Advanced Telecom and Broadband Deployment in Arizona
On October 25-26 ATIC convened the first Arizona Telecom Roundtable. Representatives from the Federal Communications Commission, and Arizona Corporation Commissioners, joined Arizona Telecom Leaders to address broadband deployment to rural and underserved Arizona Communities. The Roundtable included key public and private telecom leaders responsible for county, tribal, regional or statewide telecom initiatives. Over 150 representatives attended from interest groups including Telemedicine, Libraries, Homeland Security, Education, Indian Tribes, Law Enforcement, all levels of government, and Telecom Providers. The purpose of this event was 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 enabled them to identify partners, aggregate demand, and share infrastructure to support their important Arizona initiatives.
The Roundtable included:
- Presentations by major telecom users such as education, homeland security, first responders and telemedicine
- An overview of statewide telecom development initiatives
- Networking
- State and Federal telecom policy discussions
- A presentation on the “how to's” of local community telecom planning and assessments
- Regional breakout sessions for North, Central, and Southern Arizona
- Discussions with telecom providers
- A reception and Keynote dinner
- Exhibitors showcasing telecom and related technologies and services.
The participant project presentations included: 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.
Staff from the Federal Communications Commission and Commissioners from the Arizona Corporation Commission attended. On the morning of the first day Robert Somers, Senior Attorney Advisor & Consumer Outreach Liaison with the Consumer Governmental Affairs Bureau discussed: "State Strategic Telecom Planning and Broadband Deployment In Rural Communities". That evening Jeff Hatch-Miler, Chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission was the keynote speaker for the dinner program on Federal and State Telecom Policy. After dinner ACC Commissioner Marc Spitzer joined Somers and Chairman Hatch-Miller for our Telecom Policy Forum.
Here is why this was an important 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. 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 that attended this Roundtable really added momentum toward our success in rural Arizona.
The Roundtable was 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).
Participant Presentations
- Technology @ Your Library: GladysAnn Wells, Arizona State Librarian
- Telecommunications and Business Retention and Expansion In Rural Arizona: Bill Bolin, Director, Rural Development, Arizona Department Of Commerce
- Santa Cruz County First Responder Network: Mike Lindsey, Communications Specialist, Santa Cruz Counties
- The Need to Resurrect the Arizona State Public Information Network (ASPIN ): William Lewis, Chief Information Officer and Vice Provost, Arizona State University
- ATIC Southern Arizona WI-FI Security Project for First Responders: Oris Friesen, Vice Chair, Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council
- University Of Arizona College of Agriculture State Network: Robert MacArthur, Director, University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- Tempe Border-to-Border Wi-Fi: Dave Heck, Deputy CIO, City of Tempe
- Navajo Nation Quad-State Broadband Initiative: Harold Skow, Director of Information Technology, Navajo Nation
- Matching Telecom Expectations to Reality In K-12 Education: Hank Stabler, CTO and Special Interest Group Facilitator, AzTEA - Arizona Technology in Education Alliance
- eRate Implementation In Arizona Schools and Libraries: Chris Castillo, Education Technology Specialist, Arizona Department of Education
- Advanced Telecom and Broadband on the Tohono O'odham Nation: Ben Standifer, Chief Information Officer, Tohono O'odham Nation
- The Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP): A Broadband Network of Networks: Richard McNeeley, Co-Director, Arizona Telemedicine Program
- Northern Arizona University's Statewide Network Infrastructure (NAUNet) and the Arizona Universities Network (AZUN): Marc Lord, Assistant Director for Technology Support, Northern Arizona University
- Pinal & Gila Counties Community Telecommunications Partnership: Genene Walker, IT Director, Pinal County Government
Additional Presentations
- State Strategic Planning, and, Broadband Deployment: In Rural Communities: Robert Somers, Senior Attorney Advisor & Consumer Outreach Liaison, Consumer And Governmental Affairs Bureau, Federal Communications Commission
- Statewide Telecom Infrastructure Development Initiatives in Arizona: Steve Peters, Chair, ATIC Strategic Telecom Planning Committee and Galen Updike, Manager - Telecommunications Development Arizona Government Information
- Dinner and Keynote Address: Telecom Policy and Broadband - Jeff Hatch Miller, Chairman, Arizona Corporation Commission
- Telecom Policy Forum: Moderator, Kevin Moran, Director, Public Affairs, Cox Communications; Robert Somers, Federal Communications Commission; ACC Chairman Jeff Hatch-Miller; and ACC Commissioner Marc Spitzer
- Community Telecom Assessments and Planning: Gary Frech, Principal, Advanced Technology Consulting and David Evertsen, Principal, Municipal Solutions
- Technologies, Challenges and the Future for Telecom and Broadband In Arizona - Interactive Panel Discussion with Telecom Providers: Cox Business Services - Brad Tritle, Government Account Manager; AT+T - David Daniels, Sales Executive; Qwest - George Favela, Director, Community Affairs; and WI-VOD - Allan Meiusi, Chief Solutions Architect
- Statewide Telecom Planning Issues and Regional Reports: Galen Updike and Mike Keeling
- Regional Breakout Sessions: North, Central Moderator; South
Download Presentations
Many of the presentations will be available for download on the Roundtable Intranet Site at http://www.roundtable.grovesite.com.
For Additional Information
- Steve Peters, Roundtable Coordinator and Chair, ATIC Strategic Telecom Planning Committee (520) 321-1309 stevepeters@tucsonlink.org
- Al Sterman, Vice Chair, Arizona Consumer's Council, 520-327-0241, sterman@dakotacom.net
- Galen Updike, Manager - Telecom Development, Arizona, Government Information Technology Agency, 602-364-4794, gupdike@azgita.gov
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