For Immediate Release
Contact: Hillary Crowder Smith, 703-351-2086, [email protected]
Arlington, Va. (January 28, 2016)—NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association today issued the following statement from Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield in response to the recently released 2016 Broadband Progress Report discussed this afternoon at the FCC’s open meeting:
“Federal law requires reasonably comparable services at reasonably comparable rates in rural and urban America. Members of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association know firsthand how difficult it is to deploy and sustain rural broadband, and understand better than anyone that this national goal is not something that can be achieved quickly or easily—it takes a lot of commitment over the long haul.
“But as long as we have universal service programs that are explicitly built and funded only to achieve lower levels of service in rural America as compared to urban areas, we only risk falling further and further behind over time in meeting that national goal. We look forward to working with the FCC to put the high-cost universal service programs back on track to ensure true reasonable comparability as required by law. Plain and simple, we all need to stop accepting a separate, lesser standard for the goal of acceptable broadband in rural areas.”
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NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is the premier association representing nearly 900 independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovation in rural and small-town America. NTCA advocates on behalf of its members in the legislative and regulatory arenas, and it provides training and development; publications and industry events; and an array of employee benefit programs. In an era of exploding technology, deregulation and marketplace competition, NTCA's members are leading the IP evolution for rural consumers, delivering technologies that make rural communities vibrant places in which to live and do business. Because of their efforts, rural America is fertile ground for innovation in economic development and commerce, education, health care, government services, security and smart energy use. Visit us at www.ntca.org.