NTIA's Strickling Addresses NTCA Legislative and Policy Conference

The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, a rural telecommunications association, kicked off its Legislative and Policy Conference with a speech by National Telecommunications and Information Administration Administrator Lawrence Strickling.

Strickling provided the audience with an update on the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). He said that the goal of BTOP in rural America was not last-mile connectivity but rather building middle-mile networks and connecting anchor institutions. “Before dispersing grants, we talked with our counterparts at the Rural Utility Service to determine how best we could use our resources. We felt that RUS was better suited to handle the last mile while [NTIA] should focus on more community based projects.” Strickling said. The middle-mile projects that NTIA has funded have already begun gaining attention from last-mile providers. Strickling stated that in the fall, middle-mile projects and last-mile providers had signed 90 agreements; currently, more than 200 agreements are being negotiated. The Middle mile is the segment of the network between the backbone and the connection reaches homes which is the last mile. “By mandating our middle-mile networks be open, it allows anyone to connect to the network and benefit from access to fiber [optic networks],” Strickling said.