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Governor's Welcome

Since taking on the role of Governor of Pennsylvania, economic development has been the driving interest of my administration. I have shared a broad vision of what I believe is necessary to revitalize the state economy, create jobs and stimulate new business development. I have focused on investments in education, our communities and developing the Pennsylvania workforce as ways to spur the growth.

Now, my administration is working to foster the deployment of high-speed telecommunications across the Commonwealth. A successful telecommunications infrastructure is vital in the 21st century: vital to our economy, since by ensuring that Pennsylvania has an expansive and established broadband network, we are also ensuring that Pennsylvania will be truly business-ready; and vital to our future, as this broadband network will help our schools to provide a more rich and interactive learning environment.

In 2004, I participated in the legislative process that led to the enactment of Act 183: new legislation that marks Pennsylvania as a national leader in terms of broadband deployment and consumer protection in the telecommunications marketplace. This legislation authorizes several ambitious initiatives.

First, it will substantially increase the investment in telecommunications infrastructure within the Commonwealth. This will accelerate deployment of broadband services by:

• Hastening high-speed broadband services before the 2015 deadline established under previous legislation. The majority of eligible local carriers have already agreed to speed up their deployments, and even some of our rural areas will have universal broadband availability as early as the end of 2008.
• Providing financial assistance to school districts to improve their broadband and high-speed Internet service.
• Recognizing the importance of telecommunications infrastructure to economic development by creating a mechanism for the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to accelerate broadband deployment.
• Establishing a special program to help communities aggregate the demand for broadband service and requiring local telephone companies to respond to the demand for service in a more timely fashion.

Second, Act 183 ensures that every Pennsylvanian has access to affordable, basic telephone service by:

• Making it easier for more low-income Pennsylvanians to enroll in federal Lifeline service, which will help them have phones installed and pay their monthly bills.
• Protecting access to basic telephone services even in the most rural and economically depressed areas of the state.
• Limiting the price increases for basic service, particularly in harder-to-serve rural areas.
• Ensuring that the Public Utility Commission (PUC) retains its authority to oversee the quality of local telephone service.

This new legislation will have an enormous impact on our schools. It is my goal to ensure that students in every school in the Commonwealth will be able to use broadband and high-speed Internet service to enhance their learning process. Act 183 requires local companies to provide broadband services to schools at a discounted rate. Telecommunications companies will also be contributing to a special Education Technology Fund (E-Fund), and providing equipment discounts to our schools. Altogether, over 10 years this new legislation will make available between $350 and $550 million to Commonwealth schools. With faster Internet service, computers and the World Wide Web can become an integral part of the classroom in all of our schools, not just the affluent ones.

On this Web site, you will find an explanation of Act 183, as well as information about events happening across Pennsylvania related to the rollout of the legislation and the deployment of broadband services in the Commonwealth. This site will also allow you to contact agencies in my administration about the Act 183 legislation or about what telecommunications services are available to you. I encourage you to look through the site and see what your state government is doing to help ensure your access to telecommunications services; and come back often, as we will be updating this site as we continue to make progress.

Sincerely,
Edward G. Rendell