Bridging the Divide and Increasing the Intensity of Broadband Use Across All Sectors of the Economy
Broadband Adoption and Use Working Group
U.S. Broadband Coalition
Federal Communications Commission Main Hearing Room
445 12th Street, SW, Washington DC
or via live webcast at http://www.tvworldwide.com/events/BB4US/091113/
Friday, November 13th
1:00-3:00 pm EST
Questions: Jim Baller (202) 833-1144
The US Broadband Coalition will release its report "" in the Federal Communications Commission's main hearing room on Friday, November 13, 2009, from 1-3 p.m. (Eastern time). Links to the text of the report and to a live webcast of the event will be available on Friday morning on the Coalition's website, www.bb4us.net. Blair Levin, the head of the FCC's Omnibus Broadband Initiative Task Force, will welcome the Coalition, and Brian David, Director of Adoption and Use, will be a featured speaker.
The US Broadband Coalition is a diverse array of more than 160 organizations working toward a comprehensive national broadband strategy to ensure America's success in the emerging knowledge-based global economy. The Coalition includes communications providers of all kinds, high-technology companies, manufacturers, labor unions, educational institutions, utilities, consumer groups, public interest organizations, units of state and local government, and many other stakeholders in America's broadband future.
The report was authored by a working group co-chaired by Karen Archer Perry from the Knight Center of Digital Excellence, Charles Benton from the Benton Foundation, Link Hoewing from Verizon, and Kenneth Peres Ph.D. from the Communications Workers of America and the Alliance for Public Technology.
"While disagreeing on many issues, the Coalition reached consensus on the need to accelerate and expand adoption and use of broadband throughout the economy. This report contains a sector-by-sector analysis of barriers to more extensive adoption and use of broadband, and it presents dozens of creative policy options to overcome these barriers," said Jim Baller, an attorney with the Baller Herbst Law Group and the founder and president of the US Broadband Coalition.
"The report reflects 10 months of intensive work by more than 30 people representing over 25 organizations," Perry said. "We did not merely focus on increasing adoption and use of email, web browsing, and other traditional forms of Internet access service, but we also drilled into ways to accelerate the adoption and use of broadband in economic development, health care, education, public safety, energy and the environment, and in strengthening democracy and civic engagement."