Inside Towers Featured ICLE Report on State Support for Satellite-Delivered Internet
Kristian Stout, ICLE Director of Innovation Policy, was quoted in an Inside Towers article on the recent bipartisan report from the ICLE and New America joint LEO Policy Working Group. Read the full article here.
A report recently published by two think tanks recommends that state broadband subsidy programs embrace low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet service, for new broadband buildouts.
The report from New America’s Wireless Future and the International Center for Law and Economics, evaluates the policies and challenges to expanding the use of LEO satellite internet, and urges policymakers to update regulations governing satellites. The report, created by the groups’ independent LEO Policy Working Group, states that while advances in LEO technology promise improvement in service and reliability, they explain that its “full potential is currently hamstrung by outdated, burdensome, and overly restrictive licensing systems.”
But the report says expansion of satellite technology is impeded within state broadband subsidy programs in favor of fiber, notes Statescoop. The programs “need an overhaul” that would give program administrators the ability to better evaluate internet technologies on their merits, allowing LEO satellite service to compete with other technologies, like fiber or fixed wireless, according to the report.
The report also makes several recommendations for state and local governments to better integrate and support LEO satellite services, including improving the process of mapping broadband availability and data collection to better reflect satellite coverage. This includes incorporating factors, such as terrain, obstructions and capacity, that impact how effective satellites can be.
Another policy move the report suggests is that states standardize the process for verifying satellite providers’ capacity and deployment promises to ensure they meet technical and logistical requirements of certain broadband programs beyond just the 100/20 megabits per second performance standard.
“State broadband offices and similar local decision makers tasked with dispensing funding may be less versed in determining whether a satellite provider’s promises are feasible than those of a terrestrial provider, especially because some of those advances hinge on federal decision-making with an opaque or uncertain trajectory,” the report says. “Nevertheless, it remains important to verify upfront that bidders in deployment programs have the technical ability, finances, and capacity to pull off programmatic commitments.”
The report explains, “While the recent BEAD guidelines put the onus of verifying technical capacity on NTIA, expecting state broadband offices to navigate a world of LEO satellite-as-broadband service over the long term, without full ability to vet providers themselves, is an unsustainable solution.”
“If U.S. broadband policy requires the complex balancing of short-term results with long-term benefits — all done within the constraints of a budget — all viable technologies must be utilized where appropriate,” the report says. “As a general matter, so long as LEO satellite service normally meets the minimum 100/20 Mbps performance standard and provides generally functional broadband service to users, it should be eligible for all existing broadband subsidy programs. This would mark a true shift toward tech neutrality in both federal and state broadband policy by gating participation based on quality of service, not kind of technology.”