Vermont’s Do-Gooding State Broadband DirectorChristine Hallquist explains to broadband.io that “In 2016 I got on a do-gooder streak. I became a do-gooder. I said to myself, I can't go into retirement watching without doing something.”She laughs in a way that’s almost apologetic, saying that readers can ‘do the math’ of what happened in 2016 to inspire her, but she was so activated that she became the democratic nominee for governor in Vermont in 2018.While she lost to Governor Phil Scott, who she says is very popular ‘for good reason,’ she became part of his administration in 2021 when he recruited her to run the broadband office.Governor Scott clearly remembered that broadband was a key piece of Hallquist’s 2018 platform when he appointed her Executive Director of Vermont Community Broadband Board (VCBB). Prior to this she was formerly the CEO of Vermont Electric cooperative, which serves a majority of Vermont. She recalls that in 2003 her board of directors asked her to get broadband to rural Vermont.“I've been working on this ever since, have tried every type of technology, and early on, probably by about 2008, I personally concluded that if it's not fiber, it's not broadband,” explains Hallquist.Already Off and RunningDuring Hallquist’s first three years as Executive Director, the state’s seen its fiber broadband coverage double from 25% of Vermont’s broadband serviceable locations (BSLs) coverage to 50%.“Our Vermont legislature has concluded that we're going to get fiber to every address in the state, making us the only state committed to that,” says Hallquist. “By the end of 2028, we should be over 95%.”P3s Critical to SuccessHallquist recounts her own 2021 estimates on what it would take to get fiber connections across the state with and without private investments, “I said, if you build it, if you don't take advantage of public private partnerships, it's going to cost $1.2 billion. If you take advantage of private partners, it'll be closer to $550 million.”Hallquist says that under the leadership of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, legislation has been passed to better enable public-private partnerships to get fiber to every address. Fiber, she explains, is critical in Vermont because “wireless does not work in Vermont because of our geography, our mountains and hills as well as the fact we’re greater than 80% forest lands.”CUDs and CPFWhat has worked in Vermont, following the ECFiber model (founded in 2007 in Southeast Vermont), are Communications Union Districts, (CUDs) that were enabled by legislation in 2015. These CUDs are developed in response to the rural broadband challenge and the idea that banding together, communities are more likely to find a solution. There are TEN CUDs in Vermont, many established shortly after the pandemic. Eight of these ten are servicing customers.Most recently, Vermont Community Broadband Board awarded a $20.2 million construction grant to CUD Northwest Fiberworx. “We’re using CPF ($113 million), SLFR (State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds) as well as some state funds to bring us close to $530 million in grant funding that’s out right now,” says Hallquist.To-date of this funding, VCBB reports awarding a total of $206 million for broadband buildout in Vermont.BEAD is Fiber First in VermontVermont will have approximately 25,000 deconflicted unserved and underserved locations that BEAD will need to assist in covering. One ‘catch’ reports Hallquist is that while Vermont is concentrating on connecting the ‘on-grid’ locations, there’s a preponderance (approximately 70%) of off-grid locations that are hunting camps and only occupied a few weeks a year. “We’ve told the NTIA that we're not going to serve hunting camps and I think we’re close to agreement on that,” reports Hallquist.But back to the program, Vermont was allotted $229 million in BEAD funding. The challenge process is complete, and the state awaits approval of Volume Two, which Hallquist reports as ‘getting close.’With that, Vermont plans on starting the bidding process either later this month or in August with what’s being called a ‘pre-proposal’ phase.Vermont is requiring interested bidders to participate in this process that will out-of-the-gate define interest and even allocation. “If somebody comes into the pre-proposal phase with a plan to serve the entire area with fiber, then when we’ll greenlight them for the proposal process and we won't consider anything else,” says Hallquist. “The thing we want is 100% fiber first. For the areas that propose mixed technologies in the pre-proposal phase, then we'll leave that open for bid in round one. In other words, if we've got one bid or more, 100% fiber will decide in the pre-proposal process, who's going to get the bid and if someone can deliver that, we'll immediately start,” says Hallquist.Vermont’s bid areas will match the CUDs as 218 of Vermont’s 252 towns are in CUDs. Hallquist predicts that many of the remaining unserved and underserved will be very small pockets that can be reached by existing carriers with line extension assistance.Hallquist is very optimistic as there’s already a great deal having been built and being built in the past few years. But she reports that “If we get no bids, then we’ll look at changing the bid areas and reaching out ourselves [to potential carriers].”We're hoping to finalize all this by the end of December.Is It Enough?Vermont attributes receiving 2x what was predicted in some circles for BEAD. Hallquist attributes this to a very aggressive approach to broadband map challenges before allocations were announced.But will state funding, CPF/ARPA money, and BEAD be enough to bring Vermont “Universal Access?” Hallquist thinks so when she says that “It gets us there with some level of service.”This is when our conversation turns to the BEAD program, its guidelines, and the challenges. First up, the match component is a big barrier for community networks, so Vermont’s governor has tried to remove this by allocating an additional $30 million for the purpose of covering matching funds for communities. “We think we can come up with enough match to cover our community networks full and then they can get their infrastructure paid for while at the same time we're counting on those private partners to hit some of the areas and come in with their own match,” explains Hallquist.No Shortage of OpinionsHallquist was the 17th State leader I’ve interviewed, and one thing I walked away from the conversation with was that she’d really have a lot of positive impact on the country and the program, given the chance.Rather than brushing past these, it’s important to hear what this industry veteran had to say and consider her advice and whether anything can be applied to BEAD moving forward. She calls the BEAD program ‘flawed from the start’ for numerous reasons, including:“If you look at how FDR setup electric cooperatives, he signed an order to say that these will be regulated territories to prevent encroachment. But in this case, we're doing it wrong as we're allowing encroachment to happen, making the business case worse.”“We are not going to reach our nationwide [Universal Access] goal because of the match requirement. We don’t anticipate any unbid areas but states like Texas may see up to 40% of no bid areas.”“A lot of the no-bid areas are the result of simple math. My math shows, and I haven't had anybody really argue this, that if you get less than four paying customers per mile, even if you give the network away, you can't support it because the operation and maintenance costs. You still don't have a business, sustainable business plan. So, I've been pounding on the NTIA to say, look, this is not going to work.”“There’s not enough capacity with a limited number of line workers in our country. You must use a first-class line worker and there's just not enough capacity in this country to get it done. I’m not sure what we can do about this as the cows are out of the barn.”The Vermont Community Broadband BoardCurrently eleven people work within the VCBB, a number Hallquist calls a ‘healthy number.’ They’re overseen by an independent board made up two members assigned by the governor, one by the state house, one by the state senate, rounded out to five total members with a member elected by the public.“I come from the private sector, so I had no idea what kind of a bureaucracy I was stepping into, explains Hallquist. “I’m grateful to have folks on my staff that can help me navigate the ins and outs of government bureaucracy.”Hallquist admits that she was ‘worried,’ about being able to have the staff needed because the public sector can’t compete with compensation rates in the private sector. But today she’s thrilled with her team saying, “These people come here because they're mission focused, really committed to the job, and a passionate group of people.”“I told my staff that this is pretty much an impossible task, universal access, right? With all the forces going against us, we must be perfect to execute this thing. And I think we will be. We've got a lot of help with a good board and a very supportive state. I don't think all the states have what we have. We’re lucky. It's about the whole collective will of everyone to make sure everything comes together to make this succeed.”
Doug Adams
