Sue Minter Plan on Broadband Access

Statement

Sue Minter Plan on Broadband Access

I am committed to expanding broadband service in Vermont and consider it essential to growing our economy. Just as interstate highways connected Vermont to the world in the last century, our information highways are a key to connecting us to the global marketplace of goods, ideas, and services today.

Broadband is critical for entrepreneurs and telecommuters, but also for farmers and contractors who need to be connected and competitive, and seniors, for whom connectivity can be a lifeline. Education also now depends on young people having access to the internet and the FCC has now indicated that differences in broadband access are now leading to a devastating homework gap.

As Secretary of Transportation, my agency rated the quality of roads and bridges and used this as a guide to focus our resources. Through investment and innovation, we reduced the percentage of structurally poor bridges by nearly two thirds and significantly improved the condition of our roads. I will apply this same approach to assessing the quality of broadband coverage in Vermont and focusing our efforts on areas that are poorly served.

The new expansion of the lifeline program, along with FCC action on new spectrum allocations to provide 5G wireless, presents some opportunities for Vermont. But as the second most rural state in the nation, we need to do more.

Deployment of broadband and cell service in an area where there are few customers to pay for the infrastructure is all about managing costs. We need to take steps in innovation, regulation and investment in cooperative/nonprofit organizations to ensure Vermonters are not left behind.

My plan to expand broadband includes the following key points:

Poll attachments regulation - One of the biggest costs for broadband companies is the time it takes to attach fiber and other technologies to existing poles. One Touch Make Ready and Dig Once policies would dramatically increase the speed and lower the cost of broadband deployment throughout Vermont.
Providing additional cell repeaters - Throughout the state on utility poles and requiring all carriers to utilize the service
Supporting municipal bonding and underwriting -- This will support municipal and cooperative organizations to make the cost of deployment less expensive.
Invite demonstration projects using low frequency spectrum to deliver broadband - Many innovation companies have been doing demonstration projects using the old UHF and VHF airwaves to deliver high speed internet to rural communities. We can invite those organizations to be full partners in the deployment using existing towers and provide more competition for broadband.
Advocate at the federal level for the resources to establish broadband equity in rural areas as a way to mitigate the rural-urban economic divide

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