FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 15, 2008

CONTACT: Jose Guzman Phone: 202-263-2938

Technology Leaders Stress the Need for a National Broadband Policy

Washington, D.C. – Experts from around the country gathered today at the Alliance for Public Technology's Policy Forum to develop broadband policy recommendations for the new Administration.

The forum, A Broadband Agenda for the Next Administration, discussed broadband access and the impact for consumers and the public interest. FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein presented the keynote address and stressed the importance of leadership at the national level for a broadband deployment strategy.

"We need to have an affordable system of high-bandwidth broadband that connects the country. Nothing has contributed more to productivity gains than broadband…it is one of a parcel of solutions to education, healthcare and economic issues," said Commissioner Adelstein.

Former Fort Wayne, Indiana Mayor Graham Richard spoke about an extraordinary initiative he led to foster broadband access and demand in his community. Graham drove home the importance of public and private partnerships and said that to date Ft. Wayne is the only Midwestern location to have FiOS (fiber optic service). Additionally, he reported that broadband is reaching over 128 thousand homes and businesses and has created over 900 jobs in the area.

A roundtable discussion followed, where the focus turned to developing policy recommendations that the new Administration could employ to increase broadband access. The main point of consensus was the need to develop a national broadband policy. The panelists described how the states were moving ahead with their own policies and it is time for the federal government to do the same.

"Broadband has become a transformative infrastructure – but we do not have a national policy to stimulate broadband investment and demand – this lack of a national policy contradicts our historical experience in which government took an active role with the private sector to stimulate investment and demand," stated Ken Peres, president of APT and research economist at Communications Workers of America.

The session was moderated by the director of APT's Broadband Changed My Life campaign, Joy Howell. Roundtable panelists included Robert Atkinson, Ph.D., President of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation; Karen Buller, President of the National Indian Telecommunications Institute; Kenneth R. Peres, Ph.D., Research Economist at Communications Workers of America; Karen Peltz Strauss, Co-Chair of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology; and Wendy Lazarus, Co-President of The Children's Partnership and member of the California Broadband Task Force.

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About APT
The Alliance for Public Technology is a nonprofit membership organization based in Washington, D.C., which was founded in 1989 to foster public policies that ensure access to advanced telecommunications technologies for all Americans.