TIA Urges Congress to Invest in the Connectivity Infrastructure Needed to Advance Smart Communities

Joint Letter Sent Today Welcomes House E&C Subcommittee Focus on “Smart” Technology at Local Level

Arlington, Va. (March 16, 2017) – The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), the leading association representing the manufacturers and suppliers of high-tech communications networks, today  applauded action in the U.S. House on policy measures to enhance the deployment of “smart” technology at the local level. In a letter sent to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, TIA and several other groups offer support for a Smart Communities Bill that promotes the use of advanced technologies and systems. The subcommittee held a hearing today to further examine issues related to Smart Communities.

The letter, signed also by CompTIA, Smart Cities Council and ITI, comments, “With 50 billion devices to be connected to the internet by 2020, robust and cutting-edge broadband networks like 5G will be essential to realizing the full potential of smart technology use cases across the transportation, consumer, government and industrial sectors. Ubiquitous, affordable, high-speed broadband connections are critical to enabling the countless smart city benefits and services. Such infrastructure investments have ’triple bottom line’ returns, providing social, financial and environmental benefits.”

TIA Senior Vice President for Government Affairs, Cinnamon Rogers, said, “As the committee discussed, the benefits of connected communities will be significant and widespread, delivering opportunities for consumers and empowering local economies. U.S. ICT companies drive connectivity across every industry and every market – improving transportation services, health care delivery, energy efficiency and much more.  We want to send a strong message that advancing these efforts requires investment and planning around communications infrastructure, technology, standards and data security.”

“In order to unlock the full potential of smart technology, we need to move quickly to address a myriad of complex issues. The Subcommittee’s initiative, working with the public sector, academia, and key industry stakeholders, is an important step toward effectively deploying smart technology nationwide to communities of all sizes.”

An important aspect of the Smart Communities Bill is its provisions for coordinating activities among federal agencies, as well as promoting private sector and international partnerships.  TIA supports the bill’s focus on interoperability, cooperation and proliferation of best practices, which will be critical factors in the next phase of innovation.