This week: Jonathan Spalter, CEO of USTelecom, joins the show to discuss how the telecommunications industry is working toward closing the digital divide, and what it will take to make the BEAD program a success.
This episode features Jonathan Spalter, president and CEO of USTelecom. We discuss the Biden administration's goal of universal broadband connectivity and how the telecommunications industry is working to meet it through a mix of public and private funding, including the forthcoming $42.5 billion Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. We also get into the need for Congress to secure the future of the Affordable Connectivity Fund (ACP) and pass the Broadband Grant Tax Treatment Act, what a waiver on "Buy America" rules for BEAD should look like and more.
Here are a few topics covered in this episode:
Details on USTelecom's membership and reach (01:06)
What it will take to achieve universal connectivity (02:49)
Sanding BEAD's "rough edges," including grant taxes and Buy America rules (08:00)
What NTIA's Buy America waiver for the Middle Mile program got right (12:50)
The importance of continued funding for ACP (16:20)
Spalter's thoughts on how the Universal Service Fund should be reformed (21:40)
For a lightly edited transcript, click the caption button in the video player.
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