UNDERSTANDING OPEN ACCESS BROADBAND NETWORKS
Part 1 of a series written by Mathers Farr
We hear it all the time. ‘Open Access’ is one of the hot button words in the world of broadband internet, but how many of those using the phrase really understand what it means? In our experience working with network owners, government agencies, and the public at large, we are seeing that ‘Open Access’ has different meanings to different people. This series will explore the benefits and challenges of Open Access Models and its ability to make available reliable, affordable internet to all who want it.
The Goal: It is hard to pinpoint the birth of ‘The Goal’, but at some point, along our sojourn in technological and political history, the United States Government developed a grand goal of ‘Universal Access to Affordable High-Speed Internet for All’. This objective is lofty and benevolent. It is socialistic and economic. It is popular and aggressive. It will arguably keep us at the forefront of world leadership. It is also very expensive, but it seems like that is of little consequence in achieving one of the top priorities of our nation. Like it or not, it is ‘The Goal’, and we, as a nation, are charging toward ‘The Goal’ at full speed ahead.
No doubt, the internet has changed the world – at a global and an individual level. For most of us, connectivity plays a role in almost every decision of every waking hour of our lives. It has become our livelihood and our greatest survival tool. Many people regard their internet connection more vital than any other public utility or service – including power, water, sewer, and roadways – partly because it is needed to manage and utilize all these other needs and to manage so many other aspects of our lives. Work, School, Health, Transportation, Entertainment, Social Interactions, Religion, Sports, Hobbies, etc. etc. etc. There is literally nothing out of its grasp and we become more dependent on it every day.
‘The Goal’ is all but unanimously supported both publicly and in the internet industry, however there is a great debate over how to accomplish it. The Federal Government, true to form, solves initiatives by throwing public money at them. You and I, as taxpayers (or more accurately as ‘public money printers and borrowers’), have voluntarily or involuntarily taken up this cause. Since we are the benefactors and the beneficiaries, we should probably try to better understand how exactly we will all end up with ’Universal Access to Affordable High-Speed Internet for All’.
The COVID Catalyst: Good or bad, one of the wake-up calls of the COVID 19 pandemic was realizing our dependence on the internet. Maybe a better way to say that is realizing the great ability of the internet to keep our lives functioning in an isolated situation. When the pandemic was de-escalating and we were starting to return to pre-pandemic routines, an epiphany seemed to occur. We suddenly realized that working from home was pretty great! Online education has some benefits! Seeing a doctor without leaving home was extremely convenient! The government (we’ll not debate their motives here) realized this too, and ‘The Goal’ suddenly became more urgent.
The federal coffers opened up. Multiple federal agencies (some of which are a little surprising) received large piles of money and launched broadband funding programs. The national broadband deployment effort – now seems to have no financial limit. Until every single individual in the United States high speed internet available to them, the money will not stop.
Wherever there is money, there is politics, and for every good crony capitalist the smell of money means opportunity – especially if that money smells like public money. As federal and state funding programs have sprouted, so have the hands ready to take that money. Privately owned telecommunications providers seem to be the first with their hands out. Private providers seem to already be doing well enough with inflated internet fees and existing subsidy programs, but if there is more to be had, they have come for the taking. Whenever public grants are awarded, the prevailing philosophy of ‘If we don’t ask for it, they will just give it to someone else’ leads providers to make decisions to apply for funds that they don’t really need. It appears that they want the individuals and businesses that are already paying them for the internet to also contribute their tax dollars to help them expand their networks and monopolies through the federal funding programs. The result is that the original intent of funding programs (to make internet available where it is not) is lost to the fueling of power, control, and self-interests of private corporations. Political lobbying efforts have ratcheted up exponentially around the funding programs. Politicians are being swayed, the funding regulations are being heavily influenced by, if not written by, private special interest parties and their lobbyists, and in the end, the public sector is losing all control of their internet access destinations.
Public Money = Private Corporate Asset? Federal, State and Local governments are pouring money (literally billions and billions of dollars) into expanding broadband in the United States to achieve ‘The Goal’. The governmental drive and subsequent funding to achieve ‘The Goal’ is not new. Taxpayer subsidies have been rolling out to telecommunications providers since the telegraph was invented. Thousands of independent telephone companies and co-ops were born from and are in existence today because of these subsidy programs – especially in rural areas. Many have acted responsibly with these subsidies and have used them to build infrastructure where none existed and brought lifelines to those who would otherwise still be in the dark ages if they would have had to wait for a traditional economic ROI model. Even the responsible companies get to retain the infrastructures – that were largely built with public funds or low-cost loans – as private assets. Once built, the corporations get more subsidies to operate the networks and repay loans through a cost-plus subsidy model. Even worse, many private telecommunications corporations have taken public subsidies and used them to monopolize markets and to build up and protect their corporate assets and market positions. This is evident in the break-ups of massive telecom companies in the last half-century and in the establishment of captive telecom markets of incumbent providers. Meanwhile, the public entities have regressively lost more and more control and influence over this – absolutely essential – element in their communities.
The rise of the internet was in some respects a reset to this pattern – it completely upended all the traditional rules of the subsidies game. However, it did not change the way the game was played. If anything, it upped the ante exponentially, and like all high stakes’ games, it got ugly. The governmental regulations that were in place to control pricing went haywire. Today we see fierce territory battles between internet providers. As the high dollar funding programs are released to accomplish ‘The Goal’ providers are vying for grant funding with cut-throat tactics to overbuild each other. If you want some good entertainment, read the challenges to any broadband grant funding application process – it’s got all the dog-eat-dog drama of a good National Geographic Shark Tank Documentary. How many American Cities now have multiple sets of telecom plant all running down the same affluent neighborhood or business district roads – built on top of each other? What most of the public does not realize is that all these sets of independently owned infrastructures were most likely built, at least partially or indirectly, with public funds. How many other rural or low-income districts in cities have no or very poor access to broadband? Why? Because the funding intended for these areas is being used to overbuild more economically fertile markets.
Some municipal governments are trying to act but are hitting walls. Although most funding programs are open to municipal entities to apply for, the rules and scoring criteria are generally stacked against them, and the rigorous application processes and requirements are discouraging, if not overwhelming, to most public entities.
Q. How do we solve this dilemma?
A. Separate the Physical Network Infrastructure from the Digital Internet Network to enable Open Access Models.
The Open Access Concept: Everyone has heard the internet referred to as the ‘digital super-highway”. Let’s use the analogy of a highway or roadway to explain Open Access. The digital super-highway delivers packets of information to endpoints. We also use roadways to deliver packages to endpoints (homes and apartments) in our communities. Can you imagine if the public and private delivery companies – UPS, FedEx, DHL, US Postal Service, Amazon, etc. – each built and maintained their own road to your house to be able to deliver packages to you? That would be insane. We all get access to each of these delivery companies because the roads are built as a public asset which is made available for anyone to access and use to get a package from one point to another.
The digital super-highway needs to be the same. In an Open Access environment, public entities use public funds to build one pipeline to every endpoint (the physical infrastructure of a network). Generally speaking, and as defined by the funding programs, this means a fixed wireline fiber-optic network that reaches every residence, business, or public building, just like the roadway system. The network infrastructure is built, owned, and maintained by public entities – Cities, Counties, Tribal, State, Co-ops, etc. One public road. One public fiber plant. The public entities then allow Open Access use of the infrastructure to whomever wants to deliver information packets to the endpoints over the infrastructure. As with roads, taxes or fees are paid by the users (or public) to cover the cost of operating and maintaining the infrastructure. The assets that are built by public funds remain in the ownership and control of the public entities – not private corporations. Public Money = Public Asset.
The concept is simple. The implementation has some challenges. Over 650 Open Access models are operating or developing across the nation today. Some are facing fierce challenges from incumbent internet providers who see them as a threat to their monopolized markets. In an Open Access model, providers have equal access to the endpoints and must compete by offering better service and pricing for internet – without having exclusive markets. Many providers (especially large national corporations) don’t want to compete in this way and are resisting the growing trend. Although Open Access has a variety of operational models and deployments, the concept is proving to be the best and most economical way to accomplish the 3 objectives of ‘‘The Goal’’
1. Reliability – High quality Fiber Optic wireline infrastructure.
2. Accessibility – Universal, non-discriminatory access to all.
3. Affordability – Competition promotes fair market pricing.
Every community wants these three things. Most are not getting them under the current ISP models, and they aren’t getting properly supported by public funding models. The American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) is a non-profit organization advocating publicly owned broadband infrastructure. The link below is to a recent speech delivered by their Executive Director, Gigi Sohn that demonstrates some of the successes and challenges that communities are seeing with their Open Access efforts.
These kinds of efforts, along with a better public and political understanding, are the driving influences that are needed to keep the open access momentum going.
A Bright Future: This brief introduction to Open Access Networks explains, in a general way, the flawed systems we are using and how we got here. In future blogs, we will learn more about different types of Open Access Networks, network architectures, operational models, funding models, legal hurdles, as well as explore some of the challenges that Municipal entities are facing in the deployment of Open Access systems. Open Access Models are still evolving and not all of them are having successful outcomes, but as we wade through the process of how to get to ‘The Goal’, there is no doubt that Open Access will be a big part of the solution. Open Access is gaining momentum and is already playing a major role for forward-thinking local leaders who are tired of the incumbent telecom stronghold. It is the tool that allows communities to take control of their internet future through public management of this essential digital utility.