NATOA Congratulates USDA’s Rural Utilities Service on its 60th Anniversary
October 28, 2009 4:11 PM
Alexandria, VA - (October 28, 2009) – The
National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) today
congratulated the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service
(RUS) on it’s 60th anniversary of financing telecommunications
programs throughout rural America.
“RUS has a long and impressive history of providing
programs to finance rural America’s
telecommunications infrastructure,” commented NATOA President Ken Fellman.“We applaud RUS for their efforts to increase
economic opportunity, support rural telecommunications needs and provide
broadband service to underserved rural American communities.”
In 1949, USDA’s telecommunications loan program began
providing telephone service to rural America, enhancing the lives of millions
of rural families and businesses by providing connectivity, access to emergency
services and business activities that fueled economic growth.Today, RUS administers programs such as the
Broadband Loan Program, the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program and the
Telecomm Infrastructure Program, to name a few.RUS also received $2.5 billion from the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 to provide broadband in unserved and
underserved communities.
RUS’ Deputy Administrator Jessica Zufolo recently
spoke at NATOA’s 2009 Annual Conference on strategies for rural community-based broadband deployment and
NATOA has consulted with RUS and serves as a resource on issues of local
government telecommunications.
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NATOA promotes community interests
in communications.A national trade
association based in Alexandria,
VA, NATOA represents local
government jurisdictions and consortiums, including elected and appointed
officials and staff, who oversee communications and cable television
franchising. Visit NATOA on the web at www.natoa.org.
