Rural broadband deployment: The market-oriented way

[Commentary] Now that the White House, Congress, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are getting serious about rural broadband deployment — in contrast with the past eight years — it is time to develop strategies that actually make positive impacts.

Policies for rural broadband have seemed random the past eight years: billions of stimulus dollars were thrown at unneeded and failed projects, the FCC expanded failing systems like Lifeline, the Obama White House and the FCC moved to limit the profitability of rural broadband, and the FCC chose an arbitrary definition for broadband. These failed policies wasted billions of dollars and did little to help rural communities gain broadband connectivity. It is time to let markets lead the way.

Localities often have zoning, permitting, and other regulations that make broadband deployment costly, and procedures vary from location to location. This multiplies the complexity of planning and permitting and adds costs. There is a need to streamline permitting processes, promote nondiscriminatory access to conduits and poles, facilitate infrastructure sharing, and eliminate unnecessary post-construction cleanup requirements.

Restrictions on how broadband providers can generate revenue constrain broadband expansion by limiting profitability. The FCC’s net neutrality restrictions are an example. Broadband service providers in targeted rural areas could also be allowed to charge content providers for access to customers, perhaps making it profitable to provide broadband access without a subsidy.

[Jamison is the director and Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida. He was also part of President Trump’s FCC Transition Team]