Claudville White Spaces Network Launch

October 21, 2009

Washington, D.C. and Claudville, Virginia

This morning marks a milestone in our efforts to expand broadband deployment as we initiate for the first time in the nation a high speed Internet access service using white spaces, which is the unused spectrum between television channels.

One year ago, the FCC took a forward looking step to authorize the use of white spaces for broadband deployment, and today the first white space service begins.

It is being activated in the Claudville Community of Patrick County, Virginia using the first white space license granted by the FCC.

Spectrum Bridge is the company deploying the service and, during the coming eighteen months of its experimental license, will demonstrate the utility and the cost effectiveness of using white space spectrum for last mile broadband delivery.

In July of this year, the first high speed Internet access services were brought to the Claudville community through funding supplied by the Telecommunications Development Fund, a non-profit organization that works to improve telecommunications services for deserving communities.

At my urging, the Fund brought a broadband connection to the Ruritan building in Claudville, and in that building Spectrum Bridge has installed a router to offer wireless broadband services over the last mile in the Claudville community.

The first recipients of the service will be the Trinity Christian School, the Claudville Café and the Blue Ridge Fish Hatchery.

Spectrum Bridge is providing all of the equipment needed at these sites to access the service.

Through the generosity of Dell and Microsoft, the Trinity Christian School is receiving the equipment needed to install a distance learning classroom using the white space broadband service.

During the eighteen month demonstration, the white space service will reach a larger number of Claudville residents than the three sites being activated today.

There are a number of partners who are working to achieve this goal, and I would like to thank these individuals at this time.

Earlier this year, Jonathan Large, a member of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors, testified before the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, which I chair, about the need for broadband services in Patrick County and the Claudville community in particular. Jonathan joins us today from Claudville, and I would like to extend my thanks to him for his role in the accomplishment we celebrate today.

Roger Hayden, Chairman of the Patrick County broadband committee, also joins us today from Claudville, and I would like to extend my thanks to him for his leadership in expanding broadband services in the County.

I would also like to thank Richard Licursi, CEO of Spectrum Bridge, for the innovative efforts to provide broadband services to the Claudville community.

I would like to thank Jim Pastoriza with the Telecommunications Development Fund for the Fund's outstanding work in Claudville.

I also want to thank Becca Gould with Dell and Fred Humphries with Microsoft for their partnership in this project and their efforts to connect Claudville's classrooms to Internet services.

The FCC took a forward looking step in granting the experimental license that has enabled this white space network, and I would also like to express my appreciation to Commissioners Michael Copps and Meredith Baker who are with us this morning.