The SouthEast Chapter of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors is a professional association composed of individuals and organizations serving citizens through city and county government and regional authorities in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee in the development, regulation, and administration of voice, video, data communications and information systems services.

SEATOA is a Regional Chapter of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. NATOA is a national association that represents the communications needs and interests of local governments, and those who advise local governments.

A monthly update of SEATOA activites may be found here: SEATOA Monthly Updates

SEATOA Action Alert on Universal Service Fund

SEATOA Action Alert on R-O-W Management

SEATOA PRESIDENT AND CITY OF ASHEVILLE
WIN 2011 NATOA AWARDS

	SEATOA President Catharine Rice A recipient of The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) “Community Broadband Hero of the Year” Awards.

SEATOA President Catharine Rice was one of the recipients of The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) “Community Broadband Hero of the Year” Awards.   President Rice and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn were both winners of this distinguished award for their heroic efforts to stand up for the rights of North Carolina localities to determine their broadband and economic futures.

And the City of Asheville, NC received the Association’s “Community Broadband Wireless Network of the Year” Award.   This NATOA Award credits Asheville for its successful efforts to deploy a wireless wide area network to replace the I-Net that was once provided at affordable cost but had become unacceptably costly as the result of state legislation benefitting the incumbent provider.  The City chose to build its own infrastructure to meet its public safety and public service needs and accomplished this goal in record time with no loss of service to users.

NATOA's Community Broadband Awards are granted to exceptional leaders and innovative programs that champion community interests and broadband deployment in local communities nationwide.   Recipients will receive their awards at NATOA's 31st Annual Conference, to be held in San Francisco, CA from September 20 - 23 at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District Hotel.

Ken Fellman, president of the NATOA Board of Directors, indicated that:   "The award recipients were chosen based on their extraordinary efforts, achievements, and innovation in community-based approaches to broadband. We applaud their efforts to ensure that more American communities and citizens benefit from new technology."

SEATOA INITIATES MONITORING EFFORTS ON NC HB 129/S.L. 2011-84 (= S87)

SEATOA remains committed to highlighting the problems in North Carolina’s recently passed HB 129/S.L. 2011-84  – which we consider was aptly mislabeled “AN ACT TO PROTECT JOBS AND INVESTMENT BY REGULATING LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMPETITION WITH PRIVATE BUSINESS” or its short title:  “Level Playing Field/Local Government Competition.”  In actuality, this bill should be properly referenced as the “anti-municipal broadband legislation” – since it will place undue burdens on local governments while relieving the private sector of these same obligations.  A link to this bill’s text is available at:  (= S87) or http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H129v7.pdf

NC Governor Perdue – while refusing to veto the bill in May – also refused to sign it and it became law without her signature.  In announcing that she would not sign, the Governor provided a written statement about why she would not sign, concluding with:  “For these reasons, I will neither sign nor veto this bill.  Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers.”

In various follow-up media interviews about the bill, Gov. Perdue stressed she was “…very unhappy with the concept…” and that she hoped her statements “…will force, pressure, coerce, encourage the private sector to do what they need to do in these rural areas.  If the private sector’s not gonna do it, then we need to look at the law again."  To that she added, “You can’t compete with government. That’s what the Umstead Act is about…  But I happen to be from a part of the state that has a real need for higher-speed broadband access.  I don’t believe you can expect businesses to grow in either the mountainous areas or the very rural northeast without having technology.” 

SEATOA’s veto request to the Governor (SEATOA letter to Perdue) included the FCC data revealing that those same companies have served North Carolina right into last place in the country in terms of the minimum broadband levels the FCC recognizes are needed for modern day internet use (SEATOA NC Broadband Data). 

SEATOA plans to take Governor Perdue at her word.  We will closely monitor the activities of our incumbent operators in providing true high speed broadband in NC – particularly in our rural communities.  While we are hopeful that the Governor’s comments will spur operators to expand their networks – we are very cognizant of the business factors which affect their rates of return and have thus far hampered such expansion.  Deregulated markets like North Carolina’s – where the incumbents maintain monopoly control – also provide companies with opportunities not to upgrade or expand their infrastructure, but to raise rates and drain the cash out of outdated infrastructure to generate rich profits. 

SEATOA invites our members and friends to input information relating to these activities in their communities to SEATOA’s database – to assist us in this monitoring.  Please input this information directly to seatoa@carolina.rr.com     And for those who are still interested in participating, use this link http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ncbetterbroadband/  to help encourage broadband expansion in North Carolina.

SEATOA WINS TOP HONORS AT 2010 NATOA CONFERENCE

SEATOA SECURES 2010 NATOA CHAPTER OF THE YEAR AWARD
SEATOA is proud to announce it has received the 2010 NATOA President’s Award for Chapter Excellence.  The prestigious award was presented to SEATOA President, Catharine Rice, at NATOA’s September 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

In presenting the award NATOA President, Ken Fellman, cited SEATOA for its successful efforts in blocking the NC anti-municipal broadband bill this past year and for furthering the education of our federal and state elected officials on the importance of community broadband for our country.

This is the second time SEATOA has received this award since 2003 when it expanded to include the four states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

SEATOA PRESIDENT RICE WINS NATOA 2010 OVATION AWARD

Catharine Rice, SEATOA President, received NATOA’s "2010 Ovation Award" in acknowledgement of her substantial contribution to the members of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, and local governments nationwide, through her leadership in organizing the successful effort to defeat an industry-written bill that would have preempted local broadband initiatives in the state of North Carolina.

In accepting, President Rice stated that:  “All of North Carolina deserved this award – from the NC League of Municipalities and its Coalition members – to the Metro Mayors – to the Free Press – to "Stop the CAP", and Jay Ovittore – to the Progressive States Network – to Attorney Jim Baller and his "Group of 8" – to TJCOG – to SEATOA members and our champion State Senators and Representatives.  Obviously, our work is not done, but congrats to you all, whose combined effort is what it took to stop our incumbents from trying to take over NC's broadband and economic future.”

CONFERENCE SESSIONS AVAILABLE FOR ONLINE VIEWING

SEATOA is aware that many of our members were unable – due to financial or travel limitations – to attend this year’s SEATOA Conference in Asheville.  Therefore - as a special service for our members - we have arranged with IQM2 for the sessions that were webstreamed to remain available for viewing online. Links to the sessions are available on our Conference page.

IT'S MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME AGAIN

Please take time to renew your membership for 2011 today! Dues are still only $50 - but please don't forget the SEATOA Legal Fund - our member contributions of $100 have been invaluable in helping your Board of Directors secure the necessary legal assistance to fight challenges to local governments' authority within our member states.

Thank you, in advance for your support!

Click here to renew your membership and pay online.