NATE Statement on FCC’s Vote Advancing Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
For Immediate Release:
January 30, 2020
NATE Statement on FCC’s Vote Advancing Rural Digital Opportunity Fund
(Washington, D.C.) – The NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association released the following statement on the Federal Communications Commission’s vote today advancing the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund:
“NATE commends the FCC for its leadership in promoting broadband to unserved Americans. The $20.4 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Report and Order that the Commission approved today will help connect millions of people in rural areas as well as small businesses to high-speed broadband,” said Executive Director Todd Schlekeway. “Just last week, NATE Chairman Jimmy Miller testified before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on workforce development and broadband expansion. His testimony also stressed that closing the digital divide is a top priority for NATE.”
NATE representatives have featured these issues in meetings on Capitol Hill, and also participated in a major industry event at the White House last year on broadband. Schlekeway added, “Broadband expansion and closing the digital divide is good for us, for our nation’s economy, competitiveness and homeland security, and for our vital communications capabilities.”
According to the FCC, the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund would target areas that lack access to 25/3 Mbps broadband services in two stages. For Phase I, the FCC would target $16 billion to census blocks that are wholly unserved by broadband at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps (census blocks where there is no such service at all). For Phase II, the FCC would use its new granular broadband mapping approach, called the Digital Opportunity Data Collection, to target unserved households in census blocks that are partially served by broadband at speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps (census blocks where some households have access to such service but others do not). Phase II would also include census blocks that do not receive winning bids in Phase I.
For more information on today’s FCC proceedings, visit www.fcc.gov. For more information on NATE, go to www.natehome.com.
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About NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association
NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association is a non-profit trade association in the wireless infrastructure industry providing a unified voice for tower erection, service and maintenance companies. Today the Association boasts over 910 member companies located throughout the United States, Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Israel, Jamaica, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Trinidad and the United Kingdom. For additional information on NATE, please visit www.natehome.com.
Contact: Todd Schlekeway
(605) 882-5865
