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Congressional delegation will host roundtable on rural broadband

August 30th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

Representative David Trone and U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (all D-Md.) announced that they will hold a roundtable on rural broadband with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in Hagerstown, Maryland on Sept. 5th.

 

The roundtable will include stakeholders for a discussion on increasing access to rural broadband and the importance of cyber security. The roundtable comes just after the trio announced $2.9 million in funding for broadband expansion in Garrett County.

 

WHAT:             Rural Broadband Roundtable with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks

 

WHEN:            Thursday, September 5, 2019

                        10:00am – 12:00pm

 

WHERE:           Burobox Entrepreneur Resource Center

60 W Washington St, Hagerstown, MD 21740

 

WHO:             Congressman David Trone

                        Senator Ben Cardin 

                        Senator Chris Van Hollen

                        Geoffrey Starks, FCC Commissioner 

                        Kendrick Gordon, Director, Maryland Office of Rural Broadband

Denise Lovelady, State Director of Delaware and Maryland USDA Rural Development

Additional local, regional, and statewide stakeholders

2 Responses to “Congressional delegation will host roundtable on rural broadband”

  1. August 31, 2019 at 9:14 am, mac said:

    Rather than sit in Hagerstown and discuss the issue why not go to Ft. Collins Co. and see the city owned and operated fiber broadband.
    It’s 1GB down, and 1GB up for $60 a month.

    Reply

  2. September 02, 2019 at 9:35 am, Ken said:

    Mac, While I am a huge proponent of municipal broadband, getting one put in place can be a nightmare. Typically, the entrenched telco and cable companies will mount an all-out offensive against any such efforts, as you would expect. These PR campaigns also resonate with those who believe nothing government can do is as good a private industry. This after more than two decades of private broadband roll outs which have largely failed to deploy much of anything in our rural locations.

    Instead, what we see is money being made available for those who have a demonstrated ability to build out these networks, which is little more than giving the large broadband operators a subsidy.

    Reply

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