UKIAH, CA., 11/15/16 — Trish Steel is the chair of the Broadband Alliance of Mendocino County (BAMC), a non-profit group that advocates for rural broadband development. Recently, she has been thinking hard about two programs to pay for the infrastructure she believes in. One is the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Connect America Fund, which is available only to Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) like AT&T, which were providing local telephone service when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was enacted. The other funding program is the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF), which has been making grants to small rural internet service providers since 2008, and is due to run out of money soon.
The BAMC’s overarching argument is that reliable communications technology is vital to a strong economy. One of its functions has been connecting local business people to government grants to bridge the digital divide. At the most recent meeting, Jim Persky, of Pacific Internet, an independent internet service provider in Ukiah, spoke about his frustration with AT&T.
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