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| ATIC > Press Releases > October 13, 2005 | |||||||||
ATIC Press Release: October 13, 2005
Arizona Distribution- October 12, 2005 Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council: On October 25-26 Arizona Telecom Leaders will convene for the first Arizona Telecom Roundtable. Mike Keeling, Chair of the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council, explained that the Roundtable will include key public and private telecom leaders responsible for county, tribal, regional or statewide telecom initiatives. "We expect over 200 representatives from many interest groups including Telemedicine, Libraries, Homeland Security, Education, Indian Tribes, Law Enforcement, all levels of government, and Telecom Providers. The purpose of this event is to provide these telecom leaders the opportunity to network, share information and collaborate on the deployment of advanced broadband services to rural and other underserved communities in Arizona. The Roundtable will enable them to identify partners, aggregate demand, and share infrastructure to support their important Arizona initiatives."
The Roundtable includes:
The participant project presentations will include: a summary of their goals; targeted communities, geographic area (s) served; current connections; telecom requirements and partnership opportunities; future build out plans and; current expenditures and funding sources.
Al Sterman, Vice Chair of the Arizona Consumers Council, said that: "we are also excited to announce that high level staff from the Federal Communications Commission, and Commissioners from the Arizona Corporation Commission, will be attending. On the morning of the first day Robert Somers, Senior Attorney Advisor & Consumer Outreach Liaison with the Consumer Governmental Affairs Bureau, joined by a representative of the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau (TBA), will discuss: State Strategic Telecom Planning and Broadband Deployment In Rural Communities. That evening they will join Jeff Hatch-Miler, Chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, as keynote speakers for the dinner program on Federal and State Telecom Policy. After dinner ACC Commissioners Kris Mayes, Bill Mundell and Marc Spitzer will join them for our Telecom Policy Forum.
Steve Peters, Chair of the ATIC Strategic Telecom Planning Committee, emphasized the importance of this event:: "Advanced broadband services are critical for the health, welfare and economic development in Arizona communities. Yet, many rural and underserved communities lack the infrastructure to support advanced (1.5 Mps +) broadband deployment. While there are many local, regional and statewide public and private telecom initiatives such as telemedicine, education and libraries underway in Arizona, there is little coordination and information sharing among these groups. In these days of limited resources it is imperative that we coordinate our efforts, share infrastructure, and aggregate the demand for services. Through coordination and planning Arizona would more effectively leverage existing resources and be eligible for millions of grant dollars to benefit Arizona communities."
Galen Updike, Telecommunications Development Manager for the State's Government Information Technology Agency (GITA) said, "Much of our success in improving Broadband availability in our State is directly related to the depth of community leadership involved in the process. The mix of telecom folks, rural leaders and stakeholders expected to attend this Roundtable will really add momentum toward our success in rural Arizona."
The Roundtable is presented by the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council (ATIC) in cooperation with the Telecom Infrastructure Subcommittee (TISC) of the Governor's Council on Innovation and Technology (GCIT), the Arizona Consumers Council, and the Community Information and Telecommunications Alliance (CITA).
The conference begins at 9:00 am October 25 at the Mesa Convention Center, 263 N. Center Street , Mesa Arizona. It concludes at 3:30 pm October 26. The reception begins at 5:00 pm October 25 followed by dinner and our Telecom Policy Forum at 6:00, The $85.00 early registration fee includes program, materials, meals and reception. After October 20 the fee is $95.00. The public can attend just the reception, Keynote Dinner and Telecom Policy Discussion for $40.00. For information and registration call (520-321-1309, e-mail cita@tucsonlink.org, or better yet, go online at http://www.arizonatele.com/atic/roundtable to get more information and to register.
Thanks to our sponsors: Cox Business Services; Arizona State Library Archives and Public Records; Qwest Communications; TeleSpectra; Sprint Nextel; Cisco; Strategic Technology Communications; and AT&T
For additional information
Contact: Mark Goldstein, Secretary, Governor's Strategic Partnership for Economic Development (GSPED), Voice & Fax: 602-470-0389, markg@researchedge.com