Access in the Keystone State

By IIA

This week leaders across the Keystone State are coming together at the 2010 Pennsylvania Broadband Summit to discuss high-speed Internet’s role in getting the state’s economy back on track and the importance of closing the digiital divide. Our Co-Chair David Sutphen has penned an op-ed for The Patriot-News highlighting the discussion.:

Thanks to stimulus grants attained by the commonwealth focused on unserved areas and other grants focused on demand aggregation and the promotion of public computing centers, Pennsylvania will be able to expand broadband access to unserved areas and build demand.

In fact, the president has allocated $7.2 billion of stimulus funds to help bring broadband to rural areas nationwide. While this is a healthy down payment, it’s important that we continue also to focus on private investment to attain the $350 billion the Federal Communications Commission has estimated is needed to get everyone online.

The Internet has enjoyed a decade of unparalleled success, inarguably because of significant private industry investment in a business-friendly environment with minimal regulation.

But there has been concern that actions in Washington could impose an environment of stifling heavy-handed regulation that deters, not facilitates, investment in broadband technology.

Read David’s full op-ed at the Patriot-News.