Yesterday I wrote about the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s take on the Minnesota broadband, regulation, industry and federal funding (BEAD.) Today MinnPost is taking a look at the issue including the impact of the end of ACP (Affordable Connectivity Program) and the assumption that providers will be able to step up to offer low-cost access to service without it…

When the president of a trade association representing Minnesota’s telecom industry was asked how many of his members would participate in a $652 million federal program aimed at providing internet access to those who lack it, he was quick to respond.

“Zero,” said Brent Christensen, president and CEO of Minnesota Telecom Alliance.

His group represents 70 companies that provide advanced telecommunications services, including wireless video and high-speed internet, to Minnesota’s metropolitan and rural communities. Many of the smaller companies in his organization already operate in hard-to-reach rural areas and are eager to expand their services.

But Christensen said none of them would bid for the federal grants because of the regulations that would come with it — especially the requirement to provide low-cost services to low-income households in exchange for grants that would allow internet providers to build out their networks.

“To put those obligations on small rural providers is a hell of a roadblock,” Christensen said. “Most of our members are small and can’t afford to offer a low-cost option.”

MinnPost also spoke to the MN Cable Communications Association who were in agreement with MTA. And the argument expanded to include the issue of required prevailing wages for broadband builders…

Especially when those federal regulations are coupled with new labor requirements imposed on the internet provider industry by the state Legislature earlier this year.

Those new regulations include requiring companies who receive state  grants to pay workers a “prevailing wage,” a basic hourly rate paid on public works projects to a majority of workers in a particular occupation. The federal government does not require BEAD grant recipients to pay the prevailing wage.

Christensen said there are no telecom jobs on the federal government’s  prevailing wage list, which the state statute requires internet providers to use. So companies in Minnesota would have to pay more because they would have to use a similar, but higher-paying, classification.

There is action happening that could change some of the rules…

“At this point, we haven’t finalized anything with NTIA,” said Bree Maki, executive director of the Office of Broadband Development. “And so it’s still sort of a work in progress, making sure that, you know, we’re holistically looking again at what is affordable for people in order to have the services, but also (asking), ‘How can we make sure providers provide the services?’”

Since a final plan has not been approved, the state’s internet service providers are lobbying the Office of Broadband Development, and in some cases the NTIA, seeking alterations.

“We’re still in a spot where there is hope that the process can be changed,” Wolf said.