Mapcom and telecommunications providers discuss efforts to bring advanced communications to rural communities and the need for sustained support.
April 23, 2015 – RICHMOND, VA – Representatives from Mapcom Systems, a leading provider of visual operations management software, accompanied leaders from rural telecommunications providers from across the country to meet with their respective Congressional representatives and staff in Washington, D.C. earlier this week.
Mapcom representatives John Granger, Matt Gilbert and David Hunsucker accompanied representatives from several of their customers and other communications providers to discuss the importance of implementing a new, targeted support system for broadband-capable networks to benefit consumers. The members of the Mapcom team met with key individuals from both the House of Representatives and the Senate and their staffs in support of their customers and other providers hailing from Virginia, Oklahoma and Utah.
They also spoke with their delegates about the importance of consumer choice, explaining that because of the way the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) universal service rules are currently structured, consumers in rural America are often forced to select services they may not always need or want – like landline phone service – in order to get access to services they do want and need – like high-speed broadband – at affordable rates.
The communications providers and Mapcom representatives urged their respective congressional delegates to encourage the FCC to act as quickly as possible to implement an updated, targeted universal service support system for broadband-capable networks in those portions of rural America served by smaller providers. They explained the importance of the FCC moving forward with the changes it is implementing for the nation’s larger telecommunications providers and stressed the necessity of immediately addressing how smaller carriers that serve rural areas can obtain tailored, broadband-focused universal service support of their own.
Communications providers and Mapcom representatives were in Washington participating in NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association’s Legislative & Policy Conference, April 19-21. Nearly 500 Association members from around the country gathered in the nation’s capital for educational briefings about emerging rules & regulations and to take part in visits to policy-makers on Capitol Hill and the FCC.
About Mapcom Systems
Mapcom Systems is the developer of M4 Solutions – a visual operations platform that allows service providers to manage their workforce, as well as fiber, coax, wireless and copper networks, including both outside and inside plant at the physical and logical levels. M4 Solutions enables users to integrate and correlate data from existing billing, accounting, GPS tracking, element management, network monitoring and vehicle-tracking applications in a powerful visual interface to all network elements. Since 1971, Mapcom has worked with independents, cooperatives, fiber communities, and campus communications service providers of all sizes across the United States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean. For more information, visit the Mapcom website at www.mapcom.com.
Media Contact:
Sharon Kessinger
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