Governments Must Centralize State Broadband Efforts, Say Experts at Connect (X)

NEW ORLEANS, May 9, 2023 – States and municipalities need to centralize their broadband authority to effectively allocate federal funds and bridge the digital divide, said experts at the Wireless Infrastructure Association’s Connect (X) conference here on Tuesday.

The primary problem with municipalities in permitting, planning, and deploying broadband connectivity projects is the bureaucracy, said Alphonso Jenkins, former broadband director of the City of New York.

In fact, Jenkins said, getting access to and cooperating with the right government agencies is the biggest delay to infrastructure projects. Many municipalities bargain with multiple carriers at a time and will need a centralized force to organize to manage their efforts, he said.

Most states do not have one central command of telecommunications assets which makes negotiating nearly impossible, Jenkins said.

Entities trying to get ahold of state and local governments are often redirected to several offices and agencies, he said. This process fragments the entire project and ensures that not all impacted entities are involved in the development of the project, he said.

Breaking down the silos that currently segregate state offices will require the authority from the state offices and governor’s office, Jenkins stated. There needs to be an executive decision maker that will mandate how the process will be run and will organize the efforts, he continued.

Victoria Wildenthaler of SBA Communications, a real estate investment trust which owns and operates wireless infrastructure networks, agreed. She said that collaboration with public and private entities is the number one issue to ensuring projects operate effectively.