U. S. Telecom. Our guest reporter is cat zakrzewski of the washington post. Mr. Spalter, if you could begin by reminding us what u. S. Telecom is and who you represent. Guest thank you very much. Its great to be here. I represent the future of connectivity, members of u. S. Telecom other broadband carriers, innovators and Technology Companies that are all about delivering and Building Networks of the future to all americans. We have Large National providers like at t and verizon and centurylink, wonderful regional providers like consolidated frontier and windstream and Alaska Communications but we also represent a number of our smallest providers serving our Rural Communities across the country. We are proud to know that around our table are seven some most innovative Global TechnologyEnterprises Like cisco and erickson, nec are also part of our effort to really raised the bar when it comes to this Important Technology which is broadband. Host give us a snapshot if you would of the last couple of months for your Member Companies. Guest its been for our Member Companies, for the millions of folks that are in our workforce, as for every Single Person on the globe, a time of seriousness, a time of anxiety and also time to get to work. At the very beginning of this crisis, the International Health emergency, our workforce ran to the danger. We are part of the front line First Responders that continue to work hard to deliver Broadband Service to so many of our fellow citizens that as time what it was needed most. Im glad to see broadband has been standing tall and working well. Host what advances have been made literally almost overnight . Guest it was an amazing moment where on friday literally are entire economy was told to go home. On monday we altered on her internet at her home, when the Global Economy shutdown. The american internet was open, with vibrant and doing its work serving americans. We saw literally in days huge spikes in traffic. By mid april traffic was above 30 of our normal baseline, but still our internet has continued to sustain, thrive into its work. Thats not an accident. Its because of the years of serious investment in innovation that has gone into our networks. Bipartisan policies that have encouraged both our investment and our innovation. We have a great cocktail for success and we prove our worth i think in ways that have been profound. Host to help us explore some of those issues that your Member Companies are facing, cat zakrzewski of the washington post. Thanks for having me on the show, peter. Just to dive right in, i wantd to ask you about some of the inequalities that this moment also exposed, as schools, as workplaces shift online. Put more of a spotlight on some of the Digital Divide in our country. To address those accessibility gaps in some inner cities, in rural areas, what steps do you think washington lawmakers need to take . Guest its an important question, a vital question in such a timely question. The fact is even as weve had huge success in delivering broadband to every part of our nation, there still are americans were left behind, americans living in Rural Communities, americans whose income cant support access to broadband. We are taking that challenge very seriously. We are committed as an association, our Member Companies to close the Digital Divide. What we need to do, recognizing it is really hard to get broadband to some places placen america given the vast differences of a rural area speak you have to stream broadband underground or on top of the ground, across mountain ranges, across vast spans of distance whether simply is no Business Case to deliver it ourselves despite the billions of dollars we are investing every year. We need congress to work with us in strengthening the Publicprivate Partnership, a commitment to universal service to provide adequate resources, the funds that would be necessary to put the broadband Infrastructure Investment debate behind us and close the Digital Divide once and for all. I think we can to. Im optimistic we will. We will. After all, if covid19 assures anything come into Digital Transformation we been able to experience just in the last couple of months is we cant imagine a future with ovi any american that will not be connected to the internet. If a going to close the Digital Divide we need to do it now. If not now, when . It was interesting you mention we cant imagine a future where every american cant be connected to the internet. You think the pandemic has underscored that the internet is an essential utility . Guest i think it is underscored essential miss of this technology, the wonder of this technology and the need for all americans to have it. But i dont agree with the idea that this technology should be considered a utility. After all, theres tremendous competition across the country for Broadband Services. Consumers have a vast array of choices not only in terms of providers but in terms of the technology that is delivered. We also know that we should be extremely proud of just in the generation of the amazing amount of innovation and investment that is gone into great this remarkable technology, this unparalleled technology, the regulars restrictions, the overhang of the bureaucracy that would be required if we were to make it utility with take us backwards, not forwards. It was a generation ago, 1996 when a bipartisan consensus almost unanimously decided to the 1996 telecom act that we should move beyond treating our technologies like the internet in a regulated monopoly, and it stokes the engines of competition. That partisan light touch framework that created the consensus gave us the internet that has taken us to unimaginable heights of innovation and has served us so well through this pandemic. To go down these ideological polemical rabbit holes that some foot easily want to do by making our internet just another utility like our water or are electric services would not take us forward. It would take us backwards. That wont benefit our nation, it wont benefit our Competitive Position and it will not and if it are families come enterprises, students, parents who need the services so much and we need to continue to innovate to grow as we move we are experiencing now with 5g. Host you said no to categorizing the internet as a utility but youve also call for Publicprivate Partnership. Is that through usf, through an infrastructure bill . How do you see that . Guest there has been an ongoing Publicprivate Partnership to advance the National Policy goal that weve establish which we call universal service. The universal service fund, its components like lifeline, highcost programs, Rural Health Care programs have worked very well to actually expand the ability of broadband to serve americans where it is needed most. Right now theres great news that we are on the cusp of moving forward for a Game Changing new program called the rural Digital Opportunity fund. The end of october the week 16 billion auction off and was called a descending reverse auction that will deliver Broadband Services to unserved communities in Rural America and 6 million homes are potentially going to be served by this fund and then we will move forward to expand the program to future phases. In the longer term what we need is a National Compact to understand that the job a of fy getting the remaining 1820 million americans who still dont have broadband because of the distance is that they live from Broadband Service, Rural America, its going to require serious attention by congress and also serious resources. We need Congress Finally to invest, we need them to put that only the Political Capital on the table but the actual capital on the table but we will get the job done finally, providing the resources to love the Digital Divide to go in the Rearview Mirror as nation so we can move forward with truly connected nation, understanding it and realizing the benefits of universal service for all. Host can you attach a dollar figure to that amount that you think is needed . Guest there have been some modeling thats been done. Were working hard to try to establish what the resources that would be required. There vincent congressional estimates, some have been advancing in current legislation that is pending before congress, but the amount is 100 billion. We know that its going to take a lot of effort and its going to take some serious work. But in the context of the broader investment in infrastructure that we need to make, which we know has said to be be in the area of 1 trillion, 100 billion to advance the promise of universal service for all americans to allow everybody to realize the benefits of our Digital Transformation, seems to be an adequate figure to the task of getting this worked under we will work with congress to do that evaluation. , lets go back to cat zakrzewski. Shifting gears a little bit, i wanted to ask about the keep americans connected pledge which Many Companies signed on to an order to keep americans online even if they were not able to pay their bills through the end of june during the coronavirus pandemic. Chairman pai has called on companies to extended through july. How long can Telecom BroadbandCompanies Continue to offer that for business to customers who might be having some Financial Difficulties right now . Guest let me start the answer by saying that from very early on our companies, our members are just telecom stood up tall and stood up quickly to not only embrace the commitments, voluntary commitments that chairman pai and the sec had asked of us to keep america connected pledge but to go well above and beyond that pledge to really do whatever is necessary to keep our customers come both residential enterprise connected to this Important Technology called the internet. Tens of millions of dollars have been invested by compass like at t and verizon and centurylink to do Everything Possible to ensure that those who were impacted by this National Health emergency can maintain service. Our small providers, rural providers across the country from western montana providing wifi hotspots to some of the Rural Communities. They had the most Rural School Districts in the country in their service area. In west texas bbt rerouting broadband resources that have been in local schools that have been closed for making this available to homes were some of the students who are not yet have access to broadband could get online and continued their educations. These stories have been seen across the country, and that commitment continues. Its an ironclad value that our companies have had, do you have and will continue to work with our customers through thick and thin, through good times entering these were difficult times to keep them as customers first and foremost but also to work with them individually to support their needs to ensure they can maintain connectivity. Its not always easy, but our companies are committed to do this work and its come at a cost. Some of her companies themselves are small enterprises. Some of them are feeling the financial challenges and the financial strains that this pandemic has the broadly caused so many of our neighbors and friends across the country. But still despite that, they are standing tall and doing whatever they can to continue to commit to their current masters to the customers and communities the broadband will be maintained and continued to be a tool to help all of us stay connected and get through this challenge that we are all facing. How long can the Companies Really commit to continuing that without perhaps additional funding from the federal government, given those constraints you just laid out . Guest it really is an individual question, depending on the scale and size and resources of the many hundreds of companies that have committed to this pledge. Each of them are going to have to evaluate that based on their specific circumstances. I know all of our companies are going to do whatever they can to work individually with customers that might be having challenges to continue services. I know as well that many of our companies and our association have been working across the aisle with members of congress and the administration and also various state authorities to see what can be done to provide additional resources, tools to support our customers, communities that are in need. Those are real needs. The good news is that congress has already taken steps to things like the cares act to provide really innovative programs that event quickly stood up, 200 million to support telemedicine that went out the door serving Rural Communities and communities across the country in record time billions are being allocated to the department of education to support our nations schools to allow them to get the technology they need for their students. There are shortterm needs but also longterm needs that we have to address to advance not only making sure americans can stay connected but that all americans, regardless of where you live or what their income will be, will be connected in the future. There has been some concern about a second wave and what the next year looks like in the united states. Based on what you have seen over the last few months, what steps do you think your Member Companies need to take to make sure theyre prepared for the next school year offer perhaps telemedicine during flu season in the upcoming winter months . Guest first of all let me say to your question i hope it will not be borne out by the fact that will be able to put the covid National Health emergency guide is so quickly. I think broadband resources and networks are part of that solution. Heres the good news. The networks were literally designed for demand. The investments weve over the last generation amounted to over 7 trillion have gotten us to a point where our networks are showing us we can withstand the added needs of our citizens, of our customers, of our communities. We have the capacity in the network to ensure that distancelearning needs to be met, telemedicine needs to be met and at the same time we can be home and communicate with our families and stream netflix and watch hulu shows and games online. Its extraordinary to see how this Innovative Community of broadband providers tested up technologies that have come through in this National Time of need and continue to come through. I think that when the history of this error is written we will look back and say this was a moment of technology brilliance and all look back with pride and a sense of real accomplishment of whats been done and we should. Host just to extrapolate a little bit, has Online Education been successful . Theres been some critiques about accountability and whether or not it truly is something that works. Guest i have four distance learners in my home. I know there are challenges to adapting from a chalk and talk School Environment to a virtualized world of the new classrooms. All of us as parents, as caregivers who have learners at home who have had to stood up and become teachers ourselves come but are our students, our schools, our communities are the underlying broadband resources and infrastructure that is allowing our students to go online. Theres been a recent study showing that of the ten largest countries in the world, peter, measured in terms of speed degradation during into this crisis, the u. S. Showed the least speed degradation of any of those ten countries. Thats a testament to smart policies but also policies, incentivizing investment that will allow us to continue to men and continue to learn by distance. Im pretty confident that is going to continue. Host would use a Democratic Administration elected this year as as a threo an open and free innovative network, i. E. , with Net Neutrality come back into play . Guest you know, the dna of American Innovation policy has always been based on a bipartisan vision that if we can take a light touch, a restrained approach to ensuring that our internet can grow and flourish, flourish and internet providers can compete with each other, americans will