Campbell calls meeting on high-speed Internet posted Thursday, November 12th, 2009 @ 8:03 am  E-mail Story |  Print Story  Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell will host a public meeting in Vidalia on Tuesday, November 17, to promote high-speed Internet service for rural areas of Concordia and surrounding parishes. Wired, wireless, satellite and cable providers of Internet service are being requested to attend and visit with residents about service, Campbell said. "Demand for high-speed Internet service is great and growing across rural areas of Louisiana," Campbell said. "It has become essential for daily life and business to have access to broadband service." The public meeting will be held starting at 6 p.m. at the Vidalia Conference and Convention Center, 112 Front Street on the Vidalia riverfront. "I encourage everyone with an interest in high-speed Internet service to attend," Campbell said. Campbell said many rural and suburban parts of North Louisiana are not served by broadband companies. "That's unacceptable to me," he said. "I'm doing everything I can to expand service so people's needs are met." Campbell said Internet service is not regulated by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, but many of the companies that offer broadband service are also regulated telephone providers. "That means we have to be creative in how we approach this challenge," he said. One approach is to gain access to $7 billion in federal stimulus funding for broadband expansion. Toward that end, Campbell has lent his name to a new nonprofit organization based in Shreveport that is seeking stimulus grants to expand broadband service in North Louisiana. The organization is called the "Louisiana Partnership for Rural Broadband Connectivity." It's based at The Coordinating and Development Corporation, an economic-development organization in Shreveport. The partnership has applied for two grants applying to 29 North Louisiana parishes: • $1 million for a "Sustainable Adoption" program to inform North Louisiana citizens about the benefits of high-speed Internet service and encourage its use; and * $1.5 million for public computer centers that would provide free Broadband access at specially equipped locations. "Our goal is access to broadband for everyone in North Louisiana who wants it," said Campbell.