Lawmakers worry about cuts to rural broadband program

Lawmakers from both parties criticized the Federal Communications Commission over cuts to programs intended to boost rural broadband at a hearing Thursday.

The hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee brought business and industry leaders to address their concerns about improving broadband access. But much of the hearing focused on what lawmakers and industry saw as shortcomings by the FCC.

Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) called the FCC’s performance “simply unacceptable.”

{mosads}“The FCC’s failure to ensure sufficient and predictable funding jeopardizes the vitality of America’s rural communities.”

Thune criticized the agency for not following through on a promise to analyze the impact cuts to the Universal Service for High Cost Areas program is having on rural communities.

“It’s been more than a year since [Republican] Chairman [Ajit] Pai … sat before this committee and committed to conducting thorough economic analysis on the impact of … funding cuts on broadband deployment in rural areas,” Thune said.

The chairman said no such analysis has occurred and cuts have increased by almost 25 percent.

The program allows service providers in rural areas to recoup some of their costs from the government.

Pai has said he plans to take action to resolve concerns about the budget cuts by the end of this year.

At the hearing, Thune’s concerns were also voiced across the aisle.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said the FCC’s cuts to the program were “preventing new broadband deployment and driving up prices for our customers.”

“This shouldn’t be happening in the United States of America in the year 2018,” she added.

The committee heard from telecommunications executives who called for more support to extend high-speed broadband outside of the country’s cities.

Denny Law, general manager and CEO of Golden West, a South-Dakota-based telecom cooperative, said his company has been forced to delay or cancel some of its recent efforts to expand broadband coverage in rural areas due to the FCC cuts.

Mona Thompson, general manager at the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority, said that in 2018, FCC cuts led to a loss of “approximately $935,000” in funding meant to expand broadband access in tribal lands.

The executives also questioned the accuracy of FCC maps which are intended to show which parts of the nation lacked coverage.

Grant Spellmeyer, vice president for federal affairs and public policy at U.S. Cellular Corp., called the maps “wildly inaccurate” for some states.

He said this was troubling because the FCC relies heavily on those maps to draw out its plans, sometimes for the next decade.

“If the maps are bad today, it’s going to be 2029 before we can get additional government funding to go back and fix all those places,” Spellmeyer warned.

Spellmeyer also slammed the FCC’s process for amending the maps. He said it requires those living in rural and low-income areas, often without access to high-speed internet, to complain to the agency.

“I think the FCC’s tried, but we can do better,” Spellmeyer concluded.