Jon Wilkins

Through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), every state will receive at least $100 million to start via the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. Allocation of this much federal money to states for a specific objective without a long-standing local department or agency in place to ensure the funds are deployed wisely is rare. Many states do not have a dedicated broadband team. If they do, it is often staffed by just a few people who are tucked inside another agency or staffed by a third party.

This report examines the progress of E-rate modernization since the adoption of the two major E-rate Modernization Orders in the second half of 2014. The report focuses on reforms in three major policy areas:

1) Expanding E-rate support for the equipment and services needed to deliver high seed Wi-Fi to classrooms and libraries.
2) Connecting all schools and libraries to high-speed broadband services.
3) Ensuring the financial stability of the E-rate program.

The report provides a brief summary of each set of reforms, an analysis of available data on the impact of those reforms to date, and a discussion of potential next steps for future Commissions.

The Universal Service Fund/ Intercarrier Compensation Transformation Order set the course for the comprehensive modernization of universal service for the 21st century. In so doing, the Federal Communications Commission set an ambitious goal of universal broadband and advanced mobile coverage. As part of the Connect America Fund, the FCC created the Mobility Fund, a universal service support mechanism dedicated exclusively to mobile services.

Phase I of the Mobility Fund provided one-time support to accelerate our nation's ongoing efforts to close gaps in mobile wireless service. In order for the Mobility Fund to improve coverage in these areas for current-generation or better mobile voice and broadband services, the FCC needs detailed coverage data both to identify areas that lack mobile voice and broadband service and to avoid spending limited resources on support in areas where an unsubsidized provider is already offering service. Today, we are excited to announce improved analysis of coverage data, giving the FCC the ability to take the next steps toward closing the coverage gap in rural America through Mobility Fund Phase II. This is due, in large part, to our access to more reliable data from provider-filed Forms 477. Twice a year, mobile broadband and voice providers must submit shapefiles showing their network coverage areas and certify the accuracy of their submissions. These shapefiles depict the areas where providers have reported that consumers should expect the minimum speeds associated with 4G LTE or other network technologies. There is no better mobile coverage data available today.

This new and improved data is a major step forward over the data analyzed in the Mobility Fund Phase I auction, called the “centroid method.”

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau and Office of Strategic Planning and Policy released a staff report summarizing what we have learned to date as the result of an extraordinary effort to collect and analyze data, both about the current state of communications technology in America’s libraries and schools as well as the way the E-Rate program provides support.

We also published two maps providing a visualization of current fiber availability for schools and libraries across the country. A few insights from the report really stand out:

• The Commission’s E-rate Modernization Order has the potential to dramatically expand access to funding for Wi-Fi upgrades.
• Phasing down support for non-broadband services will, over the next five Funding Years, result in a total of over $3.5 billion which will be freed up and reallocated to higher priority broadband connections to and within schools and libraries.
• The report confirms that while there is work to be done in connecting more schools to fiber, the current state is somewhat better than expected.
• At the same time, many rural schools and the vast majority of libraries lack physical infrastructure necessary to meet the broadband goals adopted in the E-rate Modernization Order.
• One of the more striking takeaways from the report is how vividly it illustrates the variability in prices being paid for similar services by similarly situated schools and libraries seeking E-rate support.

What does good management have to do with quality education? When it comes to the E-rate program, quite a bit. In recent months, we have been improving management of E-rate to speed approval of broadband expansion projects sought by schools and libraries across the country.

And it’s working: E-rate funding will reach the $1 billion milestone for funding year 2014, twice as fast as any previous year in E-Rate history.

These early commitments will enable schools and libraries to put E-rate dollars to work sooner for students and patrons. For example, E-rate supported broadband connections will help the Baltimore County Public School System continue its roll-out of a one-to-one personalized digital learning environment to the district’s 100,000 students.

We’ve made a particular effort to speed larger applications, including state and regional consortia. Included in the $1 billion of commitments to date are state-level consortium applications in Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Statewide and consortium applications can simplify processes for applicants, increase access in rural areas, and drive down costs for consortium members and for E-rate. For example, the Mississippi state consortium recently negotiated new, low, flat-rate pricing for high speed connectivity across most of the state, driving down prices for all districts, and helping rural districts get connected without special construction charges.

The program administrator -- USAC -- and the FCC have dramatically accelerated the processing of state-level consortium applications.

[Wilkins is FCC Acting Managing Director]