Local leaders to attend FCC hearing on broadband

Area business and community leaders will be among those testifying at a Federal Communications Commission hearing this week.

U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, NY-Rhinebeck, announced the witness list for his Rural Broadband Field Hearing with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Friday’s hearing, titled, “Closing the Digital Divide: Connecting Rural Americans to Reliable Internet Service” will be held at Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson and allow members of the community in upstate New York to share their experiences with a lack of broadband internet access with the FCC commissioner, according to a media release. 

Witnesses from the area include Tim Johnson, CEO of the Otsego Electric Cooperative; Shannon Hayes, owner of Sap Bush Hollow Farm Store and Café in West Fulton; Jason Miller, general manager of the Delhi Telephone Company; and Brian Dunn, superintendent of the Middleburgh Central School District.

“Lack of internet access or reliable broadband affects every person in our community — from students lacking access to homework, to rural hospitals limited in their tele-medicine capabilities, to small businesses who need broadband to connect to the global economy,” Delgado said in a media release. “The witnesses for Friday’s hearing will share this range of experiences and explain the need for accessible, affordable broadband in our communities.”