Complete Story
03/09/2017
ACA's Polka Pushes Laundry List of Broadband Boosters to FCC
FCC chairman Ajit Pai met early on with the American Cable Association as he sought input on getting broadband to rural communities.
ACA president Matt Polka has plenty of ideas.
In a letter to the chairman Tuesday, Polka had a laundry list of ways to help his smaller ISP members, who do much of the heavy lifting in terms of getting broadband to smaller and rural communities nationwide.
Among the things he said would further propel their infrastructure investments and provision of innovative services include returning to light-touch broadband regulation, which means reversing the Title II classification of ISPs and reconsidering the broadband privacy order that stemmed from that reclassification.
That also includes providing targeted financial support to build out to unserved areas, reducing barriers to buildouts—pole access, rights of way—and regularly review regulations for their outsized influence on smaller carriers.
ACA also wants the FCC to allow all providers subject to EEO requirements to be able to use internet-only sources for recruitment, as well as grant smaller carriers exemptions from Universal Service contributions.
