Carr Says FCC Needs to Do More on Broadband in Rural America
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr told the Senate Broadband Caucus Tuesday his travels across rural America have brought home to him how important broadband is to swaths of the country that haven't been connected. Carr recalled his visit to a Lincoln,…
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Nebraska-based startup called Quantified Ag, which built a “Fitbit” for cattle. Early results show “the technology is helping to improve outcomes for the herd, saving time and money, and reducing the use of antibiotics and other treatments,” he said. Carr promised the FCC would continue its focus on closing the digital divide. “We need to keep cutting the regulatory red tape that needlessly drives up the costs of deploying broadband infrastructure,” he said. “We need to keep freeing up spectrum for next-generation uses. And we need to continue supporting rural broadband providers through programs like our Connect America Fund.” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said farmers need to be connected. “I can imagine a time in American agriculture where someone sits in an office … and basically plants a quarter-section of land in a day, operating their tractor from not the tractor but through automation,” she said. “None of that is possible if we don’t have the backbone of connectivity.”