northern areas of the midwest all the way down to east central texas and from the outskirts of sacramento up into the most northern areas of northern new england. >> host: what exactly is the service you provide? >> guest: we provide broadband services to consumers, commercial customers and even backhaul or connections to wireless powers. we service everyone in the community and we help rural communities connect with the internet and really are passionate about living, working and playing in those committees and raising the economic developer and prospects. >> host: who are your competitors? >> guest: competitors are the cable tv companies but often we serve places where they don't go so you will see wireless service providers which is technology we employ as well to extend our fiber footprint but that is predominantly the competition. >> host: mr. udell, to someone who has your service write out a check to consolidated communications or send money to consolidated every month? >> guest: they do. we are not on the radar as much as an at&t or verizon or xfinity or comcast for that matter but in the communities in which we serve we are. we are very involved with communities because we don't buy big brand advertising because were not in the nfl markets but on the outskirts and we are involved in the communities and the hospitals and on the boards and very involved with the government institutions and so we are focused in closing this digital divide we talk about in terms of rural america. >> host: how many customers and employees? >> guest: we have roughly 1.2 million customers and access to over 2 million addresses and so we are confidently expanding our network. roughly 3600 employees spread across the 23 states. >> host: and revenues. >> guest: in excess of 1.3 billion annually. >> host: to help us explore the issues that you deal with as a smaller isp is matt denman of mitigation. >> i'm glad you broached the term digital divide. the numerous americans who don't have access to high-speed broadband and fiber is often looked at as the solution to that and a lot of those communities from your standpoint is the broadband company and the wireline comedy what will it take to get fiber across america to those harder to reach less reached places but also your peers? what is the barrier to cyber a station of america? >> guest: cyber is the backbone of mitigation of services and we are intent on expanding that network for any reason we can find and we use both the deployment of additional cell towers and think five date will drive cyber deployment but we think serving the end user can be a mix of technologies. we have in many cases employer wireless frequencies in order to get the last mile so technologies that solve the connection challenge in rural america but we think what also makes sense is that you look at this opportunity as a really an opportunity for the new frontier of america to raise the economic developer and prospects we think is critically important and we are passionate about it. like you had the electrification act and the telecom act of 1934 this is one of those inflection points where points where the right public-private partnerships can advance deployment across the u.s. and leave but investing in those. i can give you examples. >> i thank you talk about connect [inaudible] are those good routes for getting you and your peer companies to be more involved and to be expanding your footprints? is that what is required to reach those hard-to-reach areas of arkansas, alaska, native territories that aren't getting high-speed access you and i enjoy and more wired areas? >> guest: we really do believe the connect america fund and the digital opportunity fund that has recently been announced in april are key components that help that process. we also see public-private partnerships out of state and of city level spread we just announced recently for example in chesterfield, new hampshire where we are partnering with the city to connect 2500 passing the two internet speeds in excess of 25 megs per second so it's a great opportunity on multiple levels that we continue to pursue and connect america fund helped jumpstart to that and the rural digital opportunity fund as the process gets the find we are working hard to make sure it enables a very accurate deployment of services for those underserved today. >> host: mr. udell, this is a federal investment in broadband so what about consolidated communications? are you also making that private investment? >> guest: we are. just this last year we upgraded another 500,000 addresses crossed our footprint in nature we are extending our fiber network reach in with new technology we are constantly investing in in our peer companies within our industry associations we are extending our fiber networks and using wireless for the last mile where we it is just not cost effective to build the fiber. all these signals whether need to get back to a fiber court network in order to connect to the internet world. >> host: according to your company you have 37000 miles of fiber-optic cables and where exactly is that cable? >> guest: it is everywhere but it is in the ground, in the air, and the communities in which we serve and i mention those 23 states is typically outside of the urban markets and in the largest towns that we are in the downtown area are places like portland, maine or roseville, california. those are the places where we have fiber networks in every street, extensions of those facilities in every neighborhood on the polls and connecting directly to the customer. >> host: what is the process and how thick is the fiber? what is the process of getting it laid? >> guest: it takes a lot of project management, investment to get the equipment and tools in people aligned and so it's like any other infrastructure project. we are focused on putting that infrastructure in place so it can be sustainable, easy to repair and survivable for many years to come so it's construction, plowing, technicians and connections and all those things have to be aligned and we been good at that for history. >> host: how thick is that fiber? >> guest: fiber can be anywhere from two-3 inches thick when it is over 1188 fiber account so you have over a thousand fiber accounts and some of the cables down to a small as 144 fiber that might be an inch thick. >> a lot of the debate about where to put state money has revolved around the issue of not having good maps to know where there are services being provided or not in the sec has updated the process of how broadband will be done in the u.s. and as you look at that from a consolidated standpoint is the new mapping regimes that the sec has laid out with the approach will that be effective? is a finally on the path to having effective broadband maps that will tells were services actually are and are not be provided or what needs to happen? >> guest: i'm glad you mention that. we believe the mapping in the shape it follows that you referenced are critical to the success of the next auction or allocation of federal funds. here is the deal. in the past we've used a general number of addresses for a census block area and that is specific but the allocations have become specific but we find the census block counts are inaccurate in the mapping based on the technology we have access today gives you specific address location longitude and latitude on those unserved locations and we think getting that process done in the shape files created is critical to the success of the rural digital opportunity front so we don't use the inaccurate assessment of the past that we are good for getting started but not good for ensuring that the actual addresses were served in the final analysis. >> rural digital money should not be released to comedies like consolidated until we have that resume in place. one has followed the other two to be effective. >> guest: we believe that to be the case and we really think that that is we can work together as an industry with a neutral party, third party which has been tested already for number of estates and get that process going very quickly so the funds can still be allocated and we can begin the process of building out to those unserved locations. >> host: mr. udell, what regulations does the company like consolidated face? >> guest: we face legacy regulations with the traditional telephone land lines that is a bit of a carryover from history. what has happened there history is the regulatory environment was built around the 1934 act and subsequently we have had different pieces of legislation, one in 1984 that broke up the bell system and another in 1996 but that involved a competitive environment. those regulations are stale and while they have been increasing over time there are still some that are out of date and related to responsibility for providing telephone service in the old sense. we think that should be updated and if there will be an option for the sport in these rural areas initially based on the 1934 act and begin transitioning to internet focus most recently through the connect america fund we think the last provider of the last resort response ability should go away or transition to whoever wins those funds. we want an even playing field for the advancement of broadband in rural areas. >> host: when you say an even playing field are the larger companies the xfinity's, horizons et cetera do they have an unfair advantage in your view? >> guest: it's not necessarily based on size but based on the origin of the business. cable tv providers weren't ever regulated the way the historical att horizons and companies like ours were regular because of 34 act to advanced telecom services. listen, that public policy debate can be something that distracts us from the actual investment. we think that you can do a rural digital opportunity fund and start to subdue the obligations by how that process is implemented and advance the broadband connections in rural america. >> you do a variety of services including voice and no one pays attention to or completes about robo calls. >> guest: we do. i'm sure you get a lot from customers but i'm curious from your standpoint the fcc has made a lot of effort in terms of revelatory reforms to try to tackle the legal robo calls with technology and shake and astir authentication process coming online so how long -- what will it take to make a dent in the volumes of robo calls that you get on a regular basis? what will have to happen to get fewer robo calls? >> guest: we are actively involved in this. i commit these issues like our customers. we are passionate about protecting our customers, not only their data and information but the harassing and illegal robo calls. we are actively involved with i guess you'd call it the attorney general's from across the u.s. and there are 51 that 80s that have signed with us in a number of other associations a set of principles that i think we announced in the third week of august that we are adopting that we are using that to guide our suppliers and technology suppliers on what criterion we need for shake and store two and sure we can deflect or turn back and identify the cause lures of these or preventing them and identifying the causes of these illegal robo calls and make great progress bit i think 2020 you will begin to see those solutions we implement it because we are already in trial. >> i'm curious from a telecommunication standpoint you compete with 5g at least an urban and more developed areas that will be a prime competition to your services. are you concerned about 5g? it's also a customer or will be competing for customers so how challenging is 5g? >> guest: in the markets we serve again there are more rural and less densely populated we don't see 5g as a threat but an opportunity. we see ourselves as a solution to provider for the wireless companies and in places where it is not just cost-effective to deploy that technology because of the cell sites that have to be deployed we will work hard to be as turnkey for them as possible because in the end it advances broadband and deployment of our fiber networks and we pass more cities and towns in our markets that we serve and the states we serve while at the same time using the 5g frequencies to bring users broadband otherwise would not have access to cost effectively. we see it as a partnering opportunity. >> host: how much have you spent so far on the 5g? >> guest: that is company information that i probably won't answer but i will tell you it's a natural evolution. as we look at the densification that happen first in our markets were seen an uptick in powers being deployed and have an excellent history of watching out for our customers including our large carrier like customers and so we do a very good job project management and prioritizing the traffic when they buy bandwidth for us so voice and face time are prioritized higher and so we are in a good position that some of the rural markets that we will continue to deploy more fiber and be in a position to work with them to deploy areas where we don't see it cost-effective to run fiber to the customer. >> host: there is at times where you work with att and verizon et cetera et cetera. >> guest: we work hard to great those opportunities. absolutely. >> speaking of the competitive landscape you referenced on to competitor and a number of the biggest players, comcast and charter and mobile service all pieces are in the process of offering mobile services. is that something that is a goal or aim of interest to consolidated or to your peers or will this be something for everybody will be doing this at some point or is is not part of the future plans for consolidation? >> guest: i believe we see the device -- let me back up. we want to make technology is simple to use as our customers as possible and that includes making any carriers network or any carriers devices that they offer user-friendly for our customers whether in the home or in their business over wi-fi or in terms of watching content they want to digest not only voice traffic so at this point we want to enable the mobile services and we don't see it as a high-margin business or necessity and for our end-users but we always watch it carefully and when and if it makes sense we will take on a partner specific partner for our end-users and we think that's critical advantage then we will do it but at this stage we are playing the watch and see game. >> host: why are you in dc? >> guest: i'm here to represent the subscribers and committees and our country community that we serve. our priority is to advance broadband deployment and as a representative of the company that we align ourselves with that this is a great opportunity to make sure that if we will spend government money across the country on a federal program that we get it right. at making sure the unserved addresses are what we are funding is important to me a transition from this is the first time we will have offered funding from a federal perspective in areas where we had the cap program already so it's a step up for those markets and we want to make sure that money is appropriately used and that before it is granted not only to get it accurate but we have a transition plan that includes getting rid of the regulations for those areas if we don't end up the successful bidder. the third is we want to make sure any program enables 5g because as i mentioned earlier while some view it in urban areas as a threat we view it as an opportunity. that's my purpose to watch out for our customers and markets. >> host: your meeting with members of congress and the fcc? >> guest: correct. >> host: what is your message to the energy and commerce committee particularly if that is who your meeting with? >> guest: the message is this, help support the fcc in this noble effort to get this right. let's take what this fcc chairman so graciously did and launch the rural digital opportunity fund and give them the tools to ensure the money gets to the places where it will certainly had benefit and that the transition plan as i mentioned supports a natural transition that doesn't take funding away or services away from those customers that it has already begun expanding the benefits of broadband. >> host: when you think of characterizing your own market where money or state and federal support may be needed to provide those services is it strictly just lack of population density or geography or what are the things that make it tough for you as consolidated to go we should serve this community but we can't because of market forces are asked? what are the barriers to extending fiber to this or that community? >> guest: it is specifically density. in some cases it's density plus of the challenges of the terrain and the cost of investment and i think in the past to a certain degree it has been the cost and availability of technology. both have come together but have begun to come together and the availability of a solid wireless alternatives with bigger bandwidth also the natural extension over fiber networks has enabled those wireless opportunities to be short and distances so it's a lot of things coming together that now position as well to jump started with funds that with investment at the federal or state or city or town level that help close that business case gap in making it cost-effective. >> you're very broad ban centric and do you see spectrum getting an acquisition is part of your future? >> guest: we are watching the cprs and they participate in that and we think that's a viable different office parks in rural areas we served weather isn't great, great cell coverage. we are looking at that we are looking at that so we can connect the maximum number of customers possible. we are passionate about that and so fiber we think is the requisite core network and we look at connecting the last half a mile, mile whatever it may be for connecting as many customers as possible and extending the technology that make it. >> host: bob udell, i may be naïve but being in the dc area i'm used to, brands of coverage when it comes to wireless. are there areas of the country still where signals are not available? >> guest: there are. you would be surprised if you drove up through the white mountains in vermont especially northern maine there is areas where they are just isn't continuous coverage even along the interstate. we are working to solve that with the various carriers and are constantly investing. yes, there are areas that don't have coverage. >> host: do you have huawei equipment you utilize in your business? >> guest: we do not. i won't speak to the policy issues but i can speak to how seriously we take cyber security and security of our customers data. we have our own cyber security organization and work closely with other companies through our national associations as well as federal agencies and report attacks daily. you just in this environment it's a common factor when you operate communications infrastructure but we chose before it was even a policy issue at a national level to not implement huawei equipment. >> host: do the arguments in the discussions we have here in washington about privacy and security and trade do they trickle down to texas and central illinois? >> guest: they probably do but in various different ways. i don't spend time on trade and yet we did probably spend more time as a nation a net neutrality than it deserved. i always use that as a solution in search of a problem and i view that the federal trade commission has the tools necessary to address bad actors and on privacy it is somewhat related to net neutrality i think the solution that we do need is a national framework versus individual states solving this problem on a piecemeal basis. i think protection of customers data is very important and should apply equally to all companies and so we are supportive of that and from eight legislative perspective it probably makes sense to see national framework so that companies like ours can focus on deploying technology and users versus trying to implement different roles in different states. >> i'm curious, given that were headed into election season and so much of it is congress is unlikely to undertake any telecom activity are there particular bills you support that you think actually have a fighting chance getting past in this legislative session? >> guest: i can't speak to all the divisive issues and i'm sure we all have opinions on those but what i think is a neutral issue is advancing the economic development of rural america and broadband is one of those items. i think there is bipartisan support for some specific fixes like the mapping effort that we talked about earlier. i think there is legislation in developing their they can get bipartisan support and would be a good signal for both sides of the aisle that we are advancing the positions or competitiveness of america and so i would hope congress can come together around that in the fcc also has tools that they've already begun that can help implement that even without the legislation. >> common companies beef that they have long had is that when you're installing a wire the plethora of state and local regulations actually dealing with full attachments in the very physical issues of getting the wire are a legion so what is the state of that today? a difficult or how easy is it getting to roll out your network physically? >> guest: we have always been effective at doing that and that is the benefit of companies like ours can speak for consolidated and some peer companies. we are good at deploying networks and the appropriate steps you take even in states that feel more completed and getting attachment rights but i would say we have made progress but fcc ordered not to long ago through some equality and controls around what attachment rates should be and we are seeing the benefits of that and that has allowed us to make progress in that space but i would say that even with complications and state-by-state basis we are well-positioned to address those. >> host: we will have to leave it there for judgment, bob udell is the president and ceo of consolidated communications and currently serving as the chairman of the u.s. telecom board this year. correct? >> guest: yes, sir. >> host: matt damon is the correct with a good medication daily. >> thank you. >> guest: thank you. >> for 40 years c-span has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court in public policy events from washington dc and around the country. created by cable and 1979 c-span is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> c-span's washington journal live everyday with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up tuesday morning. join the discussion. >> next, secretary of state mike pompeo talks about u.s. foreign policy challenges at the university of louisville mcconnell center. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell was also there to introduce the secretary and ask him a few questions. 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