***Deploying Broadband More Broadly:***

***Working Together to Roll-out Access in America's Small Cities and
Rural Areas***

Commissioner Gloria Tristani

Federal Communications Commission

## New Mexico Communications Network Symposium

Albuquerque, New Mexico

## November 10, 1999

*as prepared for delivery*

Thank you. It's a pleasure to be back home in Albuquerque and to be with
you this morning. I'd like to thank Ed Spivak and the other organizers
of the Symposium for bringing all of us together. This Symposium
reflects the importance of telecommunications to the state's future, and
I am very pleased to take part in a dialogue with state and local
leaders, consumers and business users, and industry. Increasingly,
broadband deployment is becoming a top priority in Washington as we seek
to ensure that the benefits of the communications and information
revolution extend to all parts of America.

Just last week, I celebrated my two-year anniversary as an FCC
Commissioner. This gave me an opportunity to reflect on our work as we
oversee an industry as dynamic and exciting as any that has come before.
During this period, we've had to implement the landmark
Telecommunications Act of 1996, fulfilling the two goals of promoting
competition and advancing universal service. We've witnessed the
exponential growth of the Internet and the explosion of e-commerce.
Throughout, I've been guided by a single, overarching principle:
creating incentives and adopting policies to ensure that *all* Americans
benefit from the communications revolution.

With this in mind, I'm proud of the decisions we've made: funding the
E-rate program to provide America's neediest schools and libraries with
access to the Internet; moving ahead with a universal service program
that works in a competitive environment; adopting policies so that
Americans with disabilities can access the latest technology; and
initiating proceedings to remove regulatory barriers to the deployment
of telecom services in unserved and underserved areas of the country,
including tribal lands.

I'd like to discuss an issue that is critical to New Mexico and the
country: developing a communications policy that will foster deployment
of broadband technology beyond major urban centers and into America's
smaller cities and rural areas. We all know that there is no generic
formula to introduce broadband into every county and every town. There
is one necessary ingredient, however. Federal, state and local
government, rural citizens and businesses, and industry can identify
policies and incentives to ensure the deployment of broadband. Together,
we can overcome the obstacles to deploying broadband throughout America.

In today's telecommunications market, we stand at a crossroads. While
technology promises the Death of Distance, too many Americans remain on
the losing side of the Digital Divide.

The communications and information revolution is driving dynamic change
in all aspects of our lives, from the way we do business to how our
children learn.

In 1994, there were 3 million Internet users; today there are over 171
million worldwide. Internet traffic is doubling every hundred days.
Between 1995 and 1998, information technology companies, while
accounting for only about 8 percent of the US Gross Domestic Product,
contributed on average 35 percent of the nation's real economic growth.
And by 2006, almost half of the US workforce will be employed by
industries that are either major producers or intensive users of
information technology products and services.

And the phenomenon of e-commerce is nothing short of outstanding. As
Peter Drucker wrote in an article in the *Atlantic Monthly*, e-commerce
"is creating a new and distinct boom, rapidly changing the economy,
society, and politics." And e-commerce is changing the way all
businesses, small and large, think. To survive, businesses must think
and act globally, in terms of *one* economy and *one* market.

To make this point, I'd like to borrow from an example Drucker provided,
and I quote:

> "A mid-sized company in America's industrial Midwest founded in the
> 1920s and now run by the grandchildren of the founder, used to have
> some 60 percent of the market in inexpensive dinnerware for fast-food
> eateries, school and office cafeterias, and hospitals within a
> hundred-mile radius of its factory. China is heavy and breaks easily,
> so cheap china is traditionally sold within a small area. Almost
> overnight this company lost more than half of its market. One of its
> customers, a hospital cafeteria where someone went 'surfing' on the
> Internet, discovered a European manufacturer that offered china of
> apparently better quality at a lower price and shipped cheaply by air.
> Within a few months the main customers in the area shifted to the
> European supplier. Few of them, it seems, realize -- let alone care --
> that the stuff comes from Europe."

For every opportunity lost in the global e-commerce marketplace, there
is an opportunity gained.

For rural communities, e-commerce and broadband capability can provide
an unprecedented opportunity to overcome traditional geographic
disadvantages. Small businesses in rural areas can use e-commerce to
market and sell their products around the globe, while rural residents
can shop the global marketplace from their own homes. With advanced
telecommunications capabilities, rural communities can compete with
larger cities for information technology businesses. Distance learning
allows students in smaller communities to access teachers and a wealth
of information that otherwise would not be available. And telemedicine
offers rural citizens the chance to obtain remote diagnosis and even
remote surgery that require high resolution, real-time video and data
services without having to travel thousands of miles. Broadband
technology -- through telco, cable, wireless or satellite services --
makes all of this possible.

Yet at the same time, we are faced with the reality that many Americans
are being left behind. For many people who live in rural areas or in
inner cities, or who are minority or poor, there are too few on-ramps to
the Information Superhighway.

Regardless of income level, Americans living in rural areas are lagging
behind in Internet access, let alone high-speed Internet connections.
Households with incomes of \$75,000 and higher are more than twenty
times more likely to have access to the Internet than those at the
lowest income levels, and more than nine times as likely to have a
computer at home. White Americans are more likely to have access to the
Internet at home than African Americans or Hispanics have from any
location.

We cannot afford to become a society of information "haves" and
"have-nots" in a world in which the ability to access and manipulate
information is the currency of the day. The sooner that all the
stakeholders come together and discuss broadband deployment, the more
likely it will be that all Americans will be part of the communications
and information revolution.

Congress wisely understood the need for widespread deployment when it
adopted the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In Section 706, Congress
directed the Commission to monitor the roll-out of advanced
telecommunications capability, and, if necessary, to take steps to
ensure that all Americans have access to such capability on a reasonable
and timely basis.

Last February, we issued our first report on broadband deployment, which
examined investment and build-out of two-way broadband via high speed
cable modems, DSL technology, and wireless and satellite-based services.
The report was guardedly optimistic about the state of broadband
deployment.

With respect to rural, smaller cities, and other hard-to-serve areas,
however, I was more guarded than optimistic. While broadband deployment
is occurring in some small cities and rural areas, I am concerned that
it may not be happening as quickly or ubiquitously as it should.

I believe we must take a harder look at the state of deployment for all
our citizens. To that end, I am working to ensure that the Commission
collects sufficient information to make an informed evaluation regarding
the state of broadband deployment in the next report to Congress.

In the meantime, we need to examine broadband deployment in smaller
cities and rural areas in a variety of settings. With this in mind, we
recently voted to establish a Federal-State Joint Conference to promote
deployment of advanced broadband services. The Conference will provide
an ongoing dialogue among the Commission, the states, and local and
regional entities regarding broadband deployment. It will examine how
best to accelerate the deployment of affordable advanced services to
underserved users. It will identify a set of "Best Practices" from
across the nation so that a community in Vermont, for example, could
learn how a county in Nevada collected and quantified aggregate demand
sufficient to make the case for a local provider to invest in broadband
technology. In addition, FCC Chairman William Kennard recently announced
a series of field hearings which should further improve our assessment
of the availability of advanced services in rural areas and how we can
spur development.

I am pleased to relate that the Congress is also focusing on broadband
deployment in rural America. In September, I participated in a Senate
Summit on Rural Telecommunications. I spent a morning with leaders of
telecom companies talking about strategies for deployment of advanced
services. What impressed me most was the conviction, expressed by many
of the smaller operators, that smaller markets can be profitable for
broadband deployment.

Yet, it is equally clear that there is no magic bullet to ensure that
rural Americans benefit from the wonders of the World Wide Web. It's not
just digital subscriber lines, or just cable modem service, or just
fixed wireless or satellite services. One rural telecom expert recently
wrote that, "No single top-down solution is going to work in all rural
locations. The solutions need to emerge from local communities
themselves with supporting help from state and Federal governments." He
observes that each community must first raise awareness of the potential
demand for broadband from all sectors of the community and then explore
the possible technologies and institutions that could be part of the
solution.

I couldn't agree more. Small cities and rural communities represent
unique local environments that require unique solutions. Our challenge
is to develop partnerships among elected officials, regulatory agencies,
service providers, investors, manufacturers and, of course, the user
community to identify solutions for broadband deployment.

During my tenure at the FCC, we've sought to create incentives to spur
competition and the deployment of the infrastructure necessary for the
communications revolution to benefit all Americans. In some instances,
our decisions have involved new rules to ensure a level playing field
among incumbents and new entrants. At other times, we have adopted
policies of non-regulation intended to allow market forces to expand
services and offerings to consumers and businesses. Our decisions and
policies on universal service, on broadband cable, and on wireless
service have set us on the path toward a connected country.

Our universal service policies have made a significant impact on
deployment of advanced services throughout the nation. As many of you
are aware, the Commission has implemented an e-rate program under which
primary and secondary schools and libraries can receive
telecommunications services at discounts ranging from 20% to 90% off
commercially available rates. The most disadvantaged schools and
libraries, as well as those in rural areas, receive the highest
discounts. Since November 1998, New Mexico schools have benefited from
over \$45 million in e-rate funding. The e-rate program is one way we
can ensure that children -- particularly low-income and minority
children -- can gain the skills to compete in a digital economy. I am
proud that this year we funded the e-rate program at the cap of \$2.25
billion. I believe that these resources will change the nature of
learning and indeed the lives of thousands of children.

The Commission's universal service policies can also help level the
playing field for consumers in unserved areas -- those areas with low
telephone penetration such as Indian tribal lands and certain portions
of Alaska. This past January, Chairman Kennard and I held a field
hearing at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center here in Albuquerque to
explore what actions the Commission can take to improve access to
telephone service on Indian reservations. This summer, we initiated two
proceedings to examine what regulatory barriers there may be to serving
these areas. Getting these consumers connected will facilitate the
provision of advanced services to them*.* Based on the record in those
proceedings, I hope we will be able to identify any regulatory barriers
that may exist and modify our rules accordingly to create the proper
economic incentives to promote service in currently unserved areas.

Even as the Commission seeks to enable investment and build-out, the
expectations of broadband are grounded in the promise of technology. As
of June, there were nearly 160,000 customers of digital subscriber line
service, which adds technology to the local telco's copper loop to
provide high-speed Internet access. Analysts predict that over 30
million telephone lines will be qualified to support DSL services by the
end of 1999. Technical limitations, however, restrict DSL deployment to
local loops near central office switches. The adoption of modified
technology known as DSL-lite increases the coverage area, allowing more
rural customers to receive DSL service over existing lines. To address
the ability of new entrants to deploy this service, the Commission is
scheduled to vote next week on a proposal to require incumbent local
carriers to allow line sharing with competing carriers. Today, if a
competing carrier wants to offer high-speed data services to a customer,
it must purchase a separate line, which can be prohibitively expensive.
The proposal could prove to spur competition in DSL deployment.

To date, two-way high-speed broadband via cable modems has been the
broadband technology most deployed across the country. Nationwide, there
are more than 1 million subscribers. These systems have been deployed by
cable providers in urban and rural settings. For example, Cablevision
Communications offers a high-speed Internet cable modem system to just
over 1,200 subscribers in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

I'd like to say a word or two about the open access debate, or as others
call it, "equal access" or "forced access." "Open access" is generally
understood to be a requirement that cable operators offer broadband
Internet access services unbundled from content, so that subscribers may
purchase one without the other, or a requirement to permit Internet
Service Providers to purchase "transmission service" from the cable
operator.

I support the Commission's hands-off policy with regard to open access.
To date, our review of the broadband marketplace has indicated that
multiple sources are vying for customers. Cable broadband is a nascent
industry, and I do not want to do anything that could jeopardize
investment at this early stage. If cable's broadband pipe proves to be a
bottleneck, we can deal with the problem at that time. At this point,
however, we don't know how this market is going to develop. Let's not
regulate unless we know what we're regulating and why we're doing it.

In addition to wireline solutions, many observers believe that wireless
technologies offer great promise as a broadband solution in smaller
cities and rural areas. They note that while new wireline infrastructure
in rural areas is very expensive, a wireless solution can offer a cost
effective entry strategy that can be used for rapid market entry.

A multitude of fixed wireless broadband services are currently being
deployed or are in the planning stages. While some are more targeted to
an urban environment, others provide the necessary range and technical
capability for deployment in rural areas. One example is the
multichannel multipoint distribution service, otherwise known as MMDS or
wireless cable. It offers the potential to provide broadband access to
underserved markets.

MMDS licenses were originally granted for the provision of analog
wireless cable service. In the fall of 1998, however, we changed our
rules to allow these systems to offer two-way services. Since then,
several companies have initiated two-way broadband services, including
high-speed Internet access, and many more have announced their intention
to do so. Several companies are targeting small- and medium-sized
businesses and residential customers, and not only in major urban
markets. MMDS technology can transmit data up to 35 miles from each
transmitting station.

In addition, a significant amount of currently licensed spectrum is
underutilized in rural areas. The Commission is also making available
new spectrum that potentially could be conducive to broadband
deployment.

Finally, since 1993, over \$20 billion has been invested in the space
industry, with much of it dedicated to the broadband satellite
telecommunications sector. Satellites can offer instant infrastructure
that provides the same broadband services, at the same cost, in rural
and urban settings alike. In Grants, New Mexico, Louis Uttaro's Cibola
Internet Services provides access to the Internet via a satellite link
to his ISP office, which then connects to customers through the local
telco. It's a more cost-effective approach than landline links to the
Internet backbone. Cibola is now providing this satellite-based Internet
service to 14 communities. In addition, several companies have plans
underway for satellite services that will provide a two-way link
directly to customers' homes and businesses.

As you can see, broadband technology is available today and more is
developing for deployment across America's smaller cities and rural
areas. At the federal and state level, our work is to ensure that public
policy is conducive for investment and deployment. And in rural
communities, leaders are finding solutions to gain broadband access.
Through these efforts, together we will ensure that the communications
revolution does extend to all parts of America.