Shirley Bloomfield, Chief Executive Officer of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, today testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture on NTCA’s broadband priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill. Those priorities include meeting the needs of consumers for decades to come by supporting high-speed symmetrical broadband networks, streamlining the permitting process and identifying eligible areas and providers to ensure that deployment funds are targeted to where they are most needed.
In the hearing, “Closing the Digital Divide in Rural America,” Bloomfield stressed that “the minimum speed and other performance criteria for receiving federal funding must be determined by the needs of rural consumers and not set by the maximum capabilities some in the industry feel they can offer.” NTCA has advocated that those seeking network deployment loans and grants should be required to meet a minimum 100/100 Mbps speed threshold when delivering services in rural America.
“With so much on the line in terms of dollars and unserved customers, this is not the time to award participation trophies. Setting standards is not a matter of technological neutrality – it is a matter of public interest and fiscal responsibility.”
Bloomfield’s full testimony can be viewed on the committee’s website.