MMTC Press Statement

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. Press Statement Contact: Marcella Gadson, Director of Communications [email protected] (202) 332-0500 Statement on the Chartering of the FCC’s Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 24, 2017): The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) commends the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and its Chairman, AJit Pai, on today’s announcement that the agency is chartering the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. The FCC’s original Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age operated from 2003-2013 under Chairman Michael Powell, Chairman Kevin Martin, Acting Chairman Michael Copps, Chairman Julius Genachowski, and Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. During that time, the Committee was populated with a nonpartisan A-list of volunteer subject matter experts. Led by Chairwoman Julia Johnson and her successor Henry Rivera, and aided by senior FCC staff including Designated Federal Officers Jane Mago and Barbara Kreisman, the FCC Diversity Committee produced an unprecedented four dozen policy recommendations aimed at ensuring the full participation of all Americans in technologies that comprise one-sixth of our national economy. Kim Keenan, President and CEO of MMTC, made the following statement: By chartering a new advisory committee on diversity, and expanding its jurisdiction to encompass closing the digital divide, Chairman Pai has brought the FCC back to its historic and nonpartisan public interest mission. MMTC is especially pleased that the new committee will be charged with the tasks of developing a media incubator program as well as providing solutions to the vexing moral issue of telecom redlining. This is a defining step toward closing the digital divide for every American. * * * * * About MMTC: The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) is a non-partisan, national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and preserving equal opportunity and civil rights in the mass media, telecom and broadband industries, and closing the digital divide. MMTC is generally recognized as the nation’s leading advocate for minority advancement in communications. .

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October 6, 2017 The Honorable Ajit Pai, Chairman Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20544 Dear Chairman Pai: As you are aware, Hurricane Maria effectively destroyed 100% of the power grid in Puerto Rico and rendered over 95% of the cell sites out of service immediately after the storm. Two weeks after and – as reported in the daily Federal Communications Commission (FCC) statistics – cell service outside of San Juan is still almost non-existent. Even in San Juan, more than 62.6% of cell sites remain inoperative. Landline based voice and Internet networks have suffered almost total degradation. The U.S. Virgin Islands communications systems were similarly ravaged not only by Hurricane Maria but weeks before by Hurricane Irma. Per FCC statistics, all of St. John’s cell sites are still inoperative. This lack of even basic communications hampers essential emergency and medical services and undermines critical relief efforts. Additionally, while the people of these islands continue to work together to rebuild their lives, the inability to contact employers, education providers, and loved ones contributes to the ongoing sense of isolation and crisis. We appreciate all the steps you have already taken, including issuing an order making immediately available up to $76.9 million from the FCC’s Universal Service Fund for the restoration of communications services in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. However, we write to ask you, and your fellow Commissioners, to take additional steps to highlight the communications crisis, reassure the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that the FCC is working for them, and to take any measures you can to assist in restoring emergency services.
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