ST.CROIX– As part of her ongoing effort to highlight opportunities for economic growth, Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett is hosting a high-level official from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the territory this week, a press release Ms. Plaskett’s office issued today has made known.
Mignon Clyburn, a commissioner with the FCC, will spend the week in the territory meeting with local stakeholders in the telecommunications sector, learning of their challenges as well as exploring existing opportunities for technological innovation and increasing access to technology for Virgin Islanders, according to the release.
“There are a number of ongoing initiatives in the territory that have the potential to make the Virgin Islands a key staging area for new advancements in telecommunications in the Caribbean basin,” Ms. Plaskett said. “This is an opportunity for our local stakeholders in the communications and technology sectors to better understand and appropriately navigate federal regulations, and to fully capitalize and implement telecom opportunities into our economic portfolio.”
According to the release, Ms. Plaskett has assembled executives from WTJX, Innovative, Broadband VI, as well as the Virgin Islands Next Generation Network to meet with the Ms. Clyburn. Both Plaskett and Clyburn will also visit schools in St. Thomas and St. Croix to understand first-hand the innovations and challenges of the territory.
The FCC regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
In 2015, the federal agency voted to regulate broadband Internet service as a public utility, a milestone in regulating high-speed Internet service into American homes.
Tom Wheeler, the commission chairman, said the F.C.C. was using “all the tools in our toolbox to protect innovators and consumers” and preserve the Internet’s role as a “core of free expression and democratic principles.”
The new rules, approved 3 to 2 along party lines, are intended to ensure that no content is blocked and that the Internet is not divided into pay-to-play fast lanes for Internet and media companies that can afford it and slow lanes for everyone else. Those prohibitions are hallmarks of the net neutrality concept.
Tags: fcc commissioner Mignon Clyburn, Mignon Clyburn
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