By Ron Thaniel
July 27, 2009

The U.S. Conference of Mayors filed Reply Comments in response to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Notice of Inquiry (NOI) regarding a National Broadband Plan on July 21. More than 30 cities, associations, and coalitions joined the Conference of Mayors, including the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, National League of Cities, and National Association of Counties.

In the Reply Comments, the Conference of Mayors responds to communication industry claims regarding wireless facilities siting, rights'of-way access, telecommunications taxes, build out, and other key issues of concern for cities and their metropolitan areas.

The Comments strongly reaffirm the role of cities in a National Broadband Plan and illustrate how cities and their metropolitan areas are working to speed, not hinder, broadband deployment nationwide. In addition, the Comments noted that America's local communities are an integral part of the solution to our national broadband deficit.

In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Congress charged the Commission with creating a national broadband plan. In a NOI adopted on April 8, the Commission began the process of creating a national broadband plan, which it must deliver to Congress by February 17, 2010. It will provide a roadmap toward achieving the goal of ensuring that all Americans reap the benefits of broadband.

To view the Reply Comments, go to www.usmayors.org/recovery/.

In a discussion on July 13 with Tom Power, Chief of Staff, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Conference of Mayors staff continued to express concerns with the provision in NTIA's Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) that requires public safety and anchor institutions such as schools, libraries, and hospitals to meet an underserved or unserved test before being eligible for broadband funding as opposed to referencing these institutions as freestanding — without reference to the nature of the jurisdiction applying for the award.

In particular, the underserved test area requires a demonstration of less than a 40 percent take rate for broadband services per census block, data that do not exist in current research.

USCM believes that Congress intended to give public safety and anchor institutions the highest funding priority in the Broadband Technology and Opportunities Program (BTOP).

Unless amended, these critical institutions, which in many cases serve our most vulnerable populations, will be challenged to meet ARRA requirements for funding under the BTOP in the ARRA because the jurisdiction it is within is considered served.