Jay Schwarz

Utilities—who are already everywhere; who have already connected this nation once with electricity—have an important role to play in the coming connected future.  I’m here today because we are every bit as excited about the prospect of utilities building out broadband networks. Utilities are ideally positioned to get more involved in the broadband game. For starters, utilities have something much more powerful than SpaceX’s 23-story-tall jumbo rockets. Utilities have poles. Utilities already own much of the infrastructure.

This report presents a recommended plan for reforms at the Federal Communications Commission —encompassing organizational structures, authorities, and practices—to better incorporate economic analysis as well as data management as part of the agency’s regular operation. The centerpiece of this plan is a new Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA), with delegated authority designed to better integrate economic analysis into the FCC’s decision-making. The plan also identifies a set of new practices intended to make such integration common across the agency.

Today I want to discuss Federal Communications Commission Chairman Pai’s belief that we are on the cusp of a new era of partnership between the FCC and rural electric cooperatives. Specifically: our hope that electric coops will become a bigger part of closing the digital divide and delivering online opportunity to rural Americans who have been bypassed by the broadband revolution. And how the FCC can work with you all to bring about this change.