SkyBOX: Broadband, Rural America & the NRTC Juggernaut
If the powers that be in D.C. are serious about bringing broadband to rural America – and if talk about switching the Universal Service Fund from a telephone to a broadband focus doesn't make that clear then I don't know what will – then I strongly suggest that they hop into their government-issue sedans and take a drive out toward Dulles. Right to the headquarters of the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) which sits near the edge of the airport.
That's where rural America, connectivity and the future all come together. And the guy who knows more about that than anyone I've ever met isn't going to be hanging around for long. After 23 years as top dog at the cooperative, Bob Phillips plans to retire at the end of May. But he's still got a whole lot of very interesting ideas and plans for (once again) helping folks in the boonies leapfrog the rest of the nation ... and a lot of what he's doing, today, helps point the way to the future.
I got a chance to chat with Bob late last week and while our conversation could fill volumes (and I'll share more as the opportunities arise) here is one very major area to keep your eyes on: The way to get rural America truly connected, Bob believes, is to bring video all the way out to the edges.
"Our members know that the future is broadband in rural America," he notes. "And they're challenged to increase broadband adoption in rural homes. I believe that video is a huge attractor for consumers and that can help pay the cost" of getting high speed services spread across the nation.
Of course, Phillips knows a bit about that. He – and $112 million collected from NRTC members – was there at the start of DIRECTV right along with Eddy Hartenstein and Jim Ramo, who built the service from within the bowels of GM, and Joe Clayton and the late Mike O'Hara who pressed the first boxes through RCA.
That Phillips says, was certainly the No. 1 accomplishment for the NRTC. (And one with plenty of highs, lows and very close calls.) But now watch what Phillips and team are doing with broadband:
Believing that video will provide the interest and money to get the systems built – and that consumers are today drawn most strongly to mobile services – the NRTC not only owns its own LTE wireless service, it also has an interest in WiMax technologies and, most tellingly, it owns part of something called Avail TVN.
That is a transport partner delivering IPTV services for some NRTC members plus it focuses on pay-per-view (anyone remember the old TVN?) and next generation content.
"We hope to move content closer to the edge," Phillips says. "And we think the cost of storage will allow for that."
Of course in order to build the systems to get this content out there to customers willing to pay for it, several things must be accomplished.
Among those many things: "Rural providers must have what the consumer wants," Phillips says. "So packaging, pricing and flexibility are critical ... and video companies have got to recognize that the old packages won't work in the future. We see that on the front line in rural America."
That, of course, takes us to a la carte ... and the potential pitfalls of the proposed Comcast/NBC-U merger ... and the importance of local content ... and the intersection of the smart grid with communications ... and ....
But if you want to talk to Bob about it, don't wait. Come June, he's gone fishing.•
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