WISPA to States: Ignore the Feds on ARPA Wired Broadband Requirement

The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) has sent a letter to the governors of all 50 states asking them to ignore a prohibition against using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) broadband funding for fixed wireless deployments. The prohibition is included in the interim rules issued by the US Treasury for $350 billion in ARPA funding directed to state and local governments. Those rules call for broadband funding to be directed to wired technologies. Considering that Treasury traditionally hasn’t been involved in broadband, it is possible that the drafters of the interim rules simply meant to exclude funding from being used toward mobile, but not fixed wireless, service. The rules also call for service to support speeds of at least 100 Mbps except where that speed is “impractical because of topography, geography or cost.” Aiken urged the governors to take a “technology-neutral approach to deploying advanced communication infrastructure for your constituents.” WISPA members, he said, “utilize a variety of technologies based on the needs of the communities they service, taking a variety of factors into account including cost, deployment time, terrain and population density. Simply put, [they] utilize the best technology for the job.” The interim rules for ARPA state and local broadband funding also could make areas served by fixed wireless internet service providers (WISPs) vulnerable to overbuilding by competitors – even if the WISPs offer relatively high-speed service.