Loebsack hears about rural telecom challenges

SULLY — When U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack came to the Sully Telephone Company on Friday, there were no obvious signs of the challenges facing Internet, land-line and wireless service providers in rural Iowa. All the equipment seemed to be humming and running properly.

That’s one of the difficulties with phone lines and other rural communication technology; its functioning problems aren’t always as obvious as a downed telephone pole. There are many behind-the-scenes funding, hardware and regulatory issues, and Loebsack stopped in Sully on Friday as part of his tour to discuss those types of challenges with Sully Telephone Manager Jack DeAngelo.

One of the challenges is getting USF funding evenly distributed to all of the smaller companies and co-ops — ones with small numbers in staff, without the funding-advocate resources of larger companies. The Universal Service Fund is a system of telecommunications subsidies and fees managed by the FCC, intended to promote universal access to telecommunications services through four main types of funds.

DeAngelo walked Loebsack through many aspects of what hardware is used in the Sully area for communications and how the system operates. He also said the “little guy” needs help in making sure there is more than scraps and bones left when it comes to appropriations.

“In one area of funding, $52 million goes to only four companies,” DeAngelo said.

DeAngelo has been in the communications business since the 1970s, mainly with GTE and Iowa Telecom, and the Sully Telephone Company has been around since 1904. The current location, along the east side of the town square, was established in 1985, and DeAngelo gave Loebsack a brief tour of the building.

The stop was part of Loebsack’s “Rural Spectrum & Roundtable Tour” and included Iowa Communications Alliance CEO Dave Duncan of Urbandale. The tour included scheduled stops last week in Hills, Mediapolis, West Liberty, Davenport and Eldridge.

Loebsack has signed on as the first co-sponsor of the Congressional bill H.R. 3103, also known as the Rural Spectrum Accessibility Act of 2015. The bill was introduced in July and recently referred to the Communications and Technology Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where Loebsack is a member. The subcommittee has jurisdiction over broadband issues.

The Rural Spectrum Accessibility Act, authored by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois), calls for incentives for wireless carriers to lease unused spectrum to rural or smaller carriers in order to expand wireless coverage in rural areas.

Loebsack agreed in principle with DeAngelo that the USF would need some work so that smaller-rural providers can share the pie of funding more evenly.

“The USF definitely needs to be reformed,” Loebsack told DeAngelo. “I’ll look into that.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com