Daschle, in a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman William Kennard Friday, pressed for federal action to spur investment and policy initiatives that will speed the deployment of new telecommunications technology in rural areas. Daschle's letter came in the wake of a report released this week showing rural America currently lagging far behind urban areas in the availability of high-speed Internet services, something that could have a significant impact on the economy of rural America in the coming years.

"You have stated in the past that federal policies should ensure that rural areas have access to the same broadband capability, like high-speed Internet services, that have revolutionized businesses in the mostly-urban areas where they are now available," Daschle wrote to Kennard. "These new technologies would have a similarly positive impact on education, health care, agriculture and economic development in rural areas. Yet, this study shows that rural America's access to these services is still limited."

Last May, Daschle and nine other Senate Democrats asked the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Rural Utility Service (RUS) to conduct the study and to recommend ways to ensure broad deployment of telecommunications services in rural America. For more than a year, Daschle has led an ongoing effort by Senate Democrats to ensure that national telecommunications policy meets the needs of rural America.

Daschle told Kennard to closely consider the report's recommendations designed to bolster the deployment of advanced services in rural areas, including that the FCC fully implement the "universal service" requirements of the Telecommunications Act so that rural Americans have access to advanced telecommunications services comparable to those available in urban areas.

"The same principles of universal service successfully brought telephone and electricity service to rural communities in the last century," Daschle said. "It's important the FCC now ensure that universal service is applied to the latest technologies, including high-speed Internet services."