Executive Order 13821: Rural Broadband Internet

What the Executive Order Says

Executive Order (EO) 13821 is entitled "Streamlining and Expediting Requests to Locate Broadband Facilities in Rural America".  It has 4 sections and was originally issued in January of 2018.

Section 1

This section defines the policy.  It first states that internet access is rural areas is a problem that can be an obstruction to growth, development, and jobs.  The actions being taken are indicated as aiming for regulatory reform and reduction.  The last paragraph indicates that continued implementation of section 6409 of PL 112-96 shall be pursued.

Section 2

This section has 5 different subsections.  The Administrator of General Services is directed to make a review of the common form application and based on the review, due in July of 2018, make changes to the form.  (c) directs various bureaucrats to review and approve requests to mount antennas on Federal Property. (d) and (e) mandate that quarterly reporting is generated on the application process.

Section 3

This section includes definitions for the terms "Federal property managing agencies" and "Federal real property".

Section 4

This section contains general provisions that limit the authority of the Executive Order so as not to appear to override existing laws or create any liabilities for the US Federal Government.

My commentary

So overall, this policy amplifies a policy that was created by a previous congress and simply creates some reporting requirements around it.  Now the GSA has to report the number of applications that were received to mount microwave band antennas on the roofs of federal buildings.  I have not been able to find these reports anywhere.  How exactly this helps get broadband to everyday rural citizens is a bit mysterious to me.  I don't think this EO was terribly effective to change anything.
There are some political ironies in the issue of this EO.  First, the current administration is highlighting and endorsing a policy that was created under the previous administration.  The current administration has been strongly pushing for elimination and relaxation of regulations and why this seems only to be a step sideways instead of in the direction of elimination is unclear to me.
I can see that cell towers and similar communications array facilities are subject to the NIMBY effect where everyone wants these to be built, but just not on, beside or near their particular home or business.  The 112th congress seemed to have it right in mandating that it be allowed to have such communication arrays put on federal land when necessary due to local resistance to siting.  One of the sub-texts here is that siting requests that are being held up on environmental impact or other such concerns are the culprit.  Of course there is only a limited amount of space on federal land and the federal government needs to hold some in reserve for future internal needs.  As such, I suspect that the agencies where there have been proposals have jealously guarded the capacity.
In terms of implementation, I have found little to support that any real action happened after the issue of the EO.  However, this FCC report seems to echo a number of the concerns listed in the EO about the slowness of the process for siting approvals.  This topic has been discussed often and for quite some time.  One opinion piece that I found attributed the slowness of rural broadband expansion to the FCC dragging their feet on any number of regulatory or permitting issues.  This EO was just preceded by a memo to the Secretary of the Interior.  I think that the issue and vacuous nature of the memo and EO point to policy arguments within the administration.  Expanding broadband internet may not be appealing to the free market (well, really it is an oligopoly) and I feel that some government intervention in the market is warranted.