For Immediate Release
Contact: Hillary Crowder, 703-351-2086, [email protected]
Arlington, Va. (August 20, 2015)—The Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) hosted its annual Congressional Broadband Tour, August 17–20, in Kentucky and Tennessee.
FRS and NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association staff, along with congressional and government staff, toured several NTCA member companies and their service territories.The purpose of the trip was to educate congressional and government staff on the geographic and financial challenges of providing robust broadband services to support education, health care and public safety in rural areas.
Tour participants visited Mountain Rural Telephone Cooperative (West Liberty, Ky.), Peoples Rural Telephone Cooperative (McKee, Ky.), Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative (Gainesboro, Tenn.), DTC Communications (Alexandria, Tenn.), Ben Lomand Telephone Cooperative (McMinnville, Tenn.), North Central Telephone Cooperative (Lafayette, Tenn.) and Tennessee Independent Telecommunication Group (Nashville, Tenn.).
The group participated in educational sessions on the Universal Service Fund, challenges in providing broadband to different geographical areas, the NTCA Smart Rural Community initiative, rural economic development and the rural call completion epidemic.