Chopra seeks public-private partnerships

The Obama administration is eager to form public-private partnerships with telecom service providers to address critical societal issues such as improving health care IT and medical care, distance learning and better education, and more open government, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. chief technology officer, said Thursday in a SuperCOMM keynote. Chopra also asked for the telecom industry's help in bringing the U.S. back up to speed with the rest the world in embracing technology and innovation. Chopra opened his speech by citing one such partnership, orchestrated "with one phone call" during his tenure as secretary of technology with the state of Virginia. "It was Cox and Comcast cable that offered to carry GED classes for free on their on-demand platform, making those available to thousands upon thousands of Virginians," Chopra said. "That's the kind of public-private partnerships we envision." Many of the administration's initiatives assume a robust and healthy telecom infrastructure, Chopra added, and telecom service providers are playing "a critical role in developing the much more modernized infrastructure" that will help drive the U.S. economy forward.