Senator Amy Klobuchar had an editorial in the Bemidji Pioneer over the weekend. She gave a special nod to the Blandin Foundation for work communities across the state. She also mentioned her co-presenters from her August Broadband Summit with FCC Chairman Genachowski.

Klobuchar gives a call to action…

But we have work to do be-cause we have fallen behind.

Out of 57 industrialized countries, the U.S now ranks 23rd for access, speed and affordability of broadband. Our average connection speed is 4.7 megabytes per second. To put that in perspective, South Korea’s average speed is 33 megabytes per second.

She mentiond the National Brodband Plan, especially mentioning the Universal Service Fund…

Of special interest for rural communities, the plan recommends reform of the Universal Service Fund to reflect the realities of 21st century communications.

Instead of maintaining its historical focus on subsidizing rural telephone service, the fund should be re-focused to support deployment of broadband in rural areas that would otherwise not be served effectively by the private market.