Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein at June 15 Broadband Breakfast Club

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2010 – BroadbandBreakfast.com announced that Jonathan S. Adelstein, Administrator of RUS will keynote its June 15th Broadband Breakfast Club event, “Challenges to Rural Broadband Availability and Adoption.” Registration for the event is available at http://broadbandbreakfast.eventbrite.com.

The breakfast forum, to be held at Clyde’s of Gallery Place at 707 7th Street NW, in Washington, is certain to be the “must attend” event on the status of broadband service and usage in rural America – particularly in light of the key controversities in the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan recommendations as regards the universal service fund.

The panel will be moderated by Sharon McLoone, Managing Editor of BroadbandBreakfast.com, and an veteran reporter on technology, broadbnad and business issues.

This Broadband Breakfast Club event is the latest in a series of timely and topical internet policy and intellectual property topics addressed in BroadbandBreakfast.com’s breakfast series. Recent events included a panel discussion on the contentions involved in  “New Retransmission Consent Battles and Licensing Video Content” at its Intellectual Property Breakfast Club breakfast of June 2010.

The most recent Broadband Breakfast Club even, in  May 2010, addressed “International Perspectives on the U.S. National Broadband Plan.” Video from BroadbandBreakfast.com events is available at https://broadbandbreakfast.com/category/broadband-tv.

On July 13, 2010, the Intellectual Property Breakfast Club Series continues with a new panel discussing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Treaty. Registration for the Intellectual Property Breakfast Club is available at http://ipbreakfast.eventbrite.com.

Speakers and Panelists for the June 15th Broadband Breakfast Club event, on “Challenges to Rural Broadband Availability and Adoption,” include, following Jonathan Adelstein’s keynote at 8:15 a.m.:

• Curtis Anderson, Vice President & General Counsel, MELE Associates, Inc.
• Steven K. Berry, President & CEO, Rural Cellular Association
• Jennie B. Chandra, Regulatory Counsel & Director, Federal Government Affairs, Windstream
• Claiborn Crain, Senior Professional Staff, House Committee on Agriculture

The group will discuss the thorny question of how broadband will reach rural areas and how rural residents will actually be able to take advantage of it. When it comes to high-speed internet services, in many cases there is both a supply problem and an adoption challenge. What are the particular tools that have aided in the availability and usage of broadband? Are there best-practice models in particular states? This panel of experts and practitioners from rural areas will explore and assess ways at helping rural areas become truly connected.

The Broadband Breakfast Club is sponsored by the International Broadband Electric Communications, Inc., Telecommunications Industry of America, National Cable and Telecommunications Association, and The Benton Foundation.

Event tickets are $45.00 per person, plus a modest registration fee. The event on the record and open to the public. Registration for the event is available at http://broadbandbreakfast.eventbrite.com.