4 WISPAPALOOZA SHOW I OCTOBER 3 – 6, 2022 www.bekabusinessmedia.com DAY 2 (Continued from page 1) “WISPs are solution providers who have wide skill sets that Americans demand,” Zumwalt said. “The internet is not going away anytime soon. That said, WISPs still have to fight for growth, like everyone else, especially when pocketbooks become tighter.” He said the old adage remains true: “In good times, advertise a lot. In bad times, advertise even more.” Zumwalt listed four areas of continued challenges facing WISPs and the organization. They include: • Access to spectrum – “As WISPs, access to spectrum represents the lifeblood of our work,” Zumwalt said. “This includes unlicensed and licensed spectrum. Thankfully, it looks like 5.9 and the 6 GHz unlicensed will soon come online, which will really boost capacity and help our members provide service which rivals fiber in many areas. Other areas in mid-band and mmWave bands show promise, too. More unlicensed and/or shared spectrum is always good; it provides consumers with immense benefit and drives our internet economy. Where spectrum gets auctioned, the key to this will be FCC processes and rules built to invite the greatest array of participants to the table – such as small WISPs. We believe auctions should encompass more than solely opportunities to fund the U.S. Treasury. Having a diverse array of players, not just the Big Three 5G mobile companies, means more solutions. Solutions that can solve our most pressing communications challenge to date – e.g., the digital divide. WISPs must and can play a role here.” • Avoiding stultifying regulations – Zumwalt explained, “To a large extent, the WISP industry exploded due to the idea of permissionless innovation. Part 15 Spectrum allowed WISPs to take previously un- and underutilized spectrum and just run with it, creating an industry that now serves approximately 9 million Americans. Similarly, the lack of broadband-specific regulation has allowed WISPs to go quickly and flexibly into areas left behind or ignored by legacy providers. They offer solutions which service the unserved precisely because regulations did not stop them. They created their own permission slips. This approach works. But in a multi-stakeholder environment, one which sees communications networks as essential to overall American prosperity, the urge to regulate will not abate. So, we have to remain vigilant to keep regulation low. Light regulation can promote competitive entry such as what our industry provides. But regulation should not create an environment which steers opportunities to only the few biggest, well-healed players.” • Stopping pernicious overbuilding – “Our industry has grown and evolved mostly through private investment and risk,” Zumwalt said, adding, “But over the past couple of years, we’ve witnessed an immense amount of government money being thrown at the development of rural and under-resourced market – the places that are truly expensive and hard to serve with reliable broadband. The most notable of these is the NTIA’s BEAD program, which has $42 billion dedicated for the states for broadband deployment in the digital divide. These are markets that we serve ably, and which represent growth areas for us. Or could be, that is. Unfortunately, the NTIA’s model has locked providers of purely unlicensed spectrum out of most of those grant opportunities. So, that’s a problem. The way the NTIA’s rules are designed – essentially not counting us as even being in the market we serve – means that gobs of money will get spent to overbuild our members’ networks in these areas. That isn’t right. To be sure, more and more of our members have come to the realization that government funding must play a role in their business models. It’s not their first choice, but if you are going to have these massive, distorting programs, then they should be technologically neutral, and inviting to small players – especially those already on the ground solving the problem the government ostensibly seeks to solve. The NTIA model stands contrary to that, amounting to an official policy of government-sponsored overbuilding. Not good any way you look at it.” • Supply chain – “With this nation’s pandemic response, and its resulting inflation and other challenges, we simply don’t have enough fiber, chips, equipment, and most importantly, skilled labor, to keep deploying broadband networks at the pace needed,” Zumwalt said. “Boosting supply, which is dependent in large measure on finding more labor, does not just turn on overnight. It may be another couple of years before we move through this rough patch in the global economy. Regardless, this inordinately hurts small players and the rural, under-resourced and Tribal areas they serve.” On the other hand, the pandemic also was an eye-opener, he continued. “The pandemic made us see the nature of ‘office work’ and other activities – such as schooling, telemedicine, entertainment, etc. – has changed for good,” Zumwalt said. “We stayed safe, connected and productive through remote access. “The trends for telecommuting were already pronounced before the pandemic, but since then, the need for remote access has only grown with the evolution of technology, and tons of new government money ensuring all Americans can affordably get on the internet,” he continued. “WISPs and their excellent services were part of that development over the past 20 years, and all indications point to the fact they will remain at the advent of this growth for the foreseeable future.” So, when it comes to navigating the economic rough patch the world is experiencing, Zumwalt’s overall advice to WISPA members is, “Spend more on your paid marketing and avail yourself of all of the free social media properties to get your voice out there and above the fray. Be active, hopeful. Don’t rest.” m L Z OO 2022 WISPAPALOOZA 2022 by the NUMBERS WISPA Agenda Committee Chair Nathan Stooke shared some big numbers during the opening session Tuesday, which makes this year’s event one of the largest ever. Here they are: • 130 Attendees from outside the United States • 29 Countries represented • 32 Sponsors • 173 Exhibitors • 168 Speakers • 82 Sessions • 2,200 registered attendees (at the 8 a.m.) session. Stooke said if a little more than 200 more people registered a new record could be broken.
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