Minority groups coalesce to focus on broadband

The Broadband Opportunity Coalition will conduct a national information program to "educate public policy makers and decision makers in the public and private sectors of the importance of broadband to our communities," Morial said. "We will conduct a grassroots campaign to target non-adopters to push broadband adoption," particularly in urban communities and communities of color.

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, which is part of the new coalition, has filed two pleadings today, one of which calls on the Federal Communications Commission to hold 15 hearings around the country on broadband, including eight in urban areas and seven in rural areas, said David Honig.

Rey Ramsey, chief executive officer of One Economy, said the coalition wants to take advantage of available federal stimulus dollars to build "sustainable solutions" for broadband access. Several of the other speakers stressed using both broadband and mobile networks to enable content in multiple languages as well as English language instruction.

Among the barriers to broadband adoption today are the cost of hardware and connectivity, Ramsey said. "What we are looking to do is make sure we focus like a laser beam on broadband to make sure it is available, it is affordable, and we adopt it." The group will also look at solutions such as using young people as broadband ambassadors to train older citizens who aren’t as computer-savvy, Ramsey said.

Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, said the US is falling behind the rest of the world in developing the "killer apps" that use broadband to deliver learning, telemedicine and energy-saving applications such as telecommuting.