.  We are also pleased that the NBP recognizes that additional resources beyond spectrum are needed to make such a network a reality.  NATOA and its members are prepared to work with the FCC to examine the details of the proposal.

 

Transparency:

 

We applaud the FCC’s decision to continue its data driven examination into the state of broadband competition in the U.S.  NATOA supports the FCC’s decision to increase transparency regarding the actual broadband performance levels realized by American consumers compared to the levels advertised by providers.

NATOA Coordinates Letter to NTIA and RUS Requesting Extension of BTOP and BIP Application Deadlines

On Friday, NATOA sent a letter to NTIA Administrator Assistant Secretary Lawrence Strickling and RUS Administrator Jonathan Adelstein on behalf of a number of local government and public interest entities. 

 

The letter requests that NTIA and RUS extend the application deadline for BTOP and BIP from March 15, 2010 to April 30, 2010.  The letter pointed out that because some applications still pending from Round 1 may not have been finally resolved until the end of February, the current deadline does not give many applicants adequate time to develop high-quality applications.  In addition, due to the extreme winter weather experienced in Washington, DC and along the east coast, the federal government and many applicants have lost a significant amount of time involved in reviewing pending applications and developing new applications.

 

NATOA members should remember that, at this time, applications are still due by March 15th and should plan accordingly.  However, if our request for an extension is granted, we will alert you immediately. 

                                                                         

The full text of the letter is available here.

NATOA Applauds Google’s Plans for Fiber Broadband Networks

NATOA applauds Google for its announcement today that the company plans to build and test 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), open-access fiber-to-the-home broadband networks in a small number of communities nationwide.

 

As the company explained, its “goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone.” The pilot networks will deliver high-capacity, competitively priced service to up to 500,000 people.

 

“NATOA and its members are pleased to see Google’s significant commitment to working with localities to take steps toward solving the nation’s broadband deficit,” said Tonya Rideout, NATOA’s acting executive director. “Local governments have been creatively and actively trying to meet their urban, suburban, and rural communities’ broadband needs for more than 15 years. We welcome collaboration with Google.”

 

NATOA is particularly pleased that Google plans to work with local governments and respect land use ordinances and other local requirements. Further, the company’s decision to target the emerging international standard for broadband speeds and its commitment to true open access, allowing multiple operators to compete over the same platform, represent a welcome embrace of best practices in network development.

 

NATOA is the national association that represents local governments on communications matters and promotes community interests in communications.  NATOA members have worked with private sector partners to facilitate broadband deployment in their communities for more than a decade.  In addition, hundreds of NATOA members have built and operate fiber optic networks that provide high-bandwidth, secure communications to key community anchor institutions, such as schools, libraries, and public safety.

Contact: Acting Executive Director Tonya Rideout, 703.519.8035.

2010 Government Programming Awards Live

2010 marks the 25th anniversary of the NATOA Government Programming Awards! Entries must be postmarked by April 9, 2010. Don’t miss out on being a part of this historic year! Get your entries in now.

For more information, visit http://natoa.org/awards/gpa.html.

NATOA Files Reply Comments on Petition for Reconsideration

Yesterday, NATOA was joined by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties, the American Planning Association, and the City of Laredo, Texas in filing Reply Comments with the FCC responding to the opposition to our Petition for Reconsideration or Clarification.  Our Petition requested reconsideration of a specific part of the FCC’s recent “shot clock” order.  Specifically, we objected to a 30 day deadline on a local government’s ability to toll the shot clock when an application is found to be incomplete.  We also objected to the fact that facial completeness appeared to be the only issue that could allow a local government to toll the shot clock. 

 

The response to our Petition was mostly supportive.  However, opposition to our Petition was filed by members of the wireless industry.  Our Petition pointed out the industry’s mischaracterizations of our legal assertions and also highlighted instances of practical problems the 30 day rule would cause that were raised in filings by local governments.  A common theme in these filings, which we highlighted in our Reply Comments, was that the 30 day rule does not reflect the realities of the zoning application review process and would ultimately slow down the deployment of wireless facilities.

 

The full text of our Reply Comments is available here.