INDIANAPOLIS – The National Rural Assembly views President Obama’s recent endorsement of treating broadband service like telephone service as “a big win for rural communities.”
Edyael Casaperalta is a coordinator for the Rural Broadband Policy Group of the National Rural Assembly, a coalition of groups that advocates for those who live in rural areas. She says Obama’s call for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reclassify broadband as a Title II service under the Telecommunications Act protects an open Internet.
“It also begins a conversation about how do we bring high-speed, affordable, quality Internet to rural areas,” she says. “That’s what we’ve done before with the telephone.”
While supporters of the idea claim it would close the digital divide in broadband-starved areas of Indiana, House Speaker John Boehner from neighboring Ohio has called it a “misguided scheme to regulate the Internet.”
Casaperalta believes treating broadband like basic telephone service by classifying it a Title II service should not be a partisan issue.
“It should be about how do we collectively work together to improve the information and communications infrastructure of our country,” she says. “It benefits us all, right?”
According to the Rural Broadband Policy Group, of the 19 million Americans who don’t have Internet access, more than 14 million are rural residents.
Mary Kuhlman
