A fight is brewing over whether to mandate much faster internet speeds for government-subsidized broadband Internet projects in rural areas.
If Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo., has her way, minimum download speeds would leap more than six times higher, from 4 to 25 megabits per second, with minimum upload speed tripling to 3 Mbps for companies receiving financing from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service fund.
“I want to make sure our tax money is used not only to bring broadband to rural communities, but that the broadband is usable into the future,” Hartzler said.
“This will be more expensive for the companies to put the higher speed in, potentially, which could decrease the total number of miles,” Hartzler said. “But my thinking is … if we’re going to invest in this major way to putting broadband in, we need to make sure it’s practical and usable, not just for today’s internet but also for tomorrow’s capabilities.”
The idea has backing from the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, whose members have used federal money to expand broadband access, and NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, which represents 850 small telecommunications companies, but is opposed by some major players.
One opponent is the Fiber Broadband Association, which represents dozens of major companies that offer broadband services, including Verizon and Google.
Heather Burnett Gold, resident and CEO of the FBA, uses similar points as those offered by Hartzler, but to argue against raising speed baselines.
“It is bad policy to set a minimum speed – the speeds upgrade so frequently and the ‘standard,’ if you will, is that rural should be comparable to those delivered in suburban and urban areas,” Gold said. “We prefer to say the technology must be scalable, not need to be upgraded in order to accommodate bandwidth growth, low latency and effective across distances.”
The Telecommunications Industry Association, another large trade group, hasn’t taken a position, but spokeswoman Ashley Simmons said the group “generally supports raising the threshold to 25 Mbps down / 3 Mbps up.”
“In 2015 the FCC increased its minimum definition of broadband to 25/3, and both technology and demands have continued to advance in the past three years,” she said in an email. “Commonly used applications like streaming video now depend on that level of service. For a family with multiple users, lower bandwidth could slow things down to a crawl, and/or deprive rural consumers of the choices that urban consumers enjoy.”
Simmons added: “In addition to fiber or cable deployments, 4G LTE services now often meet those speed targets, with 5G expected to roll out soon. And last year, satellite providers started offering 25/3 service nationwide.”
There’s significant money to be made expanding rural broadband. A 2017 Government Accountability Office report said that “since fiscal year 2004, RUS has approved 704 broadband projects totaling almost $8.6 billion in loans and $144.8 million in grants to deploy telecommunications or broadband infrastructure networks in rural areas.”
A six-month spending bill poised to be adopted this week adds $600 million in RUS broadband funds.
The RUS funds that would be governed by Hartzler’s efforts are distinct from the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund Phase II, which in July will open $2 billion in subsidies to bidding from companies offering to build broadband infrastructure.
Hartzler said she’s excited for the FCC’s so-called “reverse auction.” In addition to lifting baseline speeds for the RUS funds, she’s seeking to expand the RUS program to offer loan guarantees, with a goal of increasing private investment.
The struggle will unfold as the “farm bill” for 2018 is developed in coming weeks. The massive spending package is passed once every four years, and a draft is expected sometime in early April.
“If it’s not included, I’ll offer it as an amendment,” said Hartzler, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, which has a key role shaping the farm bill. “I’m hearing a lot of positive comments about the proposal.”
