Diverse group calls for national broadband policy

In order to make all this happen, the US federal government needs to work with state and local governments and the private sector to implement policies that actively stimulate high-speed broadband investment, “particularly in unserved areas,” the call to action states. “Such support might include tax incentives, grants, low-cost loans, loan guarantees, universal service subsidies, efficient use of spectrum and other approaches.” In addition, governments at all levels and the private sector need policies “to stimulate high-speed broadband adoption and use,” to potentially include “programs, grants, subsidies and other measures that foster broadband connectivity, computer access, education and training.”

These policies should be established with “specific timetables and benchmarks,” that include the regular collection of data on broadband deployment and adoption, the call to action states.

Speakers at the event this morning in Washington, D.C., will include: Baller, the group’s founder; Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs at AT&T; Larry Cohen, president of Communications Workers of America; Rick Whitt, Washington telecom and media counsel for Google; Ben Scott, director of policy at Free Press; Grant Seiffert, president of the Telecommunications Industry Association; Charles Benton, president of the Benton Foundation; Mark Luker, vice president of EduCause; Robert Atkinson, Ph.D., president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation; and Libby Beaty, executive director of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. Two panels were moderated by Kenneth Peres, Ph.D., an economist with CWA and president of the Alliance for Public Technology, and Diane Duffy, executive director of business development for Telcordia Technologies.