Cable Television Program as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Host this week on the communicators, our guest is Shirley Bloomfield from ntca, the Rural Broadband association. She is the ceo of it. Pauluest reporter is kirby. Shirley bloomfield, who do you represent at ntca . Shirley i represent around 850 communitybased Rural Broadband providers. They are the companies that traditionally were the local phone companies that had to evolve and evolve quickly. Broadband providers. About 35 of our landmass in this country. Host could you name a couple of those companies . Shirley absolutely, we could go all the way to western south dakota by matt . , we can go to wisconsin, where we have a number of Telephone Cooperatives. And if looking over here in my state of virginia, we have scott county down in the very tip of the state, the tristate area. I have 800 and 50. 850. Host so you are talking landmass, not necessarily population. Shirley absolutely, and that is a key part of this. We serve about 5 of the american population, but they are truly the providers in those truly rural parts of the country, from alaska to the panhandle of florida. They stretched all across. I have everybody from somebody you as 150 subscribers to probably my Largest Company has just about 100,000 subscribers. They are serving those areas where the phone companies chose years and years ago to not provide the service. What Shirley Bloomfield, have the past several months been like for some of your Member Companies . Shirley it has been wild for all of us. Wild for all of us, right . My folks moved into action very quickly because one of the things we know and have learned even more over the last three or four months is that broadband is critical. People were told, leave your offices, kids were shepherded out of school rooms, back to doing Online Learning from home. As we were looking at ways to avoid going into the Doctor Office and using telemedicine, my telephone companies, broadband providers, literally kicked into action immediately. Not only thought about how they could continue to operate safely and keep their staff safe, but they had the sense about, how to weigh get this to kids who do not have connectivity online . They were getting calls and demands from providers, from customers, or not yet customers, who realized they needed connectivity or higher speed. Most importantly, they served a lot of communities who were significantly impacted by covid and had to work through, how do you connect people and know that you will not necessarily get paid for it right away . Host to help us explore some of the issues these companies are facing, lets turn it over to paul kirby from Telecommunications Reports. Paul thank you. You mentioned the campaign right away. Hundreds and hundreds of providers signed the pledge that they were asked to do that would say, we will keep you connected during this time. They would not shut off those who had not paid their bill. And they would not charge them overage fees, those are examples of things they signed onto and that lasted from the middle of march until june. How much of a hardship has that been on your members, and what are you hoping to see if congress will help . If they are not able to get paid by subscribers . Tell us how that is for your members. Shirley going back to the pledge that you mentioned, is critical. More than half of the companies on that pledge are my members. Upwas really natural to step to the challenge because we are communitybased providers. Those serving are their neighbors and relatives and their communities live and die by this connectivity. Whether they signed the pledge or not, they are inclined to do what they needed to do to keep folks connected and their communities vibrant. More than half of the folks are my Member Companies. Look at the pledge honestly as a baseline. The Baseline Service they provide to people. What i love about what took you next, my Companies Went above and beyond the pledge. They reach out to School Superintendents to say, what schoolkids do you know of not have connectivity . Ways to rewire infrastructure to student homes, a ton away that access, of Companies Give away that access to schoolchildren, including kids that had to come home from college to continue coursework. That also comes at a price when you have customers who basically, you are saying you are impacted by covid. A lot of companies bumped up the speed of current customers, basically saying, we know you are doing things at home you never thought you would do. Access, or aspn high an upload speed as a download speed. It did create a hardship. My companies are small companies. On average they have 30 employees. Need to not just continue to deploy and reach folks that really need service, they also needed to sustain those already on the network. Impacted. Umber since march, more than half of our members saw a 10 increase on collectibles. I would say another 15 have collectibles go up 25 . It comes to an average of 80,000 per company has been uncollected. Payanies have employees to as well, they have little access to the internet, they have to pay other providers for. You are putting infrastructure on the ground. They were terrific. They were heroes in my book, listening to their stories, installations, broadband, all kinds of crazy ways to serve their community. They do need financial support. I look at the other industries we have chosen for stimulus. I think about one of the things that was so critical during this time, it was keeping people connected. Sople had to do their jobs, our economy could continue to hum. Providers, it has been tough to get momentum to get the key, critical connections through congress. Emain hopeful the next next stimulus will see something. Paul what is the total you are shooting for . You said 80,000, but what amount would make your members whole . Legislation current has about a 2 billion price tag attached. We think that will be sufficient not just for my membership, but any small provider in the same position. There are a number of other folks who have stepped in who complied by the obligations of the pledge. Obviously, it is hard to do the estimate. We think the legislation with the 2 billion mark is a fair one. It will certainly go a long way. Anything we can do to get the uncollectibles off the book so people can continue to build infrastructure. Paul you mentioned members have to play their employees pay their employees. There was confusion whether the Payment Protection Program [indiscernible] how difficult is that . Have some of your members gotten funds from that program . Shirley that was really frustrating. I looked at the p. P. P. Program as a great opportunity for Small Businesses. A number of Small Businesses partook in it. The one thing we could not get until literally early june was that Telephone Cooperatives were indeed eligible. We had secretary perdue at fda weighing in, all types of people were going to the treasury. We said we just want to make sure our cooperative is eligible. They came out with the declaration, that electric coops were eligible, but not telephone coops. My folks were nervous about it. Nobody wanted to take the money and have to return it, or take the money and not be in compliance. 2. 5 weeksion came out before the deadline. I do have cooperatives that took it. I think it makes a lot of sense. It allowed them to maintain their current staff even while having their own economic hardship. It was sincerely frustrating. It is a washington, d. C. Thing. You have different agencies and some folks understood the importance of getting the treasury to understand what a Telephone Cooperative was. It was trickier than we planned on. You said some of your members had trouble getting equipment necessary to protect themselves when going out in the field and doing their jobs. What have they done to try to get that equipment . Shirley that is also an interesting time. We were all in that immediate rush at the end of march where we realized for the first time what p. P. P. Equipment what ppe equipment was. Since there was such a mad rush, our companies had some equipment on hand. They found the supply chains were totally dried up, complete inability to access, and we tried to find a new supply chain. People were selling masks, unfortunately, five times the traditional price. If you are going into a home, you are changing that equipment out in between visits, or you have done nobody any good. We really had folks in a situation where they were working with their staff to do the install from the front door or the side window because they did not want to risk themselves or their customers, anybody in a situation that was not sanitary. We worked really hard with fema. Fema, to their credit, it took a , but they designated our folks as essential providers. We finally were able to get them equipment in may and take on the job of shipping out hundreds of thousands of cotton masks to our Member Companies, to at least give them the ability to replenish their supply. It was a little tougher than anticipated. Questioning the ppe has settled down a bit. It is a little like toilet paper. We have the immediate pandemic rush and now people are able to stock backup. But it was challenging. We learned a lot. Paul you have a lot of toilet paper for yourself and your family . Shirley i am a hoarder. I now know i have a tendency. [laughter] Shirley Bloomfield, given the crisis we have been in the past couple of months, have you seen a drop, because of what broadband providers have done, have you seen a drop in the Digital Divide at all . Shirley i think you mean a drop in terms of more people getting connected, fewer people off the network. Two that end, yes. We are saying bridging because people are working fast and furiously to connect as many people as they can. However, we still have a long way to go. Even with all the stimulus support, nothing has changed the traditional programs that have funded broadbands. There has been nothing that has gone through the stimulus effort so far that has given Additional Support to building broadband, either to low income americans who find that the cost is prohibitive, or to those who live in remote areas. There are a lot of proposals out there, but none of actually passed yet. I am finding my companies are working as fast as they can, particularly through north dakota. We have more work to do for sure. Klobuchar, kramer, peter de blasio, all filed different types of bills, infrastructure bills. Are you leaning toward any of those . Shirley there are so many it is hard to even list. Few things we a think are immediately important. One of the things i would say, senator klobuchar always takes the lead on broadband issues, along with senator cramer from north dakota, the keeping critical connections act. That would work to ensure these carriers stay whole, even with their customers inability to pay. That is important because it would continue to keep these networks up and running. It is bicameral, bipartisan. I have my fingers and toes crossed that congress will pass it an additional stimulus. To your question what else can we do, senators introduced a bill i think is interesting. What this legislation does, it we are goingays, to need to find extra resources to continue to build these networks. We will take proceeds from spectrum auction and allocate those in a separate pool to the ftc through universal service so you are simply augmenting an existing program that clearly works and infusing that money, which i think is a great initiative. There are a number of other things out there. Another initiative i think we need to look at, what will we do about the schoolchildren . It is almost july. Kids will go back to school soon. I am not quite sure they will be going into the classrooms just yet. We have to be thinking about, what are constructive ways without overbuilding, being the best manager of public funding to find out where those schoolkids are and make sure we can get them connectivity. I would say the same effort on the lifeline side. What to do in terms of Emergency Support for people who lost their jobs. You cannot find your job find a new job unless you have broadband connectivity. If you dont have broadband, you cannot do the things while you are searching, finding government support, applying for programs, all of those things. You are certainly not walking into city hall these days. There are a number of initiatives that those pieces are included in. We welcome any and all of that support. American areas face special circumstances . Shirley those are really tough situations, absolutely. We have 10 Companies Across the country, particularly the Navajo Nation in new mexico and arizona. They struggle with basic sanitation issues we take for granted, the ability to wash our hands. Their communities have been hit particularly hard. It is heartwarming to me, i have been watching some of the companies on the tribal lands, serving their communities, ensuring connectivity, literally bringing broad bands to each of the schoolkids homes in these very low income, distressed areas. I think of them as heroes. Host paul kirby . Paul there are a lot of programs that were in place before this happens and there continues to be thought about whether some funding should go to new programs or things like usf. People said it is already there, it will not take time to ramp up. Where are you on that . Shirley i am all about triedandtrue. Right now when i look at this time and think about how speed, i hate to say shovelready because of the connotation, but i look at u. S. Staff and usda. They have a traditional broadband program. That have beens vetted, they are in action. Confusing those two programs that are already coordinating is the most efficient and effective way of using resources. Sometimes it does not show. People want to come up with their own new, cool program, but i think we have to be honest about what really works. We know those programs work. We can see the network literally. Would say we also have to continue to remember, it is not just about building it, but sustaining what we already have on the ground. The networks already put in, it is an investment. We have to make sure we sustain those as well. I think all of that is really important. It does lead to the question, now we have to improve mapping to make sure we use this program. That is the next step we need to be taking. Host what are the programs the sec put in place . The world Digital Opportunity fund. There is a proposal for incentive funding deployment by winning bettors. This question is from my colleague. The incentive deadlines, would fast, difficult to comply with . If so, what can be done . Shirley excellent question. I think they have done a nice job keeping this front and center, being front and center about how they have their rulemaking process. Essentially, they are looking to roll this out, the bidding. That is a really good timeframe. The idea you could get it in the ground faster, i think there are issues. Potentially it incentivizes looking to not do what i would think of as investments that would stand the test of time. I tend to be bullish about the use of fiber. We focus on 5g. One thing we have learned with the pandemic, broadband is really important. We need those same upload and download speeds and fiber is really the tool for that. Ifwill do subpar investments we are stuck on a timeframe than we are and what we are building. The other thing im seeing, we are having access to fiber issues. Even though they get in lines months in advance, they are always behind the bigger carriers that buy millions of miles of fiber. My guys come in. Aggregate, their ability to be top of mind for big suppliers is tougher. I am already seeing a slowdown in their access to fiberoptics. The other thing we are finding, even equipment critical to going into routers is stuck in asia. There are a lot of trade issues going on. They have even taken to trying to [indiscernible] back to the u. S. Because the ability to send via freight and Sea Transport has gotten tied up. Even if you are building the network, your inability to get equipment is really going to slow it down. Is always anat issue is workforce. I was thinking the other day, having a discussion with somebody in the senate. We were talking about workforce issues. How do you think about potentially creating what would be a new new deal program. People deployed to dig, climb, build towers and put infrastructure in in these world communities where there is a huge need for that talent. That would go along way. As it is, it is tough. All of those things make an accelerated timeframe a little bit tough. Host Shirley Bloomfield, as you know, the fcc has declared to be National Security threats. Wirraluipment does providers use and how does that affect you . Shirley honestly, very little. I have probably two broadband providers that are impacted by having that equipment in their network. Some of therobably small, Rural Wireless providers. Nonetheless, i think the u. S. Big move, passing legislation in 2019 to make sure Network Equipment is still out there. Move to needs to replace, to be able to find that so carriers who have built those Networks Without equipment on the prohibited list have the ability to get support while they go in and rip out infrastructure. I think the thing people assume, people assume we are more heavily impacted. It has been a roving target the past few years. People have avoided making that investment. Paul you cant go to a hearing on capitol hill. You cant talk about the fcc without hearing about