At its August meeting, the Federal Communications Commission announced the beginning of a 16-month campaign to promote economic development and improve the quality of life in America's rural areas by educating consumers and improving access to communications services in these chronically underserved areas. As part of this initiative, Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau Chief Dane Snowden, members of CGB, and members of the Wireline Competition and International Bureaus toured parts of Alaska and the Alaskan Bush during the last week of September to assess the status of telephony and advanced telecommunications services in rural Alaska, particularly in Alaska Native communities.

Staff visited a total of seven Native communities where they toured health care clinics and schools that receive Universal Service support for access to broadband telecommunications services, as well as earth stations and central offices maintained by area service providers. Back in Anchorage, FCC representatives met with members of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska and participated in a two-day conference on economic development in Alaska Native communities sponsored by the Alaska Rural Development Council. The conference was videotaped and ARDC plans to have portions broadcast throughout the coming year on Alaska's public broadcasting stations.