On Wednesday, March 19, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a rural broadband workshop that will focus on the importance of broadband in rural America and include presentations designed to elicit information to help develop ideas about how to structure experiments that will inform FCC policy decisions regarding the deployment of next generation networks in rural, high-cost areas. The workshop will begin at 9:15 a.m. eastern, and will end at 3:00 p.m. It will consist of the following three panel discussions:
- Broadband Needs, Challenges, and Opportunities in Rural America. This panel will discuss the critical need for high-speed broadband in rural areas, and will focus on the specific impact that access to broadband has on education, healthcare, and economic development.
- Rural Broadband Buildout – Effective Strategies & Lessons Learned. This panel will examine issues that incentivize different types of providers to deploy broadband in rural communities, factors that determine the type of technology deployed, and the current and future capabilities of different technologies.
- State Strategies to Meet the Rural Broadband Challenge. This panel will examine the important role that states can play in ensuring the availability and adoption of broadband in rural communities.
A list of the panelists is available here. The workshop is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. It will also be shown live online at fcc.gov/live.
