FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: News Media Contact:

September 15, 2000 Meribeth McCarrick at (202) 418-0654

e-mail: mmccarri@fcc.gov

**FCC ANNOUNCES PARTICIPATING SPEAKERS AND SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABILITY**

**FOR THE INDIAN TELECOM TRAINING INITIATIVE 2000 SEMINAR**

Washington, D.C. - The Federal Communications Commission today announced
speakers that will be participating in the FCC\'s Indian Telecom
Training Initiative 2000 (ITTI 2000). The Commission also announced the
creation of a scholarship program to assist the participation by tribal
community leaders in ITTI 2000. The FCC in cooperation with the National
Exchange Carrier Association is hosting this event September 25-28 at
the Radisson Hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota. This historic event will
bring together government representatives as well as representatives
from over 100 tribes, over 40 private sector groups, and over 50
telecommunications experts to focus on the issue of bringing
telecommunication services to tribal lands.

The preliminary list of speakers for ITTI 2000 includes: FCC Chairman
William E. Kennard; FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth; Aida
Alvarez, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration; Lynn Cutler,
Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the Vice
President and Chief of Staff; Robert Anderson, President, National
Exchange Carrier Association; George Gover, Bureau of Indian Affairs,
Director, Office of Economic Development; Chris McLean, Administrator,
Rural Utility Services; Karen Buller, President, National Indian
Telecommunications Institute; Bob Rowe, President, National Association
of Regulatory Utility Commissioners; and April Whitemore, Miss Indian
World 1999.

ITTI 2000 was created as a first-time effort to train the tribal leaders
of federally recognized tribes and native communities about
telecommunications policies, technologies, regulatory framework and
service options available to tribal communities. This conference was the
outgrowth of a Commission effort begun almost three years ago to address
the digital divide between Native American communities and the services
and access available to the rest of America. After several field
hearings held by the Commission, three tribal regulatory items were
approved by the Commission on June 8, 2000, to improve telecom services
available for tribal communities.

The ITTI 2000 scholarship program was established by sponsors, to ensure
the participation of tribal communities with limited resources. The
scholarships will be administered through the U.S. General Services
Administration\'s Employee Association and targeted at tribal leaders
with limited funding to participate in this important seminar. ITTI 2000
scholarships are available for two representatives from each applying
tribal government on a first-come, first-serve basis.

ITTI 2000 is being sponsored by a broad consortium of partners, to date
including: ALLTEL, American Indian Higher Education Consortium, AT&T,
BellSouth, CHR Solutions, CIRI, DAKOTA 2000, Ericsson Inc., Globalstar
LP, Hughes Network Systems, Lucent Technologies, Lukas, Nace, Gutierrez
& Sachs, Motient Corporation, Minnesota American Indian Chamber of
Commerce, National Indian Telecommunications Institute, National Science
Foundation, National Telephone Cooperative Association, Northcoast
Communications LLC, OPASCO, Public Service Telephone Company, QWEST,
Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative, SBC Corporation, TACHYON, TAMSCO,
TCA, Inc., Telecordia Technologies, Inc., U.S. Department of
Agriculture\'s Rural Utilities Service, U.S. Department of Interior's
Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. General Services Employee Association,
U.S. Small Business Administration, Verizon, Verizon Foundation, Western
New Mexico Telephone, and Western Wireless Corporation.

For more information on the seminar and on the availability of
scholarships for tribal governments please call (888) CALL FCC (888)
225-5322; (717) 338-2888; or email the FCC at <ITTI2000@fcc.gov>.
Additional information is available at the FCC Indian Initiatives
website at: [www.fcc.gov/Indians]{.underline}.

[FCC ITTI '2000 Contact]{.underline}: Nancy Plon at (202) 418-2899;
<nplon@fcc.gov;> TTY at (202) 418-8233

[NECA Contact]{.underline}: Dustin Logan at (402) 592-2111 or
<dlogan@neca.org>

\- FCC -