Infrastructure
But for the BEAD Program, $1 Billion in Middle Mile Funding Wouldn’t Be Enough
Support from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment last mile program may cover middle mile gaps.

To watch the video recording, Broadband Breakfast for Lunch at Connect (X), become a Broadband Breakfast Club member.
NEW ORLEANS, May 17, 2023 – Industry leaders disagreed on whether the National Telecommunication and Information Administration’s $1 billion Middle Mile program will be enough to deploy all the necessary infrastructure to connect Americans, speaking at a Broadband Breakfast event at the Connect (X) conference on May 10.
Although the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocates only $1 billion to middle mile broadband deployment, other federal investments will address the funding gaps, said Telecommunications Industry Association Vice President of Government Affairs Melissa Newman.
Applications for the Middle Mile program were due on September 30, 2022. NTIA has not yet announced the winners, but agency officials have said that they will do so this Spring, or by June 21, 2023.
The NTIA is set to announce the amount of $42.5 billion funds that it will award to each state through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program by June 30, 2023. The money will be used to connect unserved and underserved homes through “last mile” services, or broadband connections to the home.
But, in addition to the $1 billion through the Middle Mile program, the BEAD program can make up for the gaps in middle mile deployment if $1 billion proves inadequate.
Middle mile is the infrastructure that runs between communities and connects the internet backbone to last mile builds. Last mile connections then hook up homes and businesses.
Will $1 billion be enough?
There is simply not enough money in the Middle Mile program, said Drew Colbow, director of operational strategy at wireless and fiber infrastructure provider Crown Castle. The ideal investment in middle mile would be between up to $7 billion, he said.
Lawmakers in California invested an additional $3.25 billion in middle mile investments in July of 2021 to its open access, state-owned middle mile network. In fact, most of the American Rescue Plan Act funds in California went to the state’s middle mile initiative, said Joshua Broder, CEO of telecommunications consultant and fiber construction company Tilson.
Federal agencies have a history in investing in middle mile, said panelists. The Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, a key part of the $7.2 billion in federal investment under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, invested over the bulk of its money into more than 1,600 miles of middle mile infrastructure.
Mapping middle mile investment may prove to be a challenge, panelists said. Although the NTIA will release the names and locations of its awardees, identifying the locations of other, privately-funding middle mile projects may be more difficult.
State broadband officials may be able to help in coordinating between last-mile and middle-mile project builders, said Veneeth Iyengar, Executive Director of ConnectLA, the state broadband office for Louisiana.
Also participating on the panel was Paul Challoner, vice president for network product solutions at Ericsson, who addressed the critical importance of bringing middle mile deployments to cell towers.
To watch the video recording, Broadband Breakfast for Lunch at Connect (X), become a Broadband Breakfast Club member.
Join to receive your copy of the Breakfast Club Exclusive Report!
Funding
House Democrat Introduces Bill to Add Local Parks to E-Rate Program
The Technology in the Parks Act would also put parks in line for used computers and equipment from federal agencies.

WASHINGTON, December 1, 2023 – A House Democrat announced on Friday a bill that would fund broadband internet and devices for public parks.
The Technology in the Parks Act would expand the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate program to include local parks. That program currently provides approximately $4 billion in yearly broadband subsidies for schools and libraries through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund. Adding public parks would allow them to request government money toward the cost of internet each month.
The move is “crucial to bringing broadband access to these community spaces,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Danny Davis, D-Illinois, in a statement.
In an effort to provide devices on the subsidized connection, the bill would also put parks in the U.S. General Services Administration’s Computers for Learning program. That would give parks access to computer equipment no longer being used by federal agencies.
The bill would also tap the Department of Labor to implement a grant program for “technology training programs” in local parks.
Similar programs aimed at helping people navigate and participate in online spaces are drawing funds from other federal agencies. The Commerce Department’s $42.5 billion broadband expansion program makes room for states to fund digital literacy trainings, and its $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act programs are targeted at such efforts.
Broadband Mapping & Data
Robocalls, Rip and Replace, Pole Attachments: More Notes From the FCC Oversight Hearing
Commissioners and House lawmakers discussed key topics at a contentious hearing.

WASHINGTON, December 1, 2023 – All five Federal Communications Commissioners took part in a lengthy and at times contentious House oversight hearing on Thursday.
Commissioners urged Congress to restore the FCC’s authority to action spectrum, which expired in March and left the nation’s airwaves in limbo, and to fund the Affordable Connectivity Program, the low-income internet subsidy set to dry up in April of next year.
GOP lawmakers FCC Republicans also took the chance to slam efforts by the commission’s Democratic majority.
The discussion touched on other issues including robocall prevention, rip and replace funding, and pole attachments.
Robocalls
The commission has been taking action on preventing robocalls this year, kicking off an inquiry into using artificial intelligence to detect fraud, blocking call traffic from 20 providers for lax enforcement policies and issuing hundreds of millions in fines. In August the commission also expanded the STIR/SHAKEN regime – a set of measures to confirm caller identities – to all providers who handle call traffic.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asked multiple times for three Congressional actions she said would help the commission crack down on scam calls: a new definition for “autodialer,” the ability to collect fines, and access to Bank Secrecy Act information.
The Supreme Court limited the definition of autodialers in 2021 to devices that store or produce phone numbers with random or sequential number generators. That leaves the scope of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which guides the FCC’s authority, “stuck in the nineties,” according to Rosenworcel.
“A lot of scam artists are using technologies no longer covered” by the act, she said. “We can’t go after them.”
On collecting robocall fines, that authority currently rests with the Department of Justice, and Rosenworcel is not the first to tell Congress the agency’s enforcement has been lax. Industry groups at an October Senate hearing cited slow DOJ action as a major reason FCC fines on the issue often go uncollected.
The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions to keep records on certain transactions to help law enforcement agencies track money laundering and other criminal activity. The FCC cannot access information governed by the act, which Rosenworcel said would help the commission go after repeat scammers.
“These scam artists set up one company, we shut them down, they go and set another one up,” she said.
Rip and replace
Commissioners urged Congress to fund the rip and replace program. Congress allocated $1.9 billion to reimburse broadband companies for replacing network equipment from Chinese companies deemed to be national security threats, mainly Huawei and ZTE.
The FCC was tasked with overseeing the program and found in 2022 that another $3 billion would be needed to get the work done. The Biden administration joined a chorus of lawmakers and broadband companies in calling for Congress to fill the gap, but legislation on the issue has yet to be passed.
“We’re providing 40 cents on the dollar to a lot of small and rural carriers,” said Rosenworcel. “They need more funds to get the job done.”
The commission has been granting extensions to providers unable to get the work done on time. In addition to supply chain issues, some small providers cite a lack of funding as the reason they’re unable to replace insecure equipment.
Pole attachments
Commissioners expressed a willingness to shift some of the burden of utility pole replacements off of broadband providers as they attach new equipment.
“If a pole is getting replaced,” Commissioner Brendan Carr said, “there’s probably a role for the FCC to say that the pole owner should bear somewhere north of the cost of $0.”
The commission has authority in 26 states over most pole attachment deals between utility pole owners and telecommunications companies looking to expand their networks. The issue of who pays for poles that need to be replaced to accommodate more communications equipment is contentious, with telecoms arguing utilities force them to pay for replacing already junk poles.
After spending years sifting through thousands of comments, commissioners have apparently been persuaded. Rules up for a vote at the commission’s December meeting would limit the scenarios in which utilities could pass full replacement costs on to attachers.
Broadband funding map
Rosenworcel repeatedly asked lawmakers to work with the commission on ensuring its broadband funding map is kept up to date.
The FCC launched its funding map in May to keep track of the myriad federal broadband subsidy efforts and avoid funding the same areas multiple times. The Department of Agriculture, the FCC, and the Treasury Department each oversee separate broadband funding programs, in addition to the Commerce Department’s upcoming $42.5 billion broadband expansion effort.
The commission has signed memoranda of understanding with those agencies on providing data for the funding map, but Rosenworcel asked the subcommittee for help ensuring the agencies follow through and respond to FCC requests for their funding data.
“If you could help us make sure those other agencies respond to us with data, you’ll see where there are problems, duplication, areas we haven’t reached,” she said.
Cloud
John English: Isolating Last-Mile Service Disruptions in Evolved Cable Networks
The adoption of new technologies presents operators with a plethora of new variables to manage on the user control plane.

Cable operators are increasingly investing in next-generation network infrastructure, including upgrades to support distributed access architecture and fiber to the home.
By bringing this infrastructure closer to subscribers, cable operators are evolving their networks, adopting greater virtualization and redistributing key elements toward the edges. They expect these changes to increase their network’s interoperability and, ultimately, improve the speed and uptime available to subscribers. In turn, cable operators expect these new capabilities will help redefine what services they can offer.
However, these new advanced networks are much more complex than previous generations. By virtualizing or cloudifying functions at the edge, operators risk losing the sort of visibility that is essential to rapidly pinpointing the source of service disruptions – and ensuring their networks are meeting desired performance thresholds for next-gen applications.
The challenge of complexity in virtualized networks
As cable networks evolve, so does their complexity. The adoption of technologies like virtualized Cable Modem Termination Systems (vCMTS) and distributed access architecture presents operators with a plethora of new variables to manage, particularly on the user control plane.
Always-on applications and those applications that are most sensitive to network performance changes, such as video games, AR/VR, and remotely-piloted drones, to name just a few examples, require continuous measurement and monitoring for reliability. But ensuring consistent quality of service under all conditions the network may face is no small feat.
To illustrate, let’s consider how cable operators will manage disruptions in a virtualized environment. When issues inevitably pop up, will they be able to isolate the problem virtually, or will they need to dispatch a technician to investigate? Additionally, once a technician is onsite, will they have advanced intelligence to determine if the source of the problem is hardware or software-related?
Or will they need to update or replace multiple systems (e.g., consumer premesis equipment, optical network terminals, router, modem, etc.) to try to resolve the problem? Finally, will they need to also investigate additional network termination points if that doesn’t do the trick?
Indeed, each time a truck or technician is dispatched represents a significant outpouring of resources, and adopting a trial-and-error, process-of-elimination approach to resolution is a costly means of restoring service that cable operators cannot afford at scale. Likewise, the customers that depend the most on constant network availability and performance for various uses, such as content distribution networks, transportation services, and industrial manufacturers, won’t tolerate significant disruptions for long.
Packet monitoring for rapid resolution of last-mile disruptions
In the evolving landscape of cable networks, where downtime can lead to customer dissatisfaction, churn, and revenue loss, rapid resolution of last-mile service disruptions is paramount. Cable operators need more advanced network telemetry to understand where – and why – disruptions are occurring. In short, evolved networks require evolved monitoring. This starts with deep packet inspection at scale.
Packets don’t lie, so they offer an excellent barometer into the health of both the control and user planes. Additionally, they can help determine last-mile & core latency per subscriber, as well as by dimension, so operators can test how different configurations affect performance.
Additionally, in the event of a major service disruption, packet monitoring at the edge enables operators to accurately measure how many subscribers are out of service – regardless of whatever hardware or software they’re using – and determine if there’s a common reason for mass outages to help technicians resolve any problems faster. Finally, proactive monitoring, especially when combined with artificial intelligence, empowers operators to detect and address potential issues before they impact subscribers.≠
All in all, cable operators are navigating a challenging yet exciting era of network evolution. The transition to advanced infrastructure and the demand for high-quality, low-latency services necessitate sophisticated monitoring and diagnostic tools. Deep packet inspection technology will continue to play a pivotal role in ensuring the smooth operation of evolved cable networks.
Additionally, in the quest to maintain the quality of service expected by subscribers, operators must abandon the costly process-of-elimination approach and adopt rapid resolution techniques. By doing so, they will not only reduce service disruption but also make more efficient use of resources, ultimately benefiting both their bottom line and the end user’s experience. Evolved cable networks require evolved strategies, and rapid issue isolation through advanced monitoring must be at the forefront of this transformation.
John English is Director of Service Provider Marketing and Business Development at Netscout’s Service Provider unit. He has an extensive background in telecom, including a decade at a major communications service provider and numerous OEMs and ecosystem partners. English is an expert on how communications service providers can successfully implement new technologies like 5G and virtualization/cloudification while continually assuring the performance of their networks and services. This piece is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.
Broadband Breakfast accepts commentary from informed observers of the broadband scene. Please send pieces to commentary@breakfast.media. The views expressed in Expert Opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Broadband Breakfast and Breakfast Media LLC.
-
Fiber2 weeks ago
The High Cost of Fiber is Leading States to Explore Other Technologies
-
Broadband Mapping & Data4 weeks ago
FCC is Looking to Update its Definition of Broadband
-
Broadband Roundup4 weeks ago
Emergency Connectivity Funding, Comcast in Connecticut, Glo Fiber in Pennsylvania
-
FCC3 weeks ago
‘It Was Graft’: How the FCC’s CAF II Program Became a Money Sink
-
Expert Opinion2 weeks ago
Ryan Johnston: What Happens to BEAD Without the Affordable Connectivity Program?
-
Funding2 weeks ago
NTIA Confirms Licensed-by-Rule May Apply for BEAD Funding
-
Digital Inclusion2 weeks ago
Federal Officials Agree: Infrastructure Alone Will Not Close the Digital Divide
-
Cybersecurity4 weeks ago
Cybersecurity Requirements in BEAD Could Shape Internet Security Regulation More Widely