"These services are critical for community development and the health, safety, welfare, educational advancement, and economic prosperity in Arizona communities," said Mike Keeling, chair of the Arizona Telecommunications and Information Council. "Unfortunately many tribal, rural and other unserved and underserved communities lack the telecommunications infrastructure to support deployment of these services. Summit participants will hear keynote presentations and engage in workshops to explore options and to reach consensus on policies and plans to overcome barriers to the deployment of this critical infrastructure." Workshops include State Strategic Telecom Planning, Funding Mechanisms and Strategies, Rights-of-Way Access, Local Community/Tribal Planning and Policies, and Telecom Provider Requirements. The Summit Telecom and Technology Expo will showcase telecom, Internet, or other advanced technologies and services.
According to Steve Peters, Summit Coordinator, we expect federal, state, local, and tribal elected officials, policy advisors and Chief Information Officers, telecom service provider executives, and representatives from many interest groups including Telemedicine, Libraries, Homeland Security, Education, Indian Tribes, and Law Enforcement, will participate in these deliberations.
