Q&A with Shirley Bloomfield: How Broadband Will Drive a Rural Renaissance

As the CEO of NTCA, Shirley Bloomfield represents an organization that supports 850 independent telecom providers driving broadband service opportunities in the rural and small-town US. With more than 30 years of experience representing the nation’s most rural operators, Bloomfield is an expert on how federal communications policies can sustain the vitality of rural and remote communities and the benefits rural broadband networks offer to millions of US families, businesses and the national economy. As states look to take advantage of various federal broadband funding sources – including the Infrastructure Investments Jobs Act (IIJA) – a key emphasis will be on partnerships, which will take several forms: public-private partnerships between traditional providers and communities, partnerships between electric cooperatives and other local telecom companies and partnerships between community providers and electric cooperatives. Hilda Legg, a rural economic development consultant for Legg Strategies, recently talked to Bloomfield about how broadband could create what she calls a “rural renaissance.” Broadband Communities include highlights of the conversation.