According to Gary Bolton, President and CEO of the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), his group successfully met the challenges it faced at the beginning of 2021. During the first quarter they focused on restructuring the organization by changing the business model and moving the annual conference from Dallas to Nashville. In addition, the FBA took on Elon Musk and Starlink and encouraged the FCC to scrutinize Rural Digital Opportunity Fund long-form applications with a congressional letter signed by 60 members of both chambers.
“We strongly advocated for broadband funding legislation resulting in the $94 billion Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act being introduced in the House and Senate in March,” Bolton said,” and we worked with the transition team and new Administration, doubling down our efforts advocating for a broadband infrastructure bill.”
Bolton said in the second quarter of 2021, beginning with the Administration’s announcement of the American Jobs Plan and its investment in broadband infrastructure, the FBA went to work on the Hill to ensure it gained bipartisan support. With the Infrastructure bill passing in the Senate, Bolton said the FBA then lobbied for bipartisan support in the House.
“FBA also played an instrumental role in ensuring that guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued with the $10 billion Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund encourages recipients to invest in fiber projects,” Bolton said. “Our state advocacy was successful in California where $6 billion of their state surplus will be invested in fiber broadband.”
During the fourth quarter, the association began development of a Federal Funding Playbook that will highlight State Broadband Program best practices. Bolton said the study will outline a path to help ensure every state and territory can efficiently deploy the $42.45 billion of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program to maximize their investment in critical broadband infrastructure.
“We have also completed the development of our Fiber Optic Technician training program and moving it into the pilot phase early in the new year,” he said. “We are currently engaged with workforce development and broadband offices across multiple states in preparation for a nationwide rollout to community colleges and veteran training organizations.”
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