Last week at the Minnesota Broadband Task Force meeting a lot of time was spent talking about access to rights to way. In short, providers have complained that getting access to deploy broadband (conduit) is difficult, in part because the process and policy to gain access is different for many towns and counties. We saw in a previous Task Force meeting the steps that Dakota County has taken to streamline and standardize their rights of way processes – but the conversation at the last meeting indicates that there are improvements to be made.

According to a recent Executive Order from President Obama a streamlined process may be coming from the federal level. He has established a Broadband Deployment on Federal Property Working Group to accelerate broadband infrastructure deployment. The goals include the following…

Sec. 3. Coordinating Consistent and Efficient Federal Broadband Procedures, Requirements, and Policies. (a) Each Broadband Member Agency, following coordination with other Broadband Member Agencies and interested non-member agencies, shall:

Sec. 4. Contracts, Applications, and Permits. (a) Section 6409 of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-96) contains provisions addressing access to Federal property for the deployment of wireless broadband facilities, including requirements that the General Services Administration (GSA) develop application forms, master contracts, and fees for such access. The GSA shall consult with the Working Group in developing these application forms, master contracts, and fees.

Sec. 5. Deployment of Conduit for Broadband Facilities in Conjunction with Federal or Federally Assisted Highway Construction. (a) The installation of underground fiber conduit along highway and roadway rights of way can improve traffic flow and safety through implementation of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and reduce the cost of future broadband deployment.

I’ve abbreviated considerably because I suspect few folks are as interested in the details as I might be – but check out the Executive Order for more specifics. Also there are a couple of points I wanted to highlight concerning the members of the federal working group. The federal task force is composed entirely of federal employees. This is a stark contrast to the Minnesota Broadband Task Force, where there is heavy industry representation. It will be interesting to see if the two groups’ recommendations are on the same page and where the differences are.

The working group will be co-chaired by representatives designated by the Administrator of General Services and the Secretary of Homeland Security (Co-Chairs). So it seems to me as if these folks are in a position to think as much about the cost of not deploying broadband as the cost of deploying. In other words – if we don’t deploy what will be the potential costs to serve and protect the unserved. That to me is hopeful.