FAIRBURY - Statewide organizations that work to increase internet access throughout the state are warning that recent federal revisions will now inhibit Nebraska's ability to expand broadband and fiber internet services, especially in rural areas.

Visiting with the Jefferson County Commissioners this month, representatives from the Southeast Nebraska Development District (SENDD) painted a dire picture of the future of fiber internet in Nebraska, displaying maps that show more than half of the locations across the state that had been identified as eligible for high-speed broadband infrastructure aren't eligible anymore.

That's all due to a change in priorities and in policy determined by a national agency last month - an agency that will ultimately get the final say over whether providers in specific local areas are able to offer fiber options or be forced to go with a cheaper, less reliable alternative.

"[Internet providers] are more than allowed, they’re encouraged, to fund the cheapest option, with really no scrutiny applied beyond that. So it’s highly likely that a lot of these are going to end up going to wireless solutions, going to satellite solutions," said Oliver Borchers-Williams, SENDD's Director of Broadband Development.

On June 6, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), part of the Department of Commerce, released a BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice, which "completely upended" the Broadband Equity and Access Deployment program, which provided $405 million to help the state of Nebraska implement fiber internet solutions across the state. 

Now, NTIA has adjusted its eligibility criteria, meaning areas with access to the unlicensed fixed wireless coverage will now be considered "served" and not eligible for the BEAD program and potential fiber or other options - in other words, those places will be considered as if they already have access to reliable internet, which is not always the case. 

This "goalpost-moving," as Borchers-Williams put it, means that more than 15,000 locations across the state that had been identified as eligible for BEAD no longer are - not because they all have serviceable internet access, but because the standard for what is considered serviceable internet access has been dropped so substantially. Statewide, 52 percent of the eligible locations were eliminated; in Jefferson County specifically, the number of eligible locations dropped from 226 to 130, a reduction of 42 percent.

"I’m sure you guys, just based off of conversations with your constituents, have probably heard more than 130 instances each, saying ‘We have bad internet, when are you going to fix it?’" Borchers-Williams said in his conversation with the commissioners. "Well, the definitions set in the program now have kind of broadened the criteria for what’s considered ‘served,’ to now include unlicensed fixed wireless. Now they’ve overwritten the state maps and put unlicensed fixed wireless into the mix, so we’re looking at a completely different playing field."

The restructure also imposes a new scoring rubric for future providers, encouraging them to prioritize cost-effectiveness over all other criteria, including potential effectiveness of the internet coverage itself. Fiber internet is no longer considered the best option when it is not the cheapest option, and ultimately, the NTIA will get the final say over what internet option is provided and where, even over local overseers like the Nebraska Broadband Office.

"We should use every technology, every tool at our disposal to connect all the locations that we can, but we also have to recognize that it’s not apples to apples," Borchers-Williams said. "Fiber is the best option in terms of scalability, it can really easily meet these future needs. Wireless will have its place, but really what are lot of people are concerned that the BEAD program is going to do is funnel billions to some of these satellite companies and just declare ‘mission accomplished.’ But we’re on the ground, we know that’s not going to be true."

"[Wireless] technology has its inherent limitations. It’s good for certain places, if you don’t have any other options, but fiber is always going to be your best option if you can," said Brad Eisenhauer, one of Jefferson County's I.T. directors.

Following the leads of other counties like Fillmore and Lincoln, The Jefferson County Commissioners approved a draft letter to state and federal elected officials, which SENDD hopes will help them understand the widespread local implications of these national decisions.

"[These letters are] the best opportunity right now to at least put some input, some feedback, let our federal delegation know that these changes are not the best for rural Nebraska. I know that fiber has been the focus of a lot of our counties, and with the goalposts being moved that’s going to be an opportunity that we are leaving on the table," Borchers-Williams said.

"We’ve had conversations with our constituents, the citizens we represent, and we’ve told them fiber is coming – well, now that’s kind of up in the air," said Jefferson County commissioner Mark Schoenrock. "We will draft a letter to Senator Tom Brandt and to our federal delegation – we will do our part, hopefully that will do some good."  

Schoenrock credited his Gage County counterpart Emily Haxby - who is one of the county commissioners that serves on the SENDD board, along with Danielle Schwab in Jefferson County and many others across the region - for helping lay the foundation for broadband in Nebraska, efforts that have been undermined by these recent federal initiatives. 

"She did a lot of work to get a lot of those unserved and underserved data points corrected on the federal map, and that led to an infusion of $405 million dollars of federal money into Nebraska, based on those data points," he said. "And Emily got a lot of those data points corrected – we would have had a whole lot less money if it wasn’t for her work. But now, that's gone away."

There is a little bit of good news: a ruling in a Supreme Court case [FCC v. Consumers' Research] upheld the federal Universal Service Fund program, meaning some carriers like Diode and Great Plains will still be able to move forward on active fiber construction projects in areas such as Reynolds. In fact, Diode will be celebrating the culmination of some of that work in Jansen on Monday. But, especially with these federal changes of priorities, much more work remains to be done to ensure rural Nebraskans can get and stay connected in a world that relies ever more heavily on Internet access even just to perform many essential functions of life in the 21st Century.