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Amata welcomes FCC waiver for ASTCA

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Source: Media release, office of Congresswoman Aumua Amata

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Aumua Amata on Monday welcomed an FCC waiver, which she directly requested from both former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and then Chairman Ajit Pai on behalf of the American Samoa Telecommunications Authority (ASTCA), giving ASTCA the licensing to continue efforts to complete projects that will make more services available to American Samoans.

“It’s important for ASTCA to continue making progress on this project on behalf of American Samoans, and this waiver is necessary,” said Congresswoman Aumua Amata. “The FCC understood the unique challenges of extending telecommunications in American Samoa, and recognized that this step is the best way to enable the work to proceed.”

ASTCA had petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a waiver preserving their license or additional time on their construction buildout requirements, and Congresswoman Amata contacted the FCC at ASTCA’s request to support the needed waiver. The FCC responded today granting the waiver allowing ASTCA to proceed with buildouts of the LTE high speed wireless infrastructure. The ASTCA petition was able to successfully show that the waiver was in the public interest and within FCC precedents.

“This keeps the focus on the goal of making these communications services more widely available in American Samoa,” Amata said. “Today’s decision by the FCC removes this concern and allows ASTCA to proceed with the next steps in providing these much-needed services.”