CPUC actions threaten to widen, not close, the digital divide

OPINION – The California Public Utilities Commission should be applauded for its efforts to help California lead in advancing “broadband for all.” But misguided CPUC rulemaking on service quality threatens to reverse years of progress.

Policymakers, local communities and wireless service providers all share the CPUC’s goal of increasing coverage in rural and tribal lands, where geography and terrain make it challenging and expensive to expand broadband. But more regulation won’t help achieve this. It will take all of us working together to remove barriers that prevent the building of infrastructure that supports connectivity in these hard-to-reach places.

Service quality metrics that track outages and dropped calls do not solve the largest roadblock to closing the digital divide: access. In fact, imposing new metrics will further widen the gap between the haves with connection and the have-nots.

In theory, Commissioners hope that fining wireless service providers who fail to meet the proposed standards will lead to more coverage. In reality, metrics will fail to prevent outages and dropped calls, often caused by service disruption for emergency use, weather-related events, phone troubles, or stepping in areas that block coverage, like elevators or deep beneath parking structures. These are circumstances out of providers’ control.

Moreover, metrics will tie wireless service providers in another layer of red tape — severely hampering their ability to make critical investments in underserved areas. Providers will be forced to focus on making nominal enhancements in places with existing coverage to avoid fines, reducing the capital needed to deploy new infrastructure. Ultimately, harming low-income, inland communities of color and businesses and leaving a connectivity desert across the state.

There are other unintended consequences as well, namely higher costs to consumers and draining funds that would otherwise be spent toward innovation.

The CPUC should learn from past experience. Twice, it has considered and declined to impose service quality metrics (in 2009 [Decision 09-07-019], 2016 [Decision 16-08-021]), concluding that strong competition results in better service quality.

Today, Californians now have more choices, improved service and lower costs than ever. As prices for most consumer goods rose over the last decade, the price of smartphones has decreased. At the same time, internet speeds have increased 117-fold, with unlimited plan prices dropping by 40 percent, and the number of cell sites increasing by 64 percent.

Commissioners must reject proposed service quality metrics to keep accelerating efforts to boost connectivity for all. Instead, the Commission should focus on actions that will spur – not stifle – further investment in increasing wireless access, adoption, and affordability throughout the state, in urban and rural areas alike, to finally close the digital divide.

Roslyn Layton, PhD, is Executive Vice President of Strand Consult and Visiting Researcher at Aalborg University’s Centre for Communication, Media and Information Technologies. She has served on the Program Committees of the International Telecommunications Society and the Telecom Policy Research Conference.