Don’t forget the state level, where a lot of the nitty-gritty of telecommunications regulation still takes place. (Please disregard the shameless plug aspects of this message.)

Love that line.

We’re bringing senior officials from the State Department, White House, Energy Department, and Commerce Department to Supernova this year because these communities need to talk with each other, not just at each other.

“Infrastructure” is one of the topics covered by Supernova. It is important to be clear what we are talking about. People often talk about how wireless is replacing the wireline network. While it is true that in many parts of the world, countries are forgoing a wireline network altogether, in America still, the wireline network is still very much alive and well. In fact some experts conceptualize the wireless network as a “last mile” access facility to the wireline network. Given that the bulk of this infrastructure is privately owned (albeit with significant regulatory oversight) what policy implications should flow from the inter-relationship between wireless carriers, the PhoneCo, and providers of what the FCC charmingly calls information services (i.e., VOIP)?

It is no longer enough to say “tele-medicine will save lives in poor rural communities.” What exactly does that mean? There’s been a lot of work done on how people interact with this technology, it’s time to use it. What does tele-medicine mean to the rural communities of Alaska, (perhaps accessible only via plane), versus a rural community in New Mexico, that may be only ~50 mountainous miles from a fiber optic link, but worlds away in terms of access to health care. The needs of the two communities might be very difference and a “tele-medicine” solution for the two communities might be very different.

maybe susan c should come and see us!