Eastern Kentucky Telecommunications Summit

       "The National Information Infrastructure Initiative:
           New Economic and Educational Opportunities"

                     Remarks by Larry Irving
      Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information
    National Telecommunications and Information Administration
                      Department of Commerce

                       Cumberland, Kentucky
                        February 26, 1996

                    [as prepared for delivery]



    I want to thank Congressman Rogers for his leadership role
on many critical telecom issues.  Congressman Rogers is
playing a vital role in ensuring that our country maintains
its leading position in the area of telecommunications and
that rural communities share in the benefits of the
Information Age.  I also want to thank Kevin Fromer,
Jennifer Miller, and Sally Chadbourne, of Congressman
Rogers' staff, for all their hard work.

    I also want to commend Governor Patton and the Commonwealth
of Kentucky for promoting telecommunications and information
technologies to benefit the residents of Kentucky.  From
making information available on-line, such as "How to do
business with the Commonwealth of Kentucky," to the numerous
initiatives at the universities, colleges, and K-12 schools
across the state, local and state leaders are working hard
to serve better your students, businesses, consumers, public
libraries, health care providers -- all of Kentucky's
citizens.

    And I want to thank Hilda Legg, Director of the Center for
Rural Development, and Jim Wilde, coordinator of the
Kentucky Appalachian Telecommunications Consortium, for all
they have done to bring the benefits of advanced
telecommunications to this region, and in particular, for
educating me and my colleagues at NTIA so that we can better
formulate telecom policy to meet the needs of rural
residents.

    The passage of the Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996
certainly has everyone talking about what it means, who
profits and who may lose, and which provisions are already
under attack.  I am reminded of the following story:

         A grandmother is looking after her grandson as he runs
    around on the beach.  As she turns away for a second to
    rummage through her pocketbook, her grandson gets caught in
    the undertow.  By the time she spots him, the current has
    already carried him 50 yards offshore.  The grandmother is
    panic-stricken.
         Both the Coast Guard and a police helicopter are
    summoned as a lifeguard valiantly rows after the boy. 
    Eventually, after great effort, he is retrieved and brought
    to shore, where the lifeguard resuscitates the child to the
    applause of everyone on the beach.
         "Excuse me," the grandmother says.  "He had a hat . .
    ."

    In many ways, it's easy to take the same approach to the new
telecom reform law.  It's easy to forget the hard work
undertaken by Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the
White House to produce truly landmark legislation that will
bring tremendous benefits to American consumers and
business, and instead focus on the few provisions that we
wish had survived the legislative process or which were
added against our wishes.

    We now have a telecom reform law that promotes competition,
not monopoly power; one that promises to bring consumers
lower prices, better quality, and greater choices in their
telephone and cable services; one that will allow Americans
to continue to benefit from a diversity of voices and
viewpoints in radio, television, and print media; and one
that preserves our nation's commitment to universal service,
to the concept that all Americans should be connected to the
information superhighway.

    The Clinton Administration believes that the legislation has
the ability to lead us into an era of innovation,
investment, and inclusion.  As President Clinton said when
he signed the bill:

    This historic legislation in my way of thinking really
    embodies what we ought to be about as a country and what we
    ought to be about in this city.  It clearly enables the age
    of possibility in America to expand to include more
    Americans.  It will create many, many high-wage jobs.  It
    will provide for more information and more entertainment to
    virtually every American home.  It embodies our best values
    by supporting . . . market reforms . . . as well as the
    V-chip.  And it brings us together, and it was passed by
    people coming together.

    As the President, Vice President, and Secretary Brown have
all noted, the telecom reform legislation can benefit
American consumers, workers, and businesses.  Consumers can
benefit from greater choice and lower prices.  Some experts
predict that the legislation will result in the cost of
local telephone service falling 70 percent over the next ten
years.  Workers can gain from the new, high-wage jobs that
will be created.  More than 36,000 jobs were created at
Internet-related companies last year alone.  And American
entrepreneurs and businesses can profit both here and abroad
as new markets open up for their products and services. 
American companies will no longer be limited by artificial
regulatory boundaries.  Now, businesses can expand as far as
their creativity and innovation takes them.

    The issue that I want to address today is how Eastern
Kentucky best can benefit from the new legislation and take
advantage of new opportunities.  In particular, I want to
discuss how telecom can assist in economic development,
public safety, and education.  

Economic Development

    Let's begin by looking at how advanced telecom and
information technologies and services can bring new economic
opportunities to residents and businesses of this region.  

    In 1995, PCs outsold TVs, the number of e-mails surpassed
snail mail, and data traffic over the Bell System (driven by
Internet use) exceeded voice traffic.  Today, more Americans
build computers than cars, more make semiconductors than
construction machinery, more work in data processing than
petroleum refining.  Since 1990, U.S. companies have spent
more on computers and communications gear than all other
capital equipment combined.  Software is the country's
fastest growing industry.  World trade in information-related goods and services is growing five times faster than
trade in natural resources.

    New technologies will benefit not only the television,
telephone, cable, and satellite industries, but also
producers of consumer goods of every variety, restaurant
owners, clothing designers, coal miners -- you name it. 
Every type of company can benefit.

    Businesses are using the Internet to cut costs.  Last year
FedEx saved $2 million by letting customers track packages
over the Net.  Wal-Mart and Wrangler Jeans use technology to
manage their inventory more precisely.

    And small and growing companies also can benefit.  Today
through the Internet, you can order brownies from Vermont
(I've done that!) and Girl Scout cookies (www.thinmint). 
Jewelry and compact disks are easily sold on-line.  Soon
cars, clothing, and other goods will be sold the same way. 
Last Wednesday, Atlanta-based Wolf Camera & Video, a major
photo retailer, announced a new service that allows
customers to drop off their film for processing and then
view their pictures on the Internet and electronically order
reprints and enlargements as well as send copies to
relatives in other states.

    In sum, the Internet enables small and large companies alike
to produce, market, and distribute more efficiently. 
Companies can more easily attract customers nationwide and
worldwide.  The economic potential for rural communities is
great, as people can physically be located anywhere so long
as they have a modem and fax.  Using telecom technology, old
concepts of time and distance disappear.  This region,
Appalachian East Kentucky, has some wonderful crafts that
could be marketed nationwide on the Internet, using new 3-D
Web pages to give viewers a good sense of the product.  This
is a way to use technology to achieve a more sustainable
economy while preserving part of the cultural heritage.

    For example, for $50 a month, a merchant can advertise
merchandise on "InterMall."  On InterMall, a Web page
advertisement can include pictures, descriptive text, even
soundclips.  Customers view the on-line catalog and place
their order via e-mail or telephone.  Or perhaps one of the
area community colleges -- such as Southeast Community
College or Somerset Community College -- can help create an
on-line presence for area merchants and craftspersons.

    Innovative use of satellites can bring tremendous help for
the agricultural industry and for individual farmers. 
Senator Pressler recently related an interesting anecdote on
how new technologies could revolutionize farming.  It's
called "site-specific" or "precision" farming.  As he told
it, "First, soil moisture and crop yield sensors are spotted
in fields.  These sensors can narrow acres and acres of land
down to as little as 20 foot squares.  These censors then
interact with the new Global Positioning Satellite network. 
The system feeds information back to computers on the farm. 
This information gives farmers the kind of precise
information they need to target fertilizer, irrigation, and
other services.  The approach radically reduces operating
costs.  It helps the environment by reducing leaching and
stream run-off... [and] it is possible only because of the
marriage of computers and communications."  Large farms are
now taking advantage of precision farming.  Cooperative
arrangements could make this a viable option for small farms
as well.

    In California, farmer-advisor Peter Goodell is using
computers to help farmers with everything from treating
spider mites to replanting.  Farmers use calculator-size,
hand-held computers to enter data in the fields as they
inspect their crops.

    Moreover, think how some of these applications can be used
in other industries.  For example, just as computers have
been used in the mining industry to lower operating costs,
they also can be used to market products, and to service
better customers.

    Using telecom and information technologies to spur economic
development is one of the goals of NTIA's Telecommunications
and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP). 
TIIAP grants are available to state and local governments,
schools and school districts, hospitals and clinics,
libraries, community centers, and other public institutions. 
TIIAP grants require at least a 50 percent matching grant,
which has led to many public-private partnerships.  The
projects are community-driven, not Washington-driven.

    A TIIAP project located here in Southeast Kentucky
exemplifies what we are trying to do.  The Center for
Kentucky Rural Economic Development and the Kentucky
Highlands Investment Corporation are developing an
information network to support entrepreneurs, small and new
businesses, and the expansion of the region's existing
industries.  Acting as a hub for the system, the Center will
house videoconferencing and distance learning facilities,
connected to the Kentucky Information Highway through a
high-speed telephone line. 

    As many of you know, Kentucky has one of only three rural
federal Empowerment Zones (EZ) in the nation.  This project
focuses on the three EZ counties of Clinton, Wayne, and
Jackson.  TIIAP support will equip an origination facility
and the first two of a projected six electronic classrooms. 
The video and data network will function as the delivery
system for a number of services, including a comprehensive
worker training program that includes basic academic and
literacy skills; a program to encourage tourism as a way of
expanding the local economy; and an agricultural marketing
program that focuses on product utilization and development
of local processing facilities.

    A third partner in the project, the Kentucky Information
Resources Management Commission, is providing technical
assistance and acts as a conduit for delivering state
resources to the region.  

    Thanks to the leadership of Hilda Legg and many other
community leaders, area residents will soon reap the
benefits of these efforts.  And others across the nation
will also benefit, as we share the lessons learned here in
Kentucky with other communities.

    This region can look to similar rural Empowerment
Zones/Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) for potential models to
follow.  For example, Fayette/
Haywood, Tennessee has leveraged their position as a rural
EC by partnering with the Jackson, Tennessee non-designated
urban community to access a viable telecommunications
infrastructure.  The communities have arranged to provide T1
access, video conferencing, and distance learning
capabilities throughout the participating communities. 
Positive feedback has already begun with potential new
business and industries considering locating in these
communities due in large part to the availability of a
state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure.

Public Safety

    I also want to note the importance of telecommunications for
public safety and law enforcement activities.  This region
of the country hosts a number of different jurisdictions in
a relatively small area -- Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee
state police; state park police; federal park police; and
municipalities/counties.  Enhancing the ability of these
different entities to communicate easily helps the entire
community.   
    The success of many crime-fighting endeavors depends on the
existence of an effective communications infrastructure and
a coordinated Federal-state-local government response.  Key
to achieving this is (1) creating interoperable radio
systems, and (2) ensuring that the law enforcement community
has access to adequate amounts of radio spectrum.

    Currently, local, state, and Federal law enforcement and
public safety agencies operate in different bands of the
radio spectrum and use a variety of equipment and
technologies.  When different law enforcement government
officials go into an emergency situation, incredibly they
are not able to communicate on the same frequency.  Indeed,
what happened in the Oklahoma City bombing crisis is
instructive.  Federal agents were not able to communicate
via their walkie-talkies and other wireless devices with
state and local police and rescue workers.

    Moreover, new technologies that allow for the wireless
transmission of large amounts of data and video will allow
law enforcement officers to receive mugshots in their patrol
cars and to run almost instantaneously fingerprint checks of
suspects from the scene of the crime.  

    Congressman Rogers has been a strong advocate of doing more
in this area, and his advocacy has led to the formation of
the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee.  The Advisory
Committee is comprised of representatives of local, state,
and Federal governments and of industry.  The Committee will
provide advice and recommendations to NTIA and the FCC on
operational, technical, and spectrum requirements of
Federal, state, and local public safety entities through the
year 2010.

    The Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee has been hard
at work this fall addressing these issues include defining
"public safety," developing interoperability requirements,
determining spectrum requirements, identifying appropriate
spectrum to use, overcoming interference concerns, and
examining the technical alternatives for public safety
mobile radio equipment.

    I cannot overstate the importance of these issues as we move
to build out the information superhighway in a way that not
only grows our economy but also ensures our welfare.  The
new telecommunications and information technologies offer
tremendous opportunities to aid our law enforcement and
other public safety goals.  

Educational Opportunities

    Key to Kentucky's economy historically has been its abundant
natural resources.  Today, any community's most important
resource is its people.  Candidly stated, no company is
going to invest in a community without a trained workforce. 
Secretary of Labor Robert Reich talks about the need to
adopt "a strategy of adjustment and adaptation:  embracing
the opportunities of the new economy and investing in our
workers so they can thrive in it; improving wages by
upgrading skills."  And you are doing that.

    On August 25, 1995, Kentucky became the first state in the
nation to connect 100 percent (176) of her local school
districts to the statewide network (integrated voice, video
and data) via dedicated 56KB and T1 lines.

    Kentucky's increasing use of technology in education is part
of a nationwide trend.  Ten years ago, the average number of
students per computer in American schools was 125-to-1. 
Today, that ratio is 9-to-1.  

    A new survey, "Advanced Telecommunications in U.S. Public
Elementary and Secondary Schools," released by the
Department of Education last Tuesday found that
approximately half of the nation's public schools had access
to Internet at the end of last year, a 15 percent increase
from 1994.  However, only 9 percent of classrooms had
Internet access, although that is triple the figure for
1994.  The survey results show progress, but also reveal
that there still are major issues of equity, with schools
having poorer populations showing much less access than
wealthier areas.

    The survey also found that rural areas are increasing their
Internet access at a fast rate and are approaching city
school systems.  In 1995, 48 percent of rural schools had
Net access, up from 35 percent years earlier.  That compares
with 1995 access penetration of 59 percent for suburban
schools and 47 percent for cities.  The Northeast has the
highest Internet access penetration, 59 percent; followed by
the Central area, 52 percent; the West, 48 percent; and then
the Southeast, at 44 percent.

    But it's not just computers.  Distance learning, made
possible through video conferencing technology and
computers, now allows students to have access to advanced
classes, particularly sciences and foreign languages.  This
is especially important for rural school districts, which
have limited financial resources, or not enough students
interested in a particularly subject to warrant a class.  I
saw the benefits of distance learning first-hand when I
visited Barrows, Alaska last August -- 800 students, 8,000
square miles.

    And I am pleased that with the financial assistance of a
TIIAP grant from NTIA, the Appalachian College Association
is creating a comprehensive strategy for distance learning
for its 33 member colleges and universities.  The plan will
include a strategy for developing Rural Information Service
Centers, which will make information technology accessible
to enterprising members of the community and allow them to
develop technology-related skills.

    And, with the assistance of another TIIAP grant, the
Jefferson County School District in Louisville is engaged in
a project to provide 12,000 students in Pike County with
specialized courses not otherwise available by linking them
to a fiber optic, metropolitan wide area network.

    Technology can change teaching.  It can move us away from
the "chalk and talk" model to a more customized, self-pace
instruction that encourages more independent work as well as
teamwork and collaborative inquiry.  The "sage on the stage"
is being replaced by the "guide by your side."  Technology
can connect student learning to the real world and connect
schools to the home and community.  Technology also has the
potential to meet better the needs of teachers for
professional collaboration and continuing education. 

    In addition, technology is redefining the nature of our jobs
and the skills demanded of our workers.  By the year 2000,
60 percent of the new jobs will require skills held by only
20 percent of the existing population.  Today, a graduate of
tech school will find that 50 percent of his or her
knowledge two years into the job has become obsolete.  We
need to make sure that Americans become adept with computers
and new technologies.  Our domestic and global economies
will demand it.  And a technology-literate workforce will be
key to maintaining our global leadership role.   

    Again, NTIA's TIIAP grants are helping communities meet this
challenge.  Here in Eastern Kentucky, we are assisting local
efforts to retrain workers, many of whom lost jobs as the
coal mining industry experienced a decline.  With the
assistance of TIIAP funds, the Eastern Kentucky Access to
Telecommunications project will offer training and access to
a computer network linking individuals, schools, and
communities.  The project will establish eight satellite
downlink sites and offer inexpensive local connections to
the Internet.

    The need to prepare our students for the Information Age is
why President Clinton's commitment to put technology in
classrooms is so important.  Two weeks ago, President
Clinton proposed a $2 billion federal matching-grant program
to help local communities put computers in their classrooms. 
The "challenge grants" would hinge on communities' ability
to enlist the support of local businesses in the venture.  

    Last Friday, Vice President Gore announced an initiative to
connect every school in every Empowerment Zone in the
country to the information highway this year.  This effort
will be achieved through a combination of federal, local,
and private sector actions.  Let me highlight the Federal
action:

    (1)                                          Empowerment Zones will have access to a new pool of
resources through a proposed $2 billion Educational
Technology Challenge Fund. To qualify for the matching
funds, states must demonstrate the equitable distribution of
funds in poorer areas including EZs.  

    (2)                                          President Clinton will issue an Executive Order that will,
among other things, create a priority for giving surplus and
excess federal computer equipment to schools in Empowerment
Zones and Enterprise Communities.

    (3)                                          Under the new Telecommunications Act, carriers must provide
telecommunications services to schools and libraries at
discounted rates.

    (4)                                          The Department of Education will ask the new Educational
Technology Assistance Centers (TACs) to help EZs with the
following:  1) teacher training for staff in EZ schools; 2)
computer donations; 3) resources from private industry; and 
4) development of detailed technology plans.

    Commitments from the private sector will help meet this
challenge.  Examples of such private sector efforts are:

    (1)                                          AT&T will make available to every school in every EZ free
Internet dial-up access, web browser software, content
access controls, navigational tools, use of its forthcoming
national voice messaging service and list software to every
school as well as technical support for teachers.

    (2)                                          America On-Line (AOL) will provide free AOL access for every
EZ school.  AOL has special Kids and Educational sections
on-line allowing a student to dissect a frog, visit the
Smithsonian, or search the works of Shakespeare.

    (3)                                          On March 9th, thousands of volunteers, including the
President and Vice President will participate in NetDay '96
in California to help connect as many classrooms as possible
to the information superhighway.  I'll be there, too.

Conclusion

    The school child in Kentucky will be competing with the
school child in New Delhi in the 21st Century.  There are
1.4 million programmers in India.  In Bangalore, 300 U.S.
companies employ 14,000 software writers.  We need to equip
our kids with the technology skills that they will need to
succeed.  Let me read the first two paragraphs of a book I
recently read:

         I wrote my first software program when I was 13 years
    old.  It was for playing tic-tac-toe.  The computer I was
    using was huge and cumbersome and old and absolutely
    compelling.
         Letting a bunch of teenagers loose on a computer was
    the idea of a Mothers' Club at Lakeside, the private school
    I attended.  The mothers decided that the proceeds from a
    rummage sale should be used to install a terminal and buy
    computer time for students.  Letting students use a computer
    in the late 1960s was a pretty amazing choice at the time in
    Seattle -- and one I'll always be grateful for.

    The author of these two paragraphs is Bill Gates.  Somewhere
in the state of Kentucky is the next Bill Gates, and she
will always be grateful for the choices you are making by
investing in technology.

    Once again, I commend you on all you have done and encourage
you to continue in your efforts.