Senate Commerce to Look Back, Ahead in Rural Broadband Hearing; Indian Affairs Probes FCC

Senate Indian Affairs Committee members focused on what they see as deficiencies in FCC practices for determining broadband coverage on tribal lands, during a Wednesday hearing. The hearing examined a September GAO report that said the FCC overstates broadband availability on tribal lands because it considers service available in a census block if a provider can serve at least one location (see 1809100041). A Thursday Senate Commerce Committee hearing on progress in rural broadband deployments is likely to also touch on tribal governments' concerns. But the panel will largely be an overview of the chamber's work in this Congress on encouraging broadband projects in rural areas and is likely to frame Senate Commerce's approach to that issue in 2019, lawmakers and lobbyists told us.

Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told us he aims for the Thursday hearing to be a continuation of the committee's exploration of the best ways to “get rural broadband deployed” by listening to “the people who are actually out there delivering those services.” Senate Commerce wants to know “what we can do to make it easier for them to get high-speed broadband” deployed to customers, Thune said. He noted he's also hosting a 5G-specific broadband field hearing Friday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Dakota State University President Jose-Marie Griffiths, Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken (R) and representatives from Verizon and Midcontinent Communications are expected to testify at the hearing, Thune's office said.

Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said he probably won't be able to attend the Thursday hearing but told us his primary concern remains improving broadband mapping accuracy. Schatz and other Senate Commerce members have repeatedly noted their mapping accuracy concerns given recent missteps with FCC broadband maps, including deficiencies in the map released earlier this year showing areas across the U.S. presumed eligible to receive support for deployment of 4G LTE service as part of the USF Mobility Fund Phase II auction (see 1802270043 and 1806130095). Schatz, also a Senate Indian Affairs member, criticized the FCC during the Wednesday hearing, questioning whether the agency feels “a sense of urgency” to collect accurate broadband data “the first time.” On “its face, these maps are ridiculous,” he said.

The Senate Commerce hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. U.S. Cellular Vice President-Federal Affairs and Public Policy Grant Spellmeyer, Mescalero Apache Telecom General Manager Godfrey Enjady, Golden West Telecommunications General Manager Denny Law and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority General Manager Mona Thompson are to testify (see 1809280040). Enjady also testified at the Senate Indian Affairs hearing in his role as National Tribal Telecommunications Association president.

The Thursday hearing is likely to be “a wrap-up” of what Congress “has done in 2018 and what's left to do,” said NTCA Senior Vice President-Industry Affairs and Business Development Mike Romano: “Where are policies working to advance broadband and sustain it? Where do we still have gaps that need to be filled? What policies can be adopted to fill those gaps?” The status of USF programs, including the calls for the FCC to increase funding for the high-cost program, are likely to “be at the top” of senators' minds, he said. “Those are really the linchpins. If you don't have the business case to invest, you can do all the permitting relief in the world, but you still won't” get investment in deployments.

Thune and the rest of South Dakota's Hill delegation -- Sen. Mike Rounds and Rep. Kristi Noem, both Republicans -- urged the FCC Wednesday to take “immediate action” to “restore sufficiency and predictability” to the high-cost program's budget given the ongoing shortfall. “Fully funding this program will help ensure rural South Dakotans have access to high-quality broadband and voice services comparable in quality and price to those available in urban areas,” the lawmakers wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Iowa's House delegation similarly urged an increase Tuesday (see 1810020008).

Mapping “will obviously be a big focus” at the Senate Commerce hearing “as it always is” when Capitol Hill examines broadband issues, Romano said. “That obviously affects where funding goes.” There will likely also be interest in how RUS' $600 million e-Connectivity Pilot program, which Congress authorized in the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (see 1803230038), advances rural broadband, Romano said. Other communications sector lobbyists also noted the RUS pilot as a likely topic. They noted Thune and Senate Communications Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., jointly urged the agency not to use the funding to overbuild existing FCC-funded broadband deployments (see 1808230015).

Udall Sees Deception

Senate Indian Affairs Chairman John Hoeven, R-S.D., and ranking member Tom Udall, D-N.M., registered concerns about the FCC's practices and said they expected the agency to do better.

“We must work to ensure” tribal areas “have equal access” to broadband given its importance in education, economic development and healthcare, Hoeven told the hearing. Absent more accurate data, the FCC and Rural Utilities Service are “flying blind” in tribal areas, which is “troubling,” Udall said. He criticized what he believes are ISPs' misleading claims on broadband coverage on tribal lands.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she intends to file legislation in response to the GAO report that would amend the Communications Act to clarify the FCC mandate to promote universal service in advanced services like broadband “includes tribal lands.” A “lot of coordination is needed if we're going to pull off access” in some tribal areas and that means there need to be improvements in “government-to-government relationships,” Cantwell said. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said the report reveals a “self-perpetuating cycle” in which tribal lands are “some of the most in need” of improved broadband access but a lack of accurate data “further impedes” work to improve coverage. The situation “adds insult to injury” for tribal communities, Daines said.

Udall told us he plans to continue to talk about his tribal connectivity concerns during the Thursday panel. “There has been a representation by industry that somehow these areas are covered,” he said: The coverage data reported for those areas on broadband maps “is very deceptive. The industry's using that term and saying 'we could cover this.'” The “reality is they are not covering it and these are the least-covered areas in the entire country,” Udall said. “I want to pin them down on that data” because “we should have everybody covered. We need to find a way to do that because the rural areas are what are being neglected.”

The FCC “has efforts underway to ensure that we collect the best possible data” on broadband coverage and has agreed to follow the GAO recommendations, testified Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Patrick Webre. “There's certainly room for improvement.” The study said the agency should devise ways to collect and report accurate data on tribal broadband access, develop a process for obtaining tribal input on provider data, and obtain feedback from tribal stakeholders on the effectiveness of a 2012 agency statement to providers on tribal engagement.

Enjady and Native Public Media Board Chairman Geoffrey Blackwell emphasized GAO's call for the FCC to collect more granular broadband coverage data and the need for improved engagement with tribal communities. The onus for collecting more granular data “will fall on us,” but that “will require more resources,” Enjady said. Additional “funding and personnel will be needed” at the FCC, NTIA and RUS beyond the additional $7.5 million in mapping funding allocated in the FY 2018 omnibus. Data “specific to individual tribal lands is so very critical,” Blackwell said.

NTTA's tribally owned and operated communications providers are actively engaged in their communities but “we do see the need to improve engagement between tribal entities, federal, state and local governments” and non-tribal providers, Enjady said. Blackwell emphasized the need for a “dedicated process to substantively involve” tribal governments and stakeholders “in the review of carrier-reported data.”