Gigi Sohn on Why San Antonio Needs to Build Its Own Broadband Network

Bridging the digital divide or ensuring every home has access to broadband internet may be within San Antonio’s reach after years of work.

The federal government has committed billions of dollars to states to address this problem, and Texas plans to award grants later this year.

The Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio is hosting a meeting Thursday at the San Antonio Water System headquarters to discuss its myriad efforts.

The keynote speaker will be Gigi Sohn, a long-time consumer rights defender.

Sohn was nominated to the Federal Communications Commission but was not confirmed due to overwhelming opposition from telecommunications companies.

TPR interviewed her about what San Antonio should do with its digital future, her unsuccessful fight for FCC approval and why she has no intention of changing that.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

TPR
Why are you in San Antonio?

Gigi Sohn
I’m coming to San Antonio to basically support the city in building its own broadband network. So 650 communities across the country have decided that the broadband that they’re getting from AT&T and Comcasts and Charters around the world is not meeting their community needs. So they’re building their own and they own the infrastructure. That way they can determine whether everybody is using it, they can determine at what price point particularly poor people can get broadband, and they can make their city smarter. I’m there to basically, you know, raise the flag for what I call public broadband or community-owned broadband and say that San Antonio should go ahead and take matters into its own hands and take care of its own future.

TPR
San Antonio has long flirted with the idea of ​​creating its own municipal broadband network. Texas law is somewhat prohibitive, but federal law seems to allow it. There’s always been a gray area where people who don’t want to do anything claim we exist, so why is it now the case for San Antonio?

Gigi Sohn
It’s not a question of “why now”, but “why hasn’t this happened yet?”

Of course, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that broadband internet access is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.

I have believed this for a decade. But, you know, a lot of people still considered it a luxury in 2019 and early 2020. But when kids had to sit outside a Taco Bell in Southern California to be able to use Wi-Fi to do homework because school was closed.

I think a light bulb went off for most people. And in many cities, we found that, particularly in poor communities, people didn’t have it. Because in large part, they couldn’t afford it, and in some cases, companies just didn’t want to build in their neighborhoods because they wouldn’t make a lot of money doing it.

TPR
Do you think the pandemic has made people change their thinking about luxury and the necessity of broadband?

Gigi Sohn
I absolutely believe in the pandemic and some of the stories that have come with it, some of the images that have come with it, kids using Wi-Fi to do their schoolwork and during school activities, not doing their homework, but during school activities. You know, people doing their jobs, sitting in the Walmart parking lot. I mean, there have been dozens of stories, dozens of stories like that. I actually did a room on Sunday morning at CBS. They actually built a studio in my backyard.

I think that was reflected in Congress passing $65 billion in a bipartisan infrastructure bill to not only deploy new networks, particularly in rural areas where, as you know, many of them have no capacity, no network, but also for a subsidy to enable people to use the Internet.

TPR
How important do you think local governments are in efforts to achieve affordable and universal broadband access?

Gigi Sohn
Local authorities play a key role in ensuring that all residents have access to the Internet. So I was talking about the broadband subsidy that was part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill and was called the Affordable Connectivity Program. It cost $14.2 billion for a 30-month grant, or $75 if you live on tribal lands, to provide internet access to low-income households. Well, that $14.2 billion isn’t anymore; has been completely exploited. There are over 23 million households. So about 50 something million people in the US benefit from this subsidy. But that money has run out. Congress does not deem it appropriate to extend this program.

The Federal Communications Commission, which has the authority to set its own subsidies, has not seen fit to do so. So whose lack does this consist of? It belongs to states and local communities.

And that’s why more and more local communities are considering building their own networks, because they can once again dictate whether low-income families get broadband, at what price, or at all, and make sure that everyone gets it, not just the privileged people who live in wealthy neighborhoods.

I think that since the beginning of the year, about 50 new public and municipal networks have been created across the country.

My point is that one thing that I think is really important is that access to broadband is really a social justice issue. People confuse everything with technical analysis, you know, technical details and wiring and then this and that. But what it’s really about is whether it’s possible to be a full participant in our society, our economy, our health care and education systems.

TPR
About two months ago, the FCC voted to make broadband a public service again, which was one of your most important achievements. And under the leadership of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Does this mean the return of net neutrality?

Gigi Sohn
Net neutrality is back for now. There are challenges in the courts. No wonder if Donald Trump is re-elected, President, he’s gone again. And that’s one of the things that drives me crazy, I’m so happy that the FCC has reinstated broadband as a public utility and reinstated net neutrality.

This can be changed with the new government. Congress has clearly neglected its duty to classify broadband as a tool to determine the scope of authority the FCC should have over broadband. And they’ve been asked for almost 25 years, can you say with certainty what authority the FCC has and denies over broadband? So do you have this ping-pong game under the Democrats? It’s a tool, and Republicans are not a tool. That’s because Congress failed to do its job.

TPR
And why is this so? Why do you think they didn’t do their (job)?

Gigi Sohn
I think it’s quite simple. (laughter) Telecommunications that don’t want the FCC to have and cable operators that don’t want the FCC to have any oversight of broadband. Make a very big contribution. Unfortunately, I know this from my own experience.

TPR
The personal experience you speak of is your FCC nomination. Were you surprised by the level of opposition to your nomination?

Gigi Sohn
I was very surprised by the level of the opponent. I expected there would be opposition. Listen, I’m a lifelong consumer advocate. I faced the largest companies in the world. That’s why I angered a lot of people.

But I’ve also worked with each of them, you know, throughout my career. There has never been a time where there hasn’t been an industry that I haven’t joined at one point or another. They knew me as an honest broker. They also knew I wasn’t an extreme left wahoo. But they painted this portrait of me and they spent a lot of money on it.

We will never be able to estimate exactly how much money they spent to reject my nomination. However, I think that it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was in the millions.

TPR
You were exposed three times, right?

Gigi Sohn
Three confirmation hearings. Yes. I have been nominated three times. I was nominated in October 2021. I was renominated in January 2022 and in January 2023. I was nominated three times. I had three confirmation hearings.

But that wasn’t enough. Because unfortunately, the corporate Democrats didn’t feel like they’d rather check with Comcast or one of the other studios than confirm the president’s pick for FTC commissioner.

TPR
I don’t want to overlook Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s influence on this process. I just Googled it before. I Googled “Gigi Sohn” and Ted Cruz was very, very high on the list.

When you were running for the nomination, you continued to present yourself as a radical left-wing party activist and claimed that you were a supporter of censorship and wanted to censor the speech of conservatives.

Where do you think his attacks came from? Were they insincere? Do you think he was genuinely concerned?

Gigi Sohn
I think he was being disingenuous and I’ll tell you why.

I met with him for 45 minutes, and in fairness to him, many Republican senators on the Commerce Committee refused to meet with me at all. He met with me for 45 minutes, we stood face to face. But afterward, it was clear that he had a certain level of respect for me.

And at my first audition, he gave me the opportunity to explain why I was not a censor. And I mentioned that I had the support of two of the most conservative cable channels, Newsmax and OAN. And, you know, he gave me about three, four minutes to explain myself, which was not how we behaved in the second and third auditions.

From what I understand, and again I can’t prove this, it was Rupert Murdoch who picked up the phone and said, “What the hell are you doing?” Rupert Murdoch attacked me in every possible way. He wrote an article against me in the Wall Street Journal five times. There were at least a dozen Fox News segments, The New York Post attacked me.

(Murdoch) just used all his media to come after me. And I think that’s what happened

TPR
Yet you gave a speech at your graduation last month in which you said you wouldn’t change a thing about that fight?

Gigi Sohn
Absolutely not. I deserved validation. I haven’t done anything wrong before. I didn’t do anything wrong during. Like I said, during the speech, people said, “Well, why don’t you apologize for some of the things you did?” And why don’t you step down from the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is a libertarian organization that protects people’s digital rights. And I said, I won’t do it. This isn’t important enough.

And what’s interesting is, you know, after I got confirmed, I have this platform, I’ve been traveling all over the country preaching the gospel of universal and community broadband, and I have maybe a bigger audience now than I would have if I was a member of the FCC.

And the good news is that if I were in government, I would really have to watch what I say. And now I really don’t have to watch what I say. And I don’t plan to. I plan to tell the truth, even if that sometimes means criticizing the Democratic Party, the FCC, or the Democratic administration.

I’ve praised Republicans and criticized Democrats my entire career. To me, this isn’t about politics. This is about policy.