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Rural Telecommunications Congress Videos and Presentations Posted

AUSTIN, May 18, 2015 – The Rural Telecommunications Congress posted the entire video and presentations made at the recent Rural Telecommunications Congress held here last month at the Broadband Communities Summit.

The original link to the sessions is at http://www.ruraltelecon.org/2015-rtc-bbc-summit.html

2015 RTC Program Agenda and Session Content


Tuesday, April 14
3:00pm – 4:00pm: Looking Forward by Looking Back: Digital Inclusion from 1980 to Today
From the first community technology center (1980), the first community network (1986), to the first open gov/data initiative (1989), this presentation explores the history, themes, and future of our work.
Moderator:
  Jane Patterson – RTC President; President, The View Forward
        Speaker:  Anne Neville – Director, NTIA State Broadband Initiative, U.S. Department of Commerce
00:00
00:00
Digital Nation NTIA-SBI Highlights – session audio

Anne Neville Presentation

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AUSTIN, May 18, 2015 – The Rural Telecommunications Congress posted the entire video and presentations made at the recent Rural Telecommunications Congress held here last month at the Broadband Communities Summit.

The original link to the sessions is at http://www.ruraltelecon.org/2015-rtc-bbc-summit.html

2015 RTC Program Agenda and Session Content


Tuesday, April 14
3:00pm – 4:00pm: Looking Forward by Looking Back: Digital Inclusion from 1980 to Today
From the first community technology center (1980), the first community network (1986), to the first open gov/data initiative (1989), this presentation explores the history, themes, and future of our work.
Moderator:
  Jane Patterson – RTC President; President, The View Forward
        Speaker:  Anne Neville – Director, NTIA State Broadband Initiative, U.S. Department of Commerce
00:00
00:00
Digital Nation NTIA-SBI Highlights – session audio

Anne Neville Presentation

Download File



4:10pm – 5:00pm:  Broadband Is Like Oxygen to Rural America – What Technology and Companies Will Provide It?
Will Gigabit networks or wireless services best meet the needs of the nation’s rural communities? What options are rural communities missing without good-quality broadband? And when commercial providers are in short supply, how do non-profits, cooperatives and municipal broadband providers help fill the void? Hear the perspectives of a range of rural Internet providers.
        Moderator: Drew Clark – RTC Board Member; BroadbandBreakfast.com; Of Counsel, Kirton McConkie
        Speakers:
Luis Reyes – CEO/GM, Kit Carson Electric
        Will Aycock – CEO, Greenlight, Wilson, North Carolina
        Ron Walters – CEO, PANGAEA, Tryon, North Carolina
        Bill Shilito – President, North Carolina Wireless, LLC
00:00
00:00
Broadband is Like Oxygen to Rural America – session audio

Luis Reyes Presentation

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Will Aycock Presentation

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Ron Walters Presentation

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Bill Shilito Presentation

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Wednesday, April 15
9:00am – 9:50am: Lessons From Successful Broadband Deployments
Join this session to learn and discuss the state of rural broadband access. Hear actionable details about the innovative projects that are providing solutions in rural areas to create positive economic and community outcomes from broadband deployment.
Moderator: Jason Whittet – RTC Board Member; Program Officer, IDC Research
        Speakers:
        Tony Wilhelm – Vice President, Affiniti
        Mark Dzwonczyk – CEO, Nicholville Telephone
        David Salway – Executive Director, NY State Broadband Program
        Luis Reyes – CEO/GM, Kit Carson Electric
00:00
00:00
Lessons from Successful Rural Broadband Deployments – session audio

10:00am – 10:50am: Broadband and the Farm
Broadband technology is an essential tool to those who are linked to the land – modern farmers and ranchers, landowners, builders, and loggers that feed and supply the nation. Their efforts and success drive a significant component of the USA and world economy. The panel will provide a commercial perspective of how broadband is needed on the farm, a state perspective on its importance to the state economy, and discussion on how fiber and wireless networks are essential infrastructure to rural America.
        Moderator: Keith Montgomery – RTC Vice President; CFO Declaration Networks Group, Inc.
        Speakers:
        Mark Lewellen – Manager, Spectrum Advocacy, John Deere & Company
Phillip K. Brown – Director, State/Federal Policy and Broadband Planning, Connected Nation
        Dan Hunter – Assistant Commissioner for Water and Rural Affairs, Texas Department of Agriculture
00:00
00:00
Broadband and the Farm – session audio

Broadband And The Farm Presentation

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2:30pm – 3:20pm: The Internet of Things – Its Impact on Rural Communities
Your refrigerator can order groceries when you need them, your house can call the plumber when there’s a leak, share a diabetic’s blood sugar values with his doctor, and  turn on the irrigation system when the soil is too dry or wait if rain is forecast. Along with medical devices and the fitness industry, these are examples of the Internet of Things that will add to our lives and integrate measurement, analysis, and even social media. Ubiquitous broadband with low latency is critical to make it happen.
Moderator:
Jane Patterson – RTC President; President, The View Forward
        Speaker: 
Mark Johnson
– CTO and VP of Data Architecture, MCNC
        John Chowdhury – Director of Utility Practice, Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc.
00:00
00:00
The Internet of Things Impact on Rural Communities – session audio

Mark Johnson Presentation

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John Chowdhury

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3:30pm – 4:20pm: Monitoring Rural America’s Health
Learn from projects that have outstanding outcomes in rural and statewide telehealth networks. There will be time to ask questions and have an interactive discussion about telehealth topics important to you. Hear about how current laws and regulations have impacts at state levels with privacy and security.
        Moderator: Galen Updike – RTC Past President; Mesa, Arizona
        Speakers:
        David Kirby – Project Director, NC TeleHealth Network
        Michael Keeling – Partner, Keeling Law Offices PC & Lobbyist for ATIC / Arizona TeleHealth
00:00
00:00
Monitoring Rural America’s Health – session audio

Galen Updike Presentation

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Dave Kirby Presentation

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Michael Keeling Presentation

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5:10pm – 6:10pm: Digital Education and its Impact at the Community Level
Relating adequate broadband to assure quality of life, diverse Community Anchor Institutions (libraries, schools, colleges, economic agencies, public safety, and health organizations) are challenged with finding the most effective practices for training to outcomes. Solutions are evolving across multiple platforms for innovation from mobile devices to Gigacities, across sectors from health to digital entrepreneurship, and across diverse demographics, particularly the 1:2 Americans who are low income and living in poverty.
Moderator: Frank Odasz – RTC Secretary; President, Lone Eagle Consulting
    Speakers:
    John Windhausen – Executive Director, Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB)
    Myra Best – Executive Director, DigiLEARN
Gene Crick – Executive Director, Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network (MAIN)
00:00
00:00
Digital Education and its Impact at the Community Level – session audio

Frank Odasz Presentation

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Myra Best Presentation

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Gene Crick Presentation

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Thursday, April 16
9:40am – 10:30am: Plows to Tractors to Computers to Prosperity
The ability to drive the economy and enable business from anywhere can happen no matter where you live. The digital divide is not only about access, but more about having the resources and awareness to effectively utilize broadband and its ever-changing solutions to business. The session will highlight current research with examples across the nation to get a look into how rural homes and businesses are utilizing broadband, and offer solutions to drive economic improvements where you live.
Moderator: Eric Ogle – RTC Treasurer, Baker Center for Public Policy, University of Tennessee
Speakers:

        Michael Curri – President, Strategic Networks Group, Inc.
Monica Lynn Babine – Senior Associate, Program for Digital Initiatives, Washington State University
Maria Alvarez-Stroud
– Director, Broadband and eCommerce Education Center, University of Wisconsin
00:00
00:00
Plows to Tractors to Computers to Prosperity – session audio

Maria Alvarez-Stroud Presentation

Download File


Monica Babine Presentation

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10:40am – 11:30am: Who Will Gigafy Our Rural Infrastructure?
This session will focus on how cross-sector partnerships provides broadband to rural communities. This will be an opportunity to interact with a rural electric cooperative moving towards providing their customers broadband (North Carolina), and with Sunset Digital Communications, the oldest rural Fiber-to-the-Premises company in the USA , partnerships with Powell Electric (Tennessee and Virginia) and a major health initiative (the Northeast Texas Medical and Educational Fiber Optic Network).
Moderator:
Joel Mulder – RTC Board Member; Senior Director of Business Development, G4S Technology
        Speakers:
        Marshall Cherry – COO, Roanoke Electric Cooperative
        Mickey Slimp – Executive Director, Northeast Texas Consortium of Colleges and Universities, UT Health Northeast
        Paul Elswick – Owner, President & CEO, Sunset Digital Communications, Inc.
00:00
00:00
Who Will Gigafy Our Rural Infrastructure? – session audio

Marshall Cherry Presentaion

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Mickey Slimp Presentation

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Paul Elswick Presentation

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Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing campaign for broadband data. As Editor and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media company advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.

Broadband's Impact

Josephine Bernson: The Customer Experience is About More Than Fiber

‘Listen to the customer’ is a fundamental pillar in gaining a satisfied customer.

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The author of this Expert Opinion is Josephine Bernson, Chief Revenue Officer at Great Plains Communications.

Customer experience and the digital customer experience are what makes businesses today stand apart from competitors. In our connected world, it means delivering products and services via high-speed internet, provided by a network that’s reliable and scalable according to rising bandwidth demand.

Yet, we must keep in mind the other component of a first-rate customer experience: customer service excellence.

Customer service excellence, from the beginning

How does a fiber provider successfully work with the customers and the community from the very beginning? And, continue to provide exceptional customer service each day thereafter?

It begins with listening.Listen to the customer” is a fundamental pillar in gaining a satisfied customer, whether it’s meeting with business executives, community leaders or residents. What are they hoping to achieve with their network, short-term and long-term? Any concerns that should be addressed?

Respond with solutions that meet their needs.  Personalization is better than a one-size-fits-all approach. Each customer has different needs and unique bandwidth specifications that should be taken into consideration. For example, the ability to adjust availability to accommodate peak work hours for a financial institution or local government complex or the flexibility needed for a local business that serves an online global market.

Get to know your customers. Focus on getting to know your customers through participating in local events and spending time in the community. Teams that live and work in same community they serve care about providing their neighbors with high-quality products and superior service. Valuable feedback comes from customers who directly interact with local employees immersed in the community.

Timely and convenient customer service options. If there’s a problem, how can customers contact you for a resolution? Does the customer service center or 24/7 operations center always have agents available? Are there easily accessible online resources equipped to handle common questions? Automation is a big trend in CX. While we enjoy our personal relationships with our customers, we also leverage technology for self-service tools. It’s important to enable customers to do business in whichever manner works best for them.

Happy employees for a happy customer experience

Happy employees have long been credited with increased productivity and better service for customers. Great Plains Communications’ culture has always been to attract, train and retain workers from the areas it serves.

Customer service representative Marisa Benham has been with Great Plains Communications for 15 years. “I’ve always been a people person so I really love talking to people! I love helping them figure out what services they want and helping them if they have an issue with their account.”

As for the GPC team itself, she says, “The biggest thing I love about our team is that even though we’re a large company, I feel like we are still trying to get that small company family feel.  I really love that about Great Plains as well.”

For any business to survive for a long period it must continually evolve. Great Plains Communications is a 113-year-old company serving nearly 200 Midwestern communities.  As a leading digital telecommunications leader, our core focus remains the same: customer service excellence. We believe in our high-performing network and high-performing people.

Customer loyalty depends on the customer experience, but it must be earned. It’s more than state-of-the-art technologies. It’s the people behind the innovation. It’s the teams that deliver and support the technology that make all the difference.

Josephine Bernson is the chief revenue officer at Great Plains Communications. This piece is exclusive to BroadbandBreakfast.

Broadband Breakfast accepts commentary from informed observers of the broadband scene. Please send pieces to commentary@breakfast.media. The views reflected in Expert Opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Broadband Breakfast and Breakfast Media LLC.

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Digital Inclusion

Sean Gonsalves: National Digital Inclusion Alliance Hosts Largest Net Inclusion Gathering

NDIA Executive Director Angela Siefer zeroed in on the need for good data.

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Selfie of NDIA Executive Director Angela Seifer and Net Inclusions audience from Twitter

With nearly 1,000 in attendance at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in downtown San Antonio for the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) marquee gathering, those on the front lines of bridging the digital divide across the nation came to the three-day conference (Feb 28  to March 2) to network, share lessons, best-practices, and learn from experts as the largest ever federal investment in expanding broadband access is heading to state broadband offices this summer.

Mayor addresses attendees, acknowledges open secret of segregation

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg welcomed attendees, noting how his city was a fitting venue for the event.

“It’s no secret San Antonio is one of the most socio-economically segregated cities in the United States,” he said. “And that’s why we have zeroed-in on equity – in our budget, in who gets invited to the table.”

DeAnne Cuellar with Mayor Ron Nirenberg

Nirenberg congratulated NDIA for its work and the attendance record set by this year’s gathering. He also singled out our own outreach coordinator and San Antonio resident DeAnne Cuellar, not only lauding her work with ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks team but for her role in bringing city officials together with Older Adults Technology Services as the city commits to connecting 100,000 older adults in the city.

(ILSR’s Community Broadband Networks team, which has long worked with NDIA participated conducted a workshop, participated in several panels discussions, and hosted a special Connect This! live stream at a social mixer at The Friendly Spot Icehouse.)

“Broadband is a basic human right and is a public utility. That’s why digital inclusion is a pillar of our recovery program,” Nirenberg said, noting how that is reflected in line items in the city’s budget.

Mayor Nirenberg also spoke candidly about injustices that had been baked-in to city and state policies in the past and, whether intentional or not, excluded vulnerable communities across the city, putting them at a socio-economic disadvantage. He said that closing the digital divide was central to correcting those injustices.

He concluded his welcoming remarks encouraging attendees to “use technology to live, learn, work and thrive.”

Texas broadband office announces new network funding opportunity

Also on hand for the conference was Greg Conte, Director of the Texas Broadband Development Office. Conte announced a Notice of Funding Opportunity for $120 million in grants for the construction of new high-speed Internet infrastructure across the Lone Star State.

As projects are funded to build new infrastructure, the state can’t assume people will automatically subscribe for Internet service, as efforts to tackle affordability and adoption are equally important undertakings.

“We want to make sure communities can get online and use it,” he said. “We ask all Texans to help in this process.”

He also briefly touched on something numerous other state broadband offices are in the process of doing: beefing up staff as each state is set to receive an historic amount of federal funds from the bipartisan infrastructure bill’s BEAD program.

Conte was a guest on our Community Broadband Bits podcast last summer in which he discussed the challenges of staffing up his office and addressing the dearth of data about precisely where broadband is and isn’t available across the state.

Engaging other sectors in the work of advocating for more ACP funding

Batting clean-up was NDIA Executive Director Angela Siefer, who first zeroed in on the need for good data that shows and measures how local digital equity programs are working, and how those efforts can be improved.

Angela Siefer speaking at Net Inclusion

And while quality robust data is vital, she said, it is also worth thinking about who benefits from expanded broadband access (beyond individual end-users) and how data and stories about digital inclusion initiatives can be used to engage industries and sectors of society who may not see bridging the digital divide as an urgent concern.

That includes the necessity of getting more than just Internet service providers at the table. Buy-in from healthcare providers, educational leaders, captains of retail and commerce, as well as transportation planners and housing officials should be engaged in helping to make broadband available especially for residents who struggle with affordability.

Specifically as it relates to commerce, Siefer noted, “the savings that can come from conducting certain business online can be invested into access.”

Siefer also emphasized the value of digital equity advocates sharing the stories they encounter of the lives impacted by their work with those who may not be tuned into the connectivity crisis that still plagues even such a technologically-sophisticated nation as the U.S.

Lastly, Siefer reminded the attendees that the federal funding that supports the Affordable Connectivity Program will run in the next year or so without additional appropriation from Congress.

“We need more money for the ACP,” she said, adding that it was important for state and local leaders to be pushing their Congressional representatives to replenish the ACP’s coffers.

“The long term plan is that the Universal Service Fund needs to be fixed but that is going to take time. The ACP will run out of funds before the USF is fixed,” she said.

Before the general assembly dispersed to a variety of focused workshops and breakout groups, Siefer ended with a note of encouragement: “Remember you guys are the heroes. You do the work on the ground. But NDIA has your back.”

Watch the plenary sessions below. Also, stay tuned for our new podcast series Building for Digital Equity, which will debut soon and feature interviews with dozens of frontline digital inclusion practitioners discussing the work they are doing in their local communities.

This article originally appeared on the Institute for Local Self Reliance’s Community Broadband Networks project on March 2, 2023, and is reprinted with permission.

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Digital Inclusion

NTIA Seeks Comment on How to Spend $2.5 Billion in Digital Equity Act

National Telecommunications and Information Administration is seeking comment on how to structure the programs.

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Photo of Veneeth Iyengar of ConnectLA

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2023 – The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced Wednesday that it is seeking comment on how to structure the $2.5 billion that the Digital Equity Act provides to promote digital equity and inclusion. 

As part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Digital Equity Act consists of two sub-programs, the State Digital Equity Capacity grant and the Digital Equity Competitive grant. Comments will guide how the NTIA will design, regulate, and evaluate criteria for both programs. 

“We need to hear directly from those who are most impacted by the systemic barriers that prevent some from fully utilizing the Internet,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said Wednesday at the National Digital Inclusion Alliance’s Net Inclusion event in San Antonio. 

See Commerce Secretary Raimondo’s remarks at Net Inclusion:

The request for comment is part of NTIA’s strategy to hear diverse perspectives in implementing its goal to ensure every American has the skills and capacity needed to reap the benefits of the digital economy, stated a press release. 

The $1.44 billion State Digital Equity Capacity grant will fund implementation of state digital equity plans which will strategically plan how to overcome barriers faced by communities seeking to achieve digital equity.  

Simply making investments in broadband builds is not enough, said Veneeth Iyengar, executive director of ConnectLA, speaking at a Brookings Insitution event in December. Bringing digital equity means “driving adoption, digital skills, and doing the kinds of things that we need to do to tackle the digital divide.” 

The $1.25 billion Digital Equity Competitive grant program will fund anchor institutions, such as schools, libraries, and nonprofits, in offering digital inclusion activities that promote internet adoption. 

“Community-anchor institutions have been and are the connective tissue that make delivering high-speed internet access possible,” said Alan Davidson, head of the NTIA at AnchorNets 2022 conference. 

This announcement follows dissent on the definition of digital discrimination. Commenters to the Federal Communications Commission disagree on whether the intent of a provider should be considered when determining if the provider participated in digital discrimination. There has been no response from the FCC. 

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