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Bridging the Digital Divide |
Dear Stakeholders:
This morning, Blair Levin, Executive Director of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative, presented the long-awaited National Broadband Plan during an open You may remember that I met for over an hour with Blair Levin and his team on December 10 while in Washington, DC, on my first official day on the job as MBI Director. At the end of the meeting, he asked that we follow-up with recommendations for ways in which the FCC could support existing state broadband initiatives, such as that of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, or MBI, aside from providing additional federal funding or passing new laws. Our team compiled a list of 14 recommendations to help speed deployment of broadband, and on behalf of the MBI, I submitted those recommendations in January. Among the recommendations were ideas including streamlining rights-of-way and existing infrastructure access policies, enhancing the permitting and licensing process, leveraging joint opportunities in construction, smart grid, and e-health projects, as well as developing a best practices list and highlighting new ideas for Universal Service Fund reform and use of spectrum. To read the full letter I submitted in January, follow the link here. I believe the recommendations we provided to the FCC will greatly enhance the ability of organizations like the MBI to deploy much-needed broadband infrastructure. While my team and I are just beginning to review the National Broadband Plan released today, I wanted to share it with our stakeholders immediately since I know many of you follow national broadband policy closely, and the Plan will surely have implications for broadband deployment in Massachusetts. To view more information on the Plan, you can follow the link www.broadband.gov to the site. On another important front, the MBI is working aggressively to secure federal stimulus funds for broadband expansion in western Massachusetts to supplement existing state-funded projects, such as the deployment of fiber-optic cable along I-91. Our team is finalizing our Comprehensive Community Infrastructure (middle-mile) application for western Massachusetts to be submitted for the second, and final, Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) funding round. I look forward to communicating with you more specifically on our BTOP application next week, as we work together with community leaders, residents, and other partners to provide affordable, quality broadband connectivity to western Massachusetts.
Judy Dumont
For more information please visit www.massbroadband.org
Massachusetts Broadband Institute is a division of MTC |
