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This week, National Grange President Betsy Huber was appointed to the Streamlining Federal Siting Working Group of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. \u00a0She also serves on the State Model Code Working Group.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This week, National Grange President Betsy Huber was appointed to the Streamlining Federal Siting Working Group of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. \u00a0She also serves on the State Model Code Working Group.<\/p>\n
“The Streamlining Federal Siting Working Group is charged with developing recommendations to improve the process of siting wireless and wired internet facilities on federal lands and federally managed properties.\u00a0 Many of these properties are located in rural areas and could be used to expand broadband into our countryside that is currently unserved.\u00a0 I\u2019m pleased to assist in the effort to bring access to our members and friends in rural America.\u201d<\/p>\n
The appointment, made by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, allows Huber to work with other industry and advocacy leaders to determine\u00a0strategy for placement of\u00a0broadband facilities\u00a0on federally owned lands that will allow broadband access to be deployed to millions more Americans quickly, a critical component for parity of service\u00a0available for rural consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch of the land in the west – where so many of our Grange members reside –\u00a0is still federally held, so determining ways federal lands may be used to improve the quality of life of those\u00a0living around them is something I believe is\u00a0extremely important and one of the simpler solutions to bridging the digital divide,\u201d Huber said.\u00a0\u201cIn other parts of the country where the landscape of rural America poses a challenge to broadband expansion, you will find federal facilities such as military reserve bases, laboratories, courthouse, post offices and data storage centers, that could also be pieces of the puzzle to full broadband deployment.\u00a0Since the government is promoting expansion of internet access to all, it only makes sense that government facilities should be utilized as much as possible and practical to accomplish this goal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"