The Promise of Universal Broadband

[Commentary] Critics should read the Notice of Funds Availability from the USDA's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) administered by The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). First, the NOFA requires that an access network be designed for 100% coverage. Broadband connections at minimum speeds, at least, must be available to every home and every business. Not just the ones closest to the CO. Not just the ones passed by FTTH. Not just the ones in nice neighborhoods. Every home and every business will have broadband access. From the get-go. Universal broadband! Second, the NOFA allocates funds for broadband "second mile" networks, i.e. broadband backhaul. The leased lines that connect rural areas to the Internet today are ruinously expensive - one of the reasons so many rural areas are "under-served". If the government is going to fund broadband access in the "first mile", it wants to be darn sure that those connections are not choked off in the "second mile"! Third, the NOFA requires that broadband networks be open and neutral. It requires that both first and second mile networks be available to multiple service providers at wholesale rates. Furthermore, it requires that services be handled in a "nondiscriminatory" manner, with no service provider's packets getting more favorable treatment others'.