In testimony before the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization of the Committee on Government Reform, Joslyn Read, assistant vice president, regulatory affairs, for Hughes Network Systems, LLC (Hughes), urged the federal government to provide economic support to encourage the adoption of broadband communications essential for post-disaster teleworking and continuity of operations (COOP) contingencies. Read testified on behalf of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and Hughes.

Read also stressed the importance of ensuring that employees within the Washington Metropolitan area and beyond have access to a high-speed broadband connection in order to enjoy all the benefits of teleworking. Read noted that because of the high cost of building land-based infrastructure in rural locations, satellite broadband technology is often the best and only option for gaining that access.

According to Ms. Read, "The federal government clearly and urgently needs to accelerate the realization of COOP by allowing workers to operate from diverse locations. Satellite broadband services constitute a critical and often sole option for many workers in the Washington Metropolitan area to participate in emergency-based COOP preparedness as well as teleworking during non-emergency times."

Ms. Read offered Congress the following recommendations to help accelerate the realization of COOP and teleworking:

1. As the only truly diverse communications medium in the event of an emergency, satellite communications should be a requirement in any formal teleworking or COOP plan implemented by the government.

2. In recognizing that teleworking brings enormous efficiencies and resiliency to federal missions, Congress and the individual agencies of the Federal Government need to define and fund its teleworking programs to include:

a. Compensation to teleworkers for their monthly high-speed broadband
services;

b. Compensation to teleworkers for the broadband customer premises
equipment needed to perform their online duties, particularly for
those teleworkers that are involved in essential agency functions,
and for those that reside in locations that are rural, remote, and
are less able to travel into a centralized workplace; and

c. Tax credits for non-federal employers and employees who engage in
teleworking programs.

To view Ms. Read's full testimony, click here

•Date: 21st July 2006• Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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