The RCA Voice - Spring/Summer 2012 - (Page 50) CONGRESSIONAL SPOTLIGHT Congressman Don Young (R-AK) C ongressman Don Young (R-AK) is one of the founding co-chairs of the new Congressional Universal Service Fund Caucus, whose main goal is to better understand the complex and rapidly changing world of 21st century communications services. By examining the Universal Service Fund’s four programs – High Cost, Low-Income, Rural Healthcare, and Schools and Libraries (E-Rate) – the Caucus will examine the challenges of constructing the communications infrastructure for the future. conditions where Telemedicine has the most value. Flying someone on Medicare from Barrow to Anchorage (twice the distance from D.C. to Boston) to see a healthcare specialist would cost the government thousands of dollars. But diagnoses via video conference are happening today in Alaska and are saving millions of dollars nationwide. We can’t do that without broadband, and we can’t have broadband without USF. : RCA carrier members provide mobile services to many rural areas. What can be done to help ensure that rural Americans have access to mobile broadband? Rep. Young: Continue to advocate on behalf of Universal Service. There are far more USF successes than failures, and much more good being done by USF than bad. I see the good that USF does every time I go back to Alaska. Unfortunately, we have a media that only highlights the bad. It takes continuing advocacy and education by associations like RCA to show Congress and the American people how successful USF has been nationwide. : How important is it for carriers serving rural areas to be engaged with their members of Congress on USF issues? Rep Young: The more carriers engage with both their Representatives and Senators, the better. While the early bird may get the worm, the bird that doesn’t even try definitely won’t get any worms. The same applies to Congress. : What can our members do to help you and the caucus? Rep. Young: Get their Representatives to join the USF Caucus and make sure they, or their staff, attend and participate in our briefings. Steven K. Berry : Congratulations on the recent launch of the Congressional Universal Service Fund Caucus! It was a pleasure to join your inaugural event, which I found to be informative and interesting, and RCA applauds you for your efforts. What are your goals for the Caucus? Rep. Young: Thank you for participating, Steve. It was a really great event. We had close to 100 attendees from both Congressional Offices and industry groups. To answer your question, my goal with the USF Caucus is education. While I’ve been in Congress for quite awhile and I know about USF, there are a lot of new Members, and some old ones, that do not understand how important Universal Service is to both rural and urban America. They don’t know the history of USF past the 1996 Telecom Act passed by my good friend the late Senator Stevens. That Act simply put the concept of Universal Service into law. However the concept has been around for almost 80 years. My goal is help provide them and their staff with as much information as possible about USF so they can stay informed as the FCC continues to reform the program. : The Universal Service Fund is now being used to support broadband deployment. How important is broadband for rural America? Rep. Young: Vitally important. Let me give you an example. In Alaska, we have some of the most challenging conditions in the world. Most of our villages are so isolated that they can only be reached by boat or by plane; even Juneau, our capital, is the only capital in the U.S. that cannot be reached by road. It is in these 50 THE VOICE • www.rca-usa.org • Spring/Summer 2012 Take Action Alert Urge your representatives in Washington to join the USF Caucus today at www.RCATakeAction.org. http://www.RCATakeAction.org http://www.rca-usa.org Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The RCA Voice - Spring/Summer 2012 2011/2012 Board of Directors/Staff Chairman’s Letter A Message from the President & CEO The Community Shift: New Roles for Service Providers in the Networked-community Age Broadband for All Making the Networked Society a Reality A Missed Opportunity: The FCC’s Long-awaited USF Reform Falls Short LTE Connects Rural Wireless Communities Previously Excluded from High-speed Internet Access Network Sharing: A Cost-saving Opportunity to Connect Communities How LTE Deployments Are Keeping Rural Communities Connected The Value of Connection Rich Communication Suite Connects Mobile Users in New Ways Snapshot: Planning for 2020 Connecting with Today’s Consumer Bluegrass Cellular Asks Teens to Help Promote Safety with Drive Now. Text L8R. Contest How Innovative Technologies Can Help During Extreme Emergency Situations Club Mosaic” Powers Mosaic Mobile Growth Door County Network Expansion Shows Commitment to Rural Development (Dis)Connecting Communities in a Changing World Connecting Communities – Behavior, Innovation and Value LTE Network Migration: “Adaptive” Customer Service Assurance Required for Monitoring and Troubleshooting Supporting the Mobile Global Village Index of Advertisers Congressional Spotlight: Congressman Don Young The RCA Voice - Spring/Summer 2012 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/RCAB0212 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/RCAB0112 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/RCAB0211 http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/RCAB0111 http://www.nxtbookMEDIA.com
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