**"ITTI 2000: Fulfilling the Promise"**

# 

# Remarks of

**William E. Kennard, Chairman**

**Federal Communications Commission**

**Before the**

**Indian Telecom Training Initiative**

**St. Paul, Minnesota**

**September 28, 2000**

(as prepared for release)

Thank you for that very generous introduction.

It is a great pleasure to be here today in St. Paul, Minnesota at this
historic event -- the first conference to bring together the Nation's
tribal leaders to focus on ways to bring telephone service to Indian
communities.

We have here today almost 600 attendees, representing approximately 135
Indian tribes, together with many industry organizations and government
agencies. President Clinton was so right when he told this conference
yesterday that ITTI 2000 is "the next step in narrowing the Digital
Divide."

Lone Man, a nineteenth-century Teton Sioux, once said that "in any great
undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself."
That wise reflection certainly defines this event. Many people came
together to make it happen. I thank the many people at the FCC who have
worked with Native American leaders and the telecommunications industry
in putting this wonderful event together, including the incomparable
Jerry Vaughan and his terrific team which includes Ruby Hough, Rachel
Kazan, Geoff Blackwell, Nancy Plon and Larry Povich and many others.

I can't name all of the people who are here from the FCC, but I ask all
of you to stand so that we can acknowledge the great work that you have
done. These folks are the heart and soul of the FCC. Day in and day,
they fight for the public interest. Please join me in thanking them
today.

I also thank the many telecommunications companies that worked with us
to pull this conference together. ITTI 2000 would not have been possible
without the hard work of the National Exchange Carrier Association
(NECA). So thank you to Dustin Logan, Gina Harrison, Jon Ricker, Ken
Levy, and many others for all of your efforts. I also thank Government
Service Association (GSA)'s employee association and Norman Wear for
helping with the scholarship program.

From the vendor exhibits to the Internet café to the terrific break out
sessions, this conference has exceeded everyone's expectations. Thank
you to Pat Rinn, Jennifer Bush and Cecilia Sulhoff for your
extraordinary work.

Of course, nothing would have been possible without those Native
American leaders who helped shape this conference, particularly J.D.
Williams and Karen Buller. We have learned much from your struggles and
your successes. So thank you to Belinda Nelson (Gila River), Vernon
James (Scatul), Godfrey Enjady (Apache Mescalaro), Jose Matanane (Fort
Mojave), and Teresa Hopkins (Navajo).

This conference is the culmination of the work that we have done at the
FCC during my tenure as Chairman to close the telecommunications divide
between Indian country and the rest of America. Yet it is, in many ways,
just the beginning of our work to make sure that no one living in Indian
country is left behind in the Information Age.

We began almost three years ago by asking a simple question. Why is it
that, on average, 94% of Americans have affordable phone service, but
less than 50% of Indians households on tribal lands have a phone? And on
some reservations, such as the Navajo reservation, telephone penetration
is below 20%? We asked, then we listened. We listened to your stories
and your needs. In 1999, I held FCC field hearings to Indian country,
the first in FCC history. In these hearings, we heard from tribal
leaders as well as carriers.

I will never forget my trip to Gila River last year. I was attending a
computer industry conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, with all of the
luminaries of the computer industry; people who have earned more in an
IPO than the FCC spends in a year - or two.

I was on this panel on broadband and the future of high-speed Internet
access. And the irony was that while we sat and debated the future of
broadband deployment, less than an hour away, thousands of people on the
Gila River Indian Reservation just outside of Scottsdale were still
waiting for a telephone. So I told these computer folks my story, and I
said, if you want to change the future of America, come with me. Come
with me to the Gila River Indian Reservation and bring your talent and
your energy and your money. Let\'s make a difference in the lives of
those people.

Now, I didn\'t plan to say this. But, after my speech, people came up to
me and said, \"Let\'s go.\" So we went to the Gila River Indian
Reservation. I drove up there like the Pied Piper. I had AT&T and Sun
Microsystems, and Lucent, and Nortel and Northpoint all with me. And we
met with tribal leaders and their families. We sat in their living rooms
as they told me what it means in America today when you do not have a
telephone. What it\'s like when you can\'t call your child\'s teacher.
Or make a doctor\'s appointment. Or call an ambulance.

I will never forget those stories.

And I will never forget the testimony of one tribal leader, Arthur
Chester, a Navajo, at our first field hearing in New Mexico. He
testified that over the years, he has seen many federal officials come
to Indian country and hold hearings, conduct inspections, speak gravely
and promise change. Then he never saw or heard from them again. I'll
never forget his moving testimony. Later, I read the writings of the
Indian wise man, Shinguaconse, who also spoke of broken promises when he
said, "I would have been better pleased if such promises were not made
than that they should be made and not kept."

Well, we resolved to keep our promises. So we listened, we learned, and
then we went to work. I want to tell you about some of the things that
we have done to keep our promises.

I believe that the most important thing that we have done is to adopt a
policy statement that embraces tribal sovereignty, the federal trust
responsibility to the tribes and Indian self-governance. The FCC is one
of two federal agencies -- the Environmental Protection Agency being the
other -- which has recognized tribal sovereignty. We at the FCC promise
to honor your fundamental right to self-governance, and we adopted this
statement to ensure that this right is always respected and never
infringed upon by the Commission.

It is this mutual respect that is the foundation of our new relationship
with the Indian people and the framework for the many policies that we
have adopted to bring technology to Indian country.

Working within that framework, we have adopted many new rules and
policies to fulfill our responsibility to tribal governments.

In June of this year, we adopted new universal service programs that
will substantially reduce the price of basic local phone service for
low-income customers on tribal lands. In so doing, we increased the
dollar amount of the subsidy for low-income households and broadened the
definition of "low-income" to include more Americans.

And we have enhanced two federal universal programs specifically
designed to provide financial assistance to low-income telephone
subscribers and ensure that all low-income Americans -- particularly
low-income Native Americans \-- can afford telephone service: Link-Up
and Lifeline.

Link-Up America helps qualified low-income consumers to hook up to the
telephone network. This federal program offsets one-half of the initial
hook-up fee, up to \$30.00, for qualified households. The program also
includes a plan to encourage local telephone companies to offer
low-income telephone subscribers a deferred payment schedule for these
charges. In addition, low-income consumers on tribal lands will be
eligible for additional support of 100% of the charges over \$60.00 and
up to \$130.00 (a maximum of \$70 in additional support).

The Lifeline Assistance Program provides qualified telephone subscribers
with discounts on monthly charges, including a waiver of the federal
subscriber line charge (up to \$4.35 per month), \$1.75 per month in all
jurisdictions that permit this, and an additional reduction in matching
federal funds (up to \$1.75 per month). In addition, low-income
consumers on tribal lands will be able to receive up to \$25.00 per
month in discounts (up to \$32.85 in total monthly support), to bring
basic monthly rates on tribal lands down to \$1 per month in most cases.

Last week Verizon announced that every Native American on tribal lands
in its territory who meets the means test can have phone service for
\$1.00 per month. I thank Verizon for being the national leader on this
program, and for that company's terrific support for this conference.

We have also worked to streamline the process for receiving universal
service support for companies who seek to serve tribal lands as an
eligible telecommunications carrier.

And we changed our auction rules to provide greater incentives for
wireless carriers to serve tribal lands. Now, anyone with a wireless
license overlapping Indian Country is eligible to receive Tribal Land
Bidding Credits. With these credits, money spent by the license holder
in connecting Indian lands will be deducted from the auction price. This
bidding credit program provides significant new incentives for wireless
companies to extend their service areas throughout Indian Country.

We have are also encouraging wireless coverage on Native American lands
by granting relief on such regulatory matters as power and antenna
characteristics, tower placement and width of spectrum bands. We will
waive these rules on a case-by-case basis to ease access to the Native
American market.

And we have taken important steps to bring the Internet to the
classrooms for all of our nation's schoolchildren. Through the
leadership of President Clinton and Vice-President Gore, we have already
wired 95% of the nations schools -- and over one million American
classrooms \-- to the web. Our e-rate program has invested \$6 billion
dollars in this effort over the last three years. Our task now is to
ensure that every school in Indian country is wired to the Internet.

We have done much in the last three years, but there is much more to be
done. We have created important new tools, but it is up to you to use
them. Use them aggressively for the benefit of the Indian people.

Do what Pat Goff has done. Pat is a schoolteacher from rural Humboldt
County, Nevada. When he saw that there was no way to access the Internet
from his town, he didn't wait for telecom companies to build out to him.
He took matters into his own hands.

After seeking out and obtaining some grant money, Pat created a computer
lab for his students at McDermott Combined School to access the
Internet. Then, with the help of Intellicom, he set up his own ISP - the
Humboldt Internet Provider, or HIP. HIP is now run by students at
McDermott and is available to everyone in the community and neighboring
counties.

And he hasn't stopped there. Using award money he recently won from
America Online, Pat has purchased more computers for the town library
and a wireless system to connect them to the Internet.

Singlehandedly, Pat has brought the Internet and its vast wealth of
information to his remote community. I salute him for his vision, his
initiative and his effort. Pat is here today. He is an inspiration. Pat,
please stand so we can thank you for your good works.

This conference has been a wonderful opportunity for us to learn from
Pat and the many others here who are working to bring phone service to
Indian country -- pioneering new strategies, taking risks, uplifting
whole communities.

This conference is an important start. And I am so pleased to hear many
of you already making plans for ITTI 2001.

You know, some people have asked me why I have devoted so much of the
FCC's attention and resources to bringing phone service to Indian
country. My answer is simple: the law requires it.

The very first section of the Communications Act of 1934 \-- the law
that created the FCC and established its mission \-- directs the FCC to
ensure affordable telephone service for all Americans regardless of
race. This is the fundamental mandate of the FCC. It's the law. It's
been the law for 65 years and it must be enforced. You must insist that
it be enforced. And you must insist that it be enforced with a sense of
urgency.

You must insist on this from me and from every succeeding chairman of
the FCC. You must insist that your voices are heard. You must insist on
an institutional commitment from the FCC. You must insist that you get
as much attention at the FCC as the armies of industry lobbyists there.

In that regard, I am pleased to announce today that Geoff Blackwell will
be our new FCC liaison to tribal governments. Geoff will ensure that
your voices are heard at every level of the FCC.

In the last three years, we have made important progress toward making
the promise of the law a reality. And beyond all of the new rules and
policies, the most important thing we have done is to create a new sense
of urgency about enforcing the law.

But we have just begun. There is much work ahead. But together, I am
confident that we can make sure that the Indian people are not stranded
on the wrong side of the digital divide . . . that they are not trapped
in the dark ages as the rest of America charges ahead into a bright
digital future.

Together, we can make sure that the first Americans on this continent
are not the last Americans to enjoy the wonders of the Internet.

Together we can do this. Together, we will.

Thank you.