Monday, July 27, 2009
Kevin Hall (Warner) - (202) 224-2425
SENATOR WARNER HOSTS BROADBAND ACCESS SUMMIT
~ Brings top federal officials to Charlottesville to brief local officials, non-profit leaders ~
US Senator Mark R. Warner today hosted the Virginia Summit on Broadband Access at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, bringing together more than 400 representatives from federal, state, and local governments, as well as leaders of nonprofit organizations, to explore opportunities to access new federal funding to expand access to high speed Internet broadband technology across Virginia.
The Recovery Act provided a total of $7.2 billion to the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to increase broadband access throughout the country. Of that funding, NTIA will utilize $4.7 billion to deploy broadband access in unserved and underserved areas in the United States. By expanding public computer center capacity and encouraging sustainable adoption of broadband service, RUS will invest $2.5 billion to improve broadband access in rural communities.
The top administrators of both federal programs attended today’s Summit. Applications for the first round of funding from both federal agencies are due on August 14, and applications are available at http://www.broadbandusa.gov.
"Broadband technology, with its capacity to expand education and job training programs, makes many of our communities much more attractive for increased economic investment and new jobs," Senator Warner said. “The experts we assembled at today’s summit were able to provide great information on what these expanded federal broadband programs have to offer, how to apply, and how to make applications from Virginia stand out.”
Senator Warner made expanded access to broadband technology an economic development priority during his term as Governor of Virginia (2002-06), leveraging federal and state resources to partner with the private sector in extending broadband infrastructure across 400 miles of rural Virginia. In 2007 and 2008, Warner cochaired Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s Broadband Roundtable, which ultimately produced a first in the nation, statewide coverage map and a “toolkit” to help localities tackle many of the “last mile” challenges of broadband deployment.
Today’s Broadband Access Summit was the third in a series of conferences hosted by Senator Warner this summer that will help Virginians access new federal funds available through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In mid July, he hosted the Virginia Summit on Energy Opportunities which brought together more than 400 decision makers at Hampton University in Hampton. In May, he hosted the Virginia Conference on Health Information Technology that brought 450 health care professionals to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. All three conferences were streamed live on the Senator’s website.
