State Commissioner 'Willing to Break Glass' to Get Rural Broadband
The Colorado Public Utilities Commission must do all it can to close the rural broadband gap, a member said Thursday at a livestreamed information meeting on the state’s USF high-cost support mechanism. State broadband officials said limited funding makes it tough to spread broadband. Supporting municipal broadband efforts and phasing out high-cost support for traditional phone service could be ways forward, consumer advocates said. PUC staff pointed to continued decline in USF contributions due to changing technology.
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“The market has been an abysmal failure in solving this problem over the last 12 years” and “the commission has been a co-conspirator,” Commissioner Frances Koncilja said. “I want to ... figure out how to fix it.” The commissioner wants to crack the problem before she steps down in about two years, she said. “I am willing to break glass.” If the PUC determines it has no jurisdiction, commissioners can still make recommendations to the legislature, she said.
Commissioner Wendy Moser urged caution as the agency eyes changes to its high-cost fund. “It’s easy to say cut the fund, change how it works, but we still have a provider of last resort obligation and the high-cost fund is used to support areas that would get no service at all” if not for the POLR requirement, she said.
Colorado has a rural/urban digital divide, said Brian Shepherd, Colorado Broadband Office chief operating officer. Broadband with 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload speeds is available to 94 percent overall, only 77 percent in rural parts compared with 99.8 percent in urban, Shepherd said. “Where we have to focus is the rural areas.”
Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) wants 100 percent broadband coverage, but there are roadblocks, said Colorado Broadband Deployment Director Jordan Beezley. Grant funding available doesn't meet needs, and Beezley can’t confidently predict future funding rounds, he said. In 2016, grant applicants requested $9.4 million, but the state could award $2.1 million; this year, applicants requested $19.2 million, the state can award $9.4 million, he said. As pockets of unserved areas shrink, “incidental” coverage overlap could make it harder to award grants for unserved areas, Beezley said. It’s tough to balance getting most bang for the buck with trying to future-proof state investment, he said.
Consumer group officials cheered ballot votes​ by many Colorado communities to allow municipal broadband. At Tuesday’s election, 18 more communities opted out of the state’s ban, and Fort Collins voters overcame cable industry opposition to authorize up to $150 million in debt for a network (see 1711080024). Moser, a former Charter Communications official, is skeptical of opt-out resolutions. “It’s my understanding that most of those resolutions start with, ‘Without raising your taxes, would it be OK if we explored the possibility of the city providing broadband in your city?’” she said. “It’s not a controversial statement, and I’ve always been concerned” that it suggests building the network is free, she said. Costs can put cities at risk of bankruptcy, Moser said.
Koncilja asked if satellite broadband could help reach unserved areas, given funding constraints. Beezley raised concerns about latency and data limitations. A “layered” approach using multiple broadband technologies including satellite may be best, said Shepherd: “I would love it if you guys could write me a check for several billion dollars and we could just do fiber to the home for everyone,” but “that’s just not going to happen.”
The PUC could consider phasing out high-cost support for traditional phone service, sending money instead to broadband, suggested AARP Volunteer Advocate Bill Levis. That could leave the PUC with no telecom oversight since it can’t regulate broadband, he warned.
The state's decline in USF contributions leveled off in the first two quarters, but the regulator doesn’t believe the fund is done shrinking, said PUC High Cost Fund Administrator John Scott. Continued landline subscription loss and reduced intrastate revenue from wireless connections drives decline, he said. While big VoIP carriers contribute, “there are likely a number of VoIP carriers who do not pay,” said PUC Telecom Section Chief Lynn Notarianni.