In an exclusive two-part series by Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief, WIA President and CEO Patrick Halley gives his first published interview.
New WIA President/CEO Patrick Halley is still immersing himself in the business of talking to as many people as he can—such as industry experts, towercos, service companies, carriers — to see “what is driving their business decisions” for today and tomorrow, he told Inside Towers in an exclusive interview on Monday. The executive who comes from USTelecom and the FCC, is doing a lot of listening, too.
Halley says WIA’s goal “is to be the voice of the wireless industry.” Part of that involves advocating for policies to enable the industry to flourish. “At the end of the day, I think our focus needs to be on ‘how do we empower the ‘I’ in WIA,’” he says. That includes physical infrastructure, antennas, in-building connectivity, and “everything that enables wireless systems to work wherever you may be,” he explains.
BEAD Grants
Wireless companies are laser-focused on eventually getting federal dollars for broadband buildouts. Halley says WIA is spending a lot of time with states, educating them about how the grant process will unfold for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment, from NTIA, as well as grants from the Treasury Department and the American Rescue Plan Act. NTIA is going to distribute the bulk, $42.5 billion, of available broadband grants, Inside Towers reported.
WIA has spent much time advocating a technology-neutral approach to such funding. Yet NTIA’s initial guidance to states concerning BEAD money was “initially fiber-forward,” he explains. Halley says WIA is spending much time stressing to state broadband offices and NTIA “the importance of allowing flexibility,” in technological approaches to deployment infrastructure.
“For us, it’s not about fiber versus fixed wireless,” says Halley. Those regular conversions concern “looking at the cost to deploy, the speed to deploy and other priorities states may have,” he emphasizes.
Noting that those funds can also be used for workforce training, Halley says: “We have to be in education mode. It’s important to talk about fixed wireless as a solution. We’re having regular conversations with state offices and arguing for flexibility that makes the most sense for them.”
He notes the long process ahead before the BEAD money can start to flow to states for unserved locations. That begins with the FCC’s finished broadband location maps. The agency is in its first challenge phase now for its initial draft and is targeting a November release of its first draft of new broadband location maps, Inside Towers reported. Halley says given that timeline, it appears NTIA grants could flow in the second half of next year.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
Reader Interactions