INCOMPAS Fall 2017 - Day 2 Show Daily

« 6 » THE INCOMPAS SHOW I OCTOBER 15 - 17, 2017 www.bekabusinessmedia.com DAY 2 membership’s businesses this year include wireless advancements, connected things and virtualization. “I think we are seeing an evolution of business model and technology transforma- tion to deliver products and services in the most efficient way possible through over- the-top (OTT) products and software-defined networking (SDN),” Pickering noted. “As always, competition, innovation and the need to stay ahead are driving this change.” The Internet of Things (IoT) in particular is driving demand, he added: “5G, small cells and SDN are key to being able to respond to and meet that growing demand. This is a great example of where our policy work and busi- ness needs intersect.” Apart from keeping a finger on the pulse of technology, the policy and advocacy INCOMPAS does on behalf of its member- ship is critical. The political climate has changed dramatically this year. Republi- cans are in control of Congress and the executive branch, and independent agen- cies are increasingly focused on rolling back regulations. “At the FCC, we see an active Chairman with a different take on key issues and poli- cies that promote competition and innovation. These include some important policies that INCOMPAS members have long fought to preserve and protect, such as Open Internet/ Net Neutrality and ensuring robust competi- tion in the business data service market,” Pickering said. “However, Chairman Pai has also announced an encouraging deployment agenda, and is working towards lowering the barriers to broadband deployment for both wired and wireless networks, and is focused on the spectrum and mobile needs of our nation — both of which are important goals for our members.” Meanwhile, Congress is now focused on tax reform and infrastructure. “Streamlined and lower corporate tax rate reform is important to our industry,” Pickering said. “There’s also still discussion of an infra- structure package, and members of both parties have called for broadband to be included. We’ve also had meetings with members and their staffs on the possibility of Net Neutrality legisla- tion, advocating for the same rules that have launched an explosion in streaming and cloud growth over the past two years to be enshrined into any new law. ” This shift has meant that the state of compe- tition has evolved in the last year, and having a voice for competition in Washington is more important than ever. “Congress and the FCC are extremely active on key issues like Net Neutrality, broadband and infrastructure deployment, and spectrum,” said Pickering. “These issues can have a large impact on business success or failure, so it is really important for competitive companies to have their voice heard and to engage. If you are not active in the association and want more information, be sure to connect with one of our staff members for more information on how to get involved.” There are a number of ways INCOMPAS members are getting involved. Many members are leading the deployment agenda, including serving on the Chairman’s Broadband Deploy- ment Advisory Committee. These efforts will help spur deployment in their communities to better serve their customers. “Jessica Rosenworcel, who spoke at our last San Francisco show, has returned to the FCC and we have a new FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr (R). This gives our members an opportunity to educate and work with new poli- cymakers,” added Pickering. INCOMPAS also has been active in merger proceedings at the FCC when there are competitive issues that it believes the Commis- sion should consider as part of its review. “We’ve had some success in convincing the FCC to condition mergers when the harms outweigh the benefits — for example in the Charter/Time Warner Cable merger. The FCC under the Obama administration imposed interconnection conditions on the merged company, which have helped the streaming industry grow.” Pickering said. “We are awaiting the decisions on several significant mergers in the industry under the new admin- istration, which will help inform our under- standing of this administration’s perspective of the market(s) and consolidation.” He added that there appears to be a growing concern about consolidation and its impact on consumers, an issue that has been a priority for INCOMPAS. This is seen in every- thing from some progressive groups calling for government to rethink antitrust review to John Oliver’s recent rant against airline mergers, AT&T and lack of choice for set-top boxes. “It may be the case that the populism we saw from last year’s presidential election could influence government review of megamergers in the telecom space,” Pickering said. “It’s still too early to tell, so stay tuned.” p T he economic argument for broad- band connectivity is undisputed and obvious: Without broadband connec- tivity, businesses can’t compete, and it’s more difficult for consumers to access critical educational, healthcare and govern- mental services. Today, approximately 34 million Americans lack basic broadband access, according to the FCC — and the majority of them — about 24 million — live in rural areas that simply do not have infra- structure in place to enable it. In July, Microsoft announced an initiative to help eliminate the gap in the hardest-to- reach areas — an effort called the Rural Airband Initiative, which has an initial target of having 12 projects up and running in 12 states in the next 12 months. Microsoft plans to meet this goal through partnerships with local telecom providers, with a long-term, ambitious plan to largely eliminate the digital divide entirely within five years. One of the reasons that closing the digital divide is so difficult is because the business case tends to be unattractive for opera- tors. Trenching fiber or even upgrading the existing copper plant is expensive — and in rural areas where the population density can dwindle to a handful of people per square mile (or less), the ROI on that investment just isn’t there. Microsoft’s plan is to use new technolo- gies like wireless access via TV white spaces (TVWS) to significantly reduce the cost of building out the infrastructure, and make the business model more feasible. TVWS can be used to provide broadband in unli- censed spectrum, much the same way that a conventional Wi-Fi connection signal does. But while the gear needed to provide a strong Wi-Fi signal is very expensive at scale (each access point only covers a radius of up to 300 meters), TVWS can cover anywhere between 750 meters and nine miles with one base station. These low-frequency signals Microsoft Rural Airband Initiative Tackles the Digital Divide By Tara Seals (Continued on page 7) (Continued from page 1)