TIA Urges FCC to Release USF Funds for Rural Health Care Broadband Networks

Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) President Grant Seiffert wrote to Acting Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Copps and his fellow Commissioners asking the FCC to expand and make permanent the Rural Health Care Pilot Program (RHCPP), currently set to expire in mid-2010. Seiffert urged "swift action by the FCC to inject much-needed capital into the flagging economy, promote the deployment of critical communications infrastructure, and facilitate more efficient and effective delivery of health-care services to Americans living in rural areas." The action sought by TIA would expand investment in rural broadband and health-care infrastructure by hundreds of millions of dollars per year, and would require no new Congressional authorization.