WISPA Testifies Before Full House Agriculture Committee on Rural Broadband

WISPA’s President and CEO David Zumwalt commended the House Agriculture Committee and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for their work in closing the rural digital divide, and offered numerous suggestions on how the 2023 Farm Bill may more effectively narrow the broadband gap, in testimony today before the full Committee. WISPA represents the wireless internet service provider (WISP) industry. WISPs serve nine million Americans, mostly in unserved, under-resourced, and Tribal territories, deploying a variety of technologies, including fiber as well as licensed, shared, and unlicensed wireless spectrum, to deliver reliable broadband to their customers. Minimizing artificial, wasteful barriers – which limit solutions and participants – will help USDA’s programs find greater, lasting success. “If rigid requirements, such as symmetrical speeds, are locked in statute, it precludes [the USDA] from having the flexibility to consider projects that address other key priorities,” Zumwalt stated. “For these programs to be successful and cost-effective, as many broadband providers as possible should be encouraged to participate,” he added. Zumwalt offered numerous recommendations for the broadband provisions of the 2023 Farm Bill, including: 

• Cost-effectiveness should be the primary criterion for determining which projects are funded, ensuring that limited taxpayer resources are allocated and targeted to connecting as many rural Americans as possible.  
• The USDA should modernize its criteria for rural broadband development grants and loans so that the limited available funding is allocated to projects that truly deliver broadband coverage rapidly to the most Americans for the lowest possible cost.  
• Public resources should be directed to areas where no service is available to avoid chilling private investment and marketplace distortion. 
• And, priority should be given to broadband providers currently serving their communities in “underserved” locales, giving them the first opportunity to upgrade their service, which can most likely be done for less dollars, stretching limited taxpayer resources further.